Portfolio Recovery Associates on your credit report

Who Portfolio Recovery Associates is

Portfolio Recovery Associates is the U.S. company that PRA Group's site links for its U.S. customers. PRA Group says it is one of the largest acquirers of nonperforming loans in the world and buys those loans from banks and other lenders, so a PRA account on your report is usually an old credit card or loan that a lender charged off and sold. In its 2015 order the CFPB called it one of the two largest debt buyers in the country.

How its accounts show on your credit report

Because PRA buys the account, it reports as the current owner, and the original lender's tradeline usually stays on your report with its own charge-off history. The CFPB's 2023 case against PRA included Fair Credit Reporting Act claims. Under Regulation F, a collector can't furnish a debt to the bureaus until it has spoken with you or mailed or sent you a message and waited a reasonable time for a bounce-back notice.

Complaints to the CFPB

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's public complaint database lists 21,845 complaints naming Portfolio Recovery Associates received from October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026. The most common issues: attempts to collect debt not owed; took or threatened to take negative or legal action; written notification about debt. The CFPB publishes complaints without verifying every claim in them. See the complaints.

Public enforcement actions

How to ask Portfolio Recovery Associates to validate a debt

Write to the dispute address printed on PRA's validation notice; Regulation F requires that notice to name the address where the collector accepts disputes and requests for original-creditor information. PRA Group's contact page lists its corporate headquarters at 150 Corporate Blvd, Norfolk, VA 23502, phone 1-800-772-1413. portfoliorecovery.com blocks automated reading of its contact page, so check the notice or your online account for the current consumer address.

Ask within 30 days of the first notice and the collector has to pause collecting until it sends verification. The letter builder writes a validation request for free.

What to do if this name is on your report

1. Pull all three reports. Get them free at AnnualCreditReport.com and find the account, its balance and its date of first delinquency.
2. Check the dates and the amount. A collection can report for 7 years from the original delinquency, not from when the collector bought it. A newer date can mean re-aging.
3. Ask for validation if you don't recognize it. Send the request in writing and keep a copy.
4. Dispute what is wrong. Dispute with each bureau that shows an inaccurate item, and with the collector directly.
5. Decide on payment with the facts in hand. Read should you pay a collection before you agree to anything.

Guides that go deeper

• Debt validation: your right to make a collector prove the debtFederal law gives you 30 days after a collector's validation notice to dispute in writing and force it to pause. How the clock works and what to send.
• Should you pay a collection account? How to decidePaying a collection doesn't remove it, and the score effect depends on the model. How to decide, what to verify first, and how to pay safely.
• Sued by a debt collector? What to do in the first 2 weeksA debt lawsuit you ignore usually ends in a default judgment. What to read on the summons, how to respond on time, and where to find free legal help.
• The statute of limitations on debt, and how a payment can reset itA statute of limitations limits when a collector can sue, not whether it can ask you to pay. How the clock starts, how it can restart, and what Reg F bans.
• What debt collectors can and can't do under the FDCPA and Reg FFederal limits on debt collectors: the 7-in-7 call rule, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours, work and social media limits, email opt-outs, and cease letters.