Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRA)
Portfolio Recovery Associates is the U.S. debt-buying arm of PRA Group, based in Norfolk, Virginia. It buys defaulted consumer accounts, most often credit cards, and collects them by phone, by letter and in court. The CFPB and the New York Attorney General have entered public orders against it, summarized below with their sources.
If PRA is contacting you, it is saying it now owns an account you once had with a bank or store. It may also sue. Before you pay or agree to anything, confirm the account, the amount, and the date the debt went into default.
Who PRA is
- Parent. PRA Group's contact page lists Portfolio Recovery Associates as its U.S. customer service company and its headquarters at 150 Corporate Blvd, Norfolk, VA 23502 (pragroup.com).
- What it does. The CFPB described PRA and Encore in 2015 as the two largest debt buyers in the country (CFPB).
- Phone. The number listed on PRA Group's contact page is 1-800-772-1413 (checked September 29, 2026).
How to check that it is really Portfolio Recovery Associates
- Get the validation notice. A debt collector must give you written validation information in its first communication or within five days after it: the amount, the creditor, and your right to dispute (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(a); 12 C.F.R. § 1006.34). If none came, read no validation notice.
- Ask who the original creditor is. The notice should name the creditor and itemize the balance. If you dispute in writing within the validation period, the collector must stop collecting until it mails you verification (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b)).
- Call back on a number you looked up yourself. Do not pay a caller on the strength of a number the caller gave you. Look the company up on its own website. The number we found there is listed above.
- Look it up in the CFPB database. The link is in the public record section below.
- In New York City, look up the license. The city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) issues debt collection agency licenses, and its issued-licenses list is public on NYC Open Data.
What Portfolio Recovery Associates cannot do
These limits apply to every debt collector covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. They are the law, not a statement about what this company has done.
- Sue or threaten to sue on a time-barred debt. Regulation F bans both (12 C.F.R. § 1006.26(b)). See zombie debt.
- Keep collecting after your written dispute without sending verification. Collection must pause until verification is mailed (15 U.S.C. § 1692g(b)). See ignored dispute.
- Report a disputed debt without saying it is disputed. Failing to communicate that a debt is disputed is a false credit statement (15 U.S.C. § 1692e(8)). See debt you do not owe.
- Add amounts the agreement or the law does not allow. Collecting any amount not expressly authorized is an unfair practice (15 U.S.C. § 1692f(1)). See wrong amount and fees.
- Call you more than 7 times in 7 days about one debt. More than seven telephone calls in seven consecutive days, or a call within seven days after a phone conversation about the debt, is presumed harassment (12 C.F.R. § 1006.14(b)(2)). Texts and emails do not count toward that number. See too many calls.
- Tell your family, friends or boss about the debt. A collector may contact other people only to find you, and may not say you owe a debt (15 U.S.C. §§ 1692b, 1692c(b)). See calls to family and employer.
Log calls in the call log and save voicemails, letters and screenshots.
If Portfolio Recovery Associates sues you
PRA sues in its own name, Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, usually through a law firm. If you have been sued, do not ignore the papers. The deadline to answer is short, and a missed deadline can lead to a default judgment. Read sued by a debt collector first.
- New York. Most consumer credit suits must be filed within three years, and a later payment does not restart the clock (CPLR 214-i). The complaint must name the original creditor and attach the contract or charge-off statement (CPLR 3016(j)).
- New Jersey. Contract actions generally carry a six-year limit (N.J.S.A. 2A:14-1).
- Florida. Five years on a written contract, four on an oral one or an open account (Fla. Stat. § 95.11).
- The right court. A collector's suit must be filed where you live or where you signed the contract (15 U.S.C. § 1692i(a)(2)). See sued in the wrong county.
Public record
Only public, sourced facts appear here. Where we quote an agency or a court, the words describe what that agency or court found, alleged or decided.
CFPB complaints, as of September 29, 2026. From September 1, 2025 through September 1, 2026, consumers filed 21,754 complaints naming "Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC" in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's complaint database, 17,617 of them about debt collection; 4,476 of the 21,754 came from New York, New Jersey and Florida. See the complaints in the CFPB database. Complaints are unverified consumer reports, not findings of wrongdoing.
- CFPB consent order, September 9, 2015. The Bureau made the same findings it made against Encore: robo-signed affidavits, suits on time-barred debts, and collection without documentation. PRA was ordered to pay $19 million in refunds and an $8 million civil penalty and to stop collecting $3.4 million in debts (CFPB).
- CFPB order, March 23, 2023. The Bureau said PRA violated the 2015 order and the FCRA's dispute rules, and ordered at least $12.18 million in redress and a $12 million civil penalty (CFPB).
- New York Attorney General settlement, May 8, 2014. The Attorney General said PRA obtained more than 2,000 improper New York judgments since 2008 on time-barred debts; PRA agreed to vacate them and pay a $300,000 civil penalty (NY AG).
More detail is on Encore and PRA: the CFPB orders.
New York City license. DCWP's list shows active debt collection agency licenses for Portfolio Recovery Associates, L.L.C. (for example 1096994-DCA, expiring January 31, 2027) as of September 29, 2026.
In New York, New Jersey and Florida
New York consumers can also sue under General Business Law § 349 for deceptive practices (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law § 349(h)), and since September 1, 2026 New York City's DCWP rules limit a collector to three communications or attempts per account in seven days, across calls, texts and emails. Florida's consumer collection law reaches anyone collecting a consumer debt, including original creditors, with statutory damages up to $1,000 (Fla. Stat. §§ 559.72, 559.77(2)). New Jersey's Consumer Fraud Act allows treble damages for an ascertainable loss (N.J.S.A. 56:8-19). See New York, New Jersey and Florida.
The FDCPA requires a company found liable to pay the consumer's reasonable attorney's fees and costs. The deadline to sue is one year from the violation (15 U.S.C. § 1692k(d)).
Common questions
Is Portfolio Recovery Associates legitimate?
Yes. It is a subsidiary of PRA Group, a public company in Norfolk, Virginia. Impostors sometimes use real collector names, so confirm through the validation notice and a number you look up yourself.
Do the CFPB orders mean PRA owes me money?
Not by themselves. An order covers the people and conduct it describes. If PRA sued you, reported you or contacted you in a way the law forbids, you may have your own claim with its own deadline.
PRA sued me. Is it too late to do anything?
If the answer deadline has not passed, answer. If a default judgment was already entered, New York and the other states have ways to ask the court to vacate it, especially if you were never properly served.
Tell us what they did.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which laws the collector or the credit bureau broke, which deadline runs first, and what to save this week. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510The FDCPA and the FCRA require a company found liable to pay the consumer’s reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Our fee arrangement is confirmed in a written retainer before we begin. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language.