This is a communication from a debt collector.

Portfolio Recovery Associates, Good Business Practice

Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA) is a publicly traded company that buys debt that is owed to banks and other creditors. These companies include many of the largest and best-known lenders in the United States.

Portfolio Recovery Associates is not collecting on behalf of a bank or credit card company. We own the accounts that we collect, and we operate at our own pace which means we can work with you to find the best possible schedule for you to satisfy your obligation.

Some people do not understand why Portfolio Recovery Associates is contacting them about debts when they never borrowed money from us, and cannot recognize the debts as ever having been theirs. To understand Portfolio Recovery Associates collections, remember that we buy debt from the lenders themselves. In some cases, those lenders have merged with or been acquired by other banks and lenders, so some of the names have changed.

Portfolio Recovery Associates is proud of the way its conducted business since its start in 1996, and of the many people whom it has helped along the way. We work hard to train our people to be the most effective at their jobs as possible. Not many debt recovery companies get letters of praise from people who receive debt collection calls. Portfolio Recovery Associates gets them all the time.

One of the best examples of how PRA is different was offered by a woman who owed Portfolio Recovery Associates money, and who is herself in the debt recovery business. This woman took the time to write to us and praise the Portfolio Recovery Associates employee who called her to work out repayment of an unpaid debt.

That employee started off the conversation by apologizing for calling so late in the day. Throughout the conversation, our employee never changed her tone of voice or raised her voice. She made it easy for our customer to want to resolve her debt.

Portfolio Recovery Associates was described by one customer as the “exception.” He said our debt recovery professionals conducted themselves with “respect, restraint, and understanding.”