B L O C K E D -- yes, another scam from thieves saying they are raising $$ for the Fraternal Order of Police -- MAKE SURE YOU ASK THEM HOW MUCH OF YOUR DONATION WILL GO TO THE POLICE ! They are required to reveal it -- they usually say something like 'upwards of 10 percent of your donation will go to the Police"...... in other words, THEY KEEP 90% OF YOUR DONATION !! Yes, they are raising money -- but they're also Keeping 90% of it --- so if you want to donate -- DO IT DIRECTLY TO THE POLICE -- not to these shysters !. I always ask these "charities" what their rating is on Charity Navigator (if they don't know, they are NOT legit), and how much goes DIRECTLY to the charity -- IF IT IS LESS THAN 90 % THAT GOES TO THE CHARITY -- I GIVE NOTHING TO THEM ! Would advise others to use similar questions to determine your gift giving. These people make a fortune off the good will of people, who think they are helping others, but in fact, they are lining the pockets of unscrupulous bottom feeders......
Portfolio is well known to use illegal tactics to get people to pay them money. They don't care who pays, as long as someone does, and they don't care if they collect off of more than one person for the same alleged debt. If the scum at Portfolio are bothering you, make them follow the letter of the law. You will most likely end up suing them, like everyone else does. To that end, this is what they must do, once they talk to you or leave a message:
Federal law (FDCPA) requires them to send you a letter (US MAIL ONLY) postmarked within 5 days of their first contact that contains their name, physical address, the creditor’s name, and the amount of the alleged debt. It also must contains “mini-Miranda” telling you that it is an attempt to collect a debt and that all information will be used for those purposes. The one other important thing that this letter must also have in it is that you have a right to dispute the debt within 30 days of receipt of the letter and if you do so, all collection activity must be stopped until the debt is verified.
Now that assumes that you are the person they are looking for. If they are skip tracing, then you wouldn't get a letter. However, they are only allowed to talk to you once when skip tracing. So, what you should do is:
You need to send them a certified, return receipt debt validation or cease and desist calling letter (think of it as the best $6.47 you ever invested). Also send it first class mail in case no one will sign for it. Make a notation of that fact at the bottom of the letter. You also need to report them to the proper agencies to which I have provided links to. Then you need to go out and get a consumer lawyer to sue them on a contingency basis (no money out of your pocket) and let them pay you for the harassment. If everyone did these three things, these crooks would be bankrupt and we would all be the richer for it. Use these web sites to find an attorney in your state that will probably take the case on a contingency basis (no money out of your pocket up front): http://www.consumeradvocates.org/
http://www.consumeradvocates.org/find-an-atto ... tates_value=All
Everything else you need to know follows including at least two agencies where you should report their criminal activities.
PORTFOLIO RECOVERY ASSOCIATES AKA PRA
Good news, they got slapped hard for 82 million recently: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article21073359.html
Also the NY AG slapped them again it seems: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-0 ... ion-in-new-york
CFPB fines them for lying: http://www.consumerfinance.gov/newsroom/cfpb- ... lect-bad-debts/
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These crooks have in excess of 400 numbers they use that we know about, so a list would be too extensive to post here.
Web page with contact information: http://www.portfoliorecovery.com/contact_us.html
Make sure you read how they just lost an 83 million dollar lawsuit against them: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article21073359.html
Make sure you read how the NY AG spanked them bad on May 1, 2014 in the following BBB page.
BBB page with 1,351 (the BBB wiped off 31 complaints so that Portfolio could keep their A rating) complaints, 3 negative reviews a government action from the State of New York, an alert, and yet they get an accredited A rating (back up from a B+, they removed 31 complaints and 2 negative reviews to get them that rating, but they must still must be paying big bucks for that rating boost): http://www.bbb.org/norfolk/business-reviews/d ... olk-va-51000164
Bizapedia has them as a Delaware Corporation started in 2007 as opposed to the information on the BBBB page that says 1996:
http://www.bizapedia.com/de/PORTFOLIO-RECOVERY-LLC.html
http://www.bizapedia.com/addresses/120-CORPOR ... K-VA-23502.html
Other complaint sites:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/portfolio-recovery-associates-c275360.html
http://www.creditreportproblems.com/Portfolio_Recovery_Associates_LLC.htm
Cases against PRA:
http://www.leagle.com/decision/In%20FDCO%2020130416695
http://www.prweb.com/releases/Class-Action/Lawsuit/prweb5253574.htm
http://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district- ... 2707/228930/60/
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/california/casdce/3:2015cv00768/471398
http://www.bigclassaction.com/lawsuit/portfol ... olations-of.php
http://leagle.com/decision/In%20FDCO%20201409 ... SOCIATES,%20LLC
http://dockets.justia.com/docket/illinois/ilndce/1:2015cv02765/308374
http://www.creditreportproblems.com/pennsylva ... -practices-act/
http://www.creditreportproblems.com/portfolio ... cpa-violations/
http://designertoday.com/News/6736/Reader.Get ... .Prejudice.aspx
http://dockets.justia.com/search?query=PORTFOLIO+RECOVERY+ASSOCIATES%2C+LLC
http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/14a0266p-06.pdf
http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2012/12/28/11-56600.pdf
http://statesboro.biz/News/702/Class-Action-L ... f-The-TCPA.aspx
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCOURTS-mie ... 1_12-cv-11526-2
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/granule/USCOURTS-kye ... 5_13-cv-00147-0
And a CFPB case about a lawyer who works for PRA.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/ ... ction-lawsuits/
Some more interesting reading:
"PRA may also sometimes make harassing calls and send out threatening letters. In some cases they may have your information by mistake ~ so they are sending the WRONG PERSON collection notices!"
Looks like that person gave you some good advice. If you don't want to take it, and don't want the calls to stop, then no point in arguing with you. There is nothing in the FDCPA that restricts how many times a DC can call you. It is up to a Federal Judge to determine in a lawsuit what number of calls becomes harassment. Portfolio will keep calling, will keep calling from any one of their many phone numbers. They won't go away until given the incentive to do so. If you doubt that, then go to my other post and read the first story I posted. That woman got thousands of calls for someone else.
So I guess the answer to your question is how much do you want to put up with. Only you can decide that. No one here is going to argue with you over it. You either do something or get the calls, your choice. But if you chose to keep getting the calls because you didn't do anything, don't complain about it.
Yes, this are flim flam men. A fellow I worked with at the bank best friend was one of these cons. He told me that it supported their drinking habit and a lot of times none of the money collected made to the police organization. If you want to donate do it directly to the organization of your choice, never a phone solicitor.