Have you been sued by Portfolio Recovery Associates?

On April 1, 2014, Portfolio Recovery Associates dismissed their lawsuit against our client, only 2 weeks after we became involved in the lawsuit.  In the lawsuit, PRA claimed our client owed them over $15,000.

Portfolio Recovery Associates, though its legal counsel Deborah Peterson and the national debt collection law firm Rausch Sturm Israel Enerson & Hornik sued our client claiming that it had been “assigned” a $15,000 debt from US Bank National Association.   On March 18, 2014, after representing himself pro se (without a lawyer) for a number of months, our client called Paramount Law for assistance.   Just 14 days later,  on April 1, 2014, Portfolio Recovery Associates dismissed the lawsuit without our client paying anything to them.

Who is Portfolio Recovery Associates? Can Portfolio Recovery Sue Me?

Portfolio Recovery Associates is a debt buyer whose only business is purchasing bad debt — “defaulted consumer receivables.”  According to their Portfolio Recovery Associates 2013 Annual Report,  PRA reports to have paid an average of 3.8% for the accounts it acquired in 2013. In other words, if a consumer obligation was $1000, PRA likely paid around $38 for the debt. Regardless of how much it paid, in the lawsuits that it files against consumers on a weekly basis in Oklahoma (and nationwide), it always claims that it is entitled to the entire amount, plus attorney fees, plus court costs.

Portfolio Recovery Associates’ Dirty Secret

Debt Buyers like Portfolio Recovery Associates will often dismiss cases against consumers when the consumer hires a consumer protection attorney like Paramount Law.   The reason? They know that 99% of the consumers out there don’t hire an attorney to help them when they’ve been sued, allowing an easy “win” for Portfolio Recovery Associates .  In fact, studies of shown that  less than 10% of consumers who get sued  by junk that buyers or “zombie debt buyers” actually file anything with the court to “Answer” the lawsuit once they have been served.  When the consumer fails to file something with the Court, the junk debt buyer, like Portfolio Recovery Associates,  wins by “default.”  That means just because the consumer did not take the proper steps in court, they lost. The end result is that a  publicly traded, out-of-state, debt buyer like Portfolio Recovery Associates is able to immediately begin garnishment from a consumer’s bank account or employer, sending Oklahoma dollars out of state.

How to Stop Portfolio Recovery Associates

However, when a consumer hires a debt defense attorney like Paramount Law, the debt buyer will often dismiss the case and move on to the next “low hanging fruit,” knowing that most of the lawsuits that they file will never be challenged.  if you’ve been sued by Portfolio Recovery Associates, you must act quickly. Your failure to file an answer with the court within the date stated on the summons (normally 20 – 35 days) will cause a judgment to be entered against you. If you’ve been served a Portfolio Recovery Associates Lawsuit, contact the debt defense attorneys at Paramount Law immediately.  We can give you a quick assessment of your position for no charge, and we charge extremely reasonable prices for our debt defense services, seeking a dismissal of the lawsuit filed against you.