Why this company appears here
PRA is one of the biggest buyers of charged-off debt in the world, so its name turns up on a lot of credit reports, letters, and calls.
Common account types
- Credit card accounts
- Bank-originated consumer loans
- Purchased charged-off receivables
Check the company before you click or pay.
Match these details to the validation notice, credit report entry, and payment page before sharing account or bank information.
- Legal name
- Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC
- Parent company
- PRA Group
- Known aliases
- PRA
- Official website
- https://www.portfoliorecovery.com/
- Consumer portal
- https://www.portfoliorecovery.com/
- Phone - Customer service
- 1-800-772-1413
- Mailing address
- 120 Corporate Blvd, Norfolk, VA 23502
- Last reviewed
- June 11, 2026
Match the official phone number against your caller ID before responding. If a call, text, email, or payment site uses different details, use the official website, portal, or mailing address before you respond.
Find out who actually owns the account.
A collector, servicer, and debt owner are not always the same company. That affects what proof you should ask for.
Possible role: Debt buyer and owner-collector
PRA is part of PRA Group, whose main business is buying up unpaid, charged-off accounts and collecting on them. The CFPB identifies Portfolio Recovery Associates as a debt buyer — meaning it usually owns the debt it contacts you about, rather than collecting it for someone else.
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If PRA contacts you, it is generally claiming to collect a purchased account; ask who the current creditor is and who sold or originated the account.
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Ask for account-level validation supporting ownership, amount, and enforceability before payment or settlement.
What official records say.
Each note below comes from a dated government, regulator, court, or SEC record. Use it as background, not as proof about your specific account.
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A federal court entered a settlement judgment resolving CFPB claims that Portfolio Recovery Associates violated the 2015 CFPB order and federal consumer-finance, debt-collection, and credit-reporting rules; the order required at least $12.18 million for consumers and a $12 million civil money penalty.
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A Massachusetts settlement, entered without PRA admitting wrongdoing, resolved attorney-general allegations of unfair and deceptive collection practices and required a $4 million payment plus safeguards for proof of debt, validation, call frequency, protected income, and credit reporting.
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The CFPB issued a consent order after finding Portfolio Recovery Associates collected on potentially inaccurate, undocumented, or unenforceable debts; the order required $19 million in consumer relief, an $8 million civil penalty, and stopping collection on $3 million in judgments.
Start with the facts you can check.
- PRA accounts are often purchased accounts, so validation should connect the original creditor to the current owner.
- If the debt is old, check both credit-reporting age and lawsuit limitations before discussing payment terms.
Confirm the account first.
Even a real collector can have the wrong person, wrong amount, old debt, duplicate placement, or incomplete records.
- The collector name, mailing address, phone number, and website on the letter you received.
- Who the original creditor was, who owns or placed the account now, the account number, balance, and date of last payment.
- Whether the debt may be too old for a lawsuit in your state before you pay or promise to pay.
- Whether the account appears on your official credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com.
- The purchase date, original creditor, and whether the account is being reported by PRA or another entity.
- Whether this looks like the kind of account Portfolio Recovery Associates commonly handles: Credit card accounts, Bank-originated consumer loans, Purchased charged-off receivables.
Questions people ask about Portfolio Recovery Associates.
Use these answers to sort out roles, names, portals, and account details before responding.
Is Portfolio Recovery Associates the same as PRA Group?
Portfolio Recovery Associates is the U.S. consumer collection brand associated with PRA Group. PRA Group is the public parent company, while Portfolio Recovery Associates is the name consumers commonly see on collection letters, calls, payment portals, and credit reports.
Does Portfolio Recovery Associates buy and own debts?
Often, yes. PRA Group describes its core business as purchasing, collecting, and managing portfolios of nonperforming loans, and CFPB materials identify Portfolio Recovery Associates as a debt buyer. Still, check your validation notice for the current creditor and the original creditor because each account should be verified on its own facts.
What account information should PRA be able to show me?
For a purchased account, the useful details include the original creditor, current creditor, account number, current balance, itemization, and when PRA acquired the account. CFPB validation rules also focus on creditor identity, itemized balance information, current amount, and dispute instructions.
How can I verify that a PRA contact or payment request is legitimate?
Use PRA's official website and published contact details rather than relying only on a phone number, text link, or email from an unsolicited message. Match the company name, address, account reference, and website to the written notice before entering payment information.
How do validation and disputes work with PRA?
If you do not recognize the debt, believe the amount is wrong, or want original-creditor information, request validation or dispute in writing after receiving the validation information. A collector generally must pause collection of the disputed debt until it sends verification if the written dispute is timely.
Has the CFPB taken action against Portfolio Recovery Associates?
Yes. CFPB actions in 2015 and 2023 addressed Portfolio Recovery Associates collection, documentation, time-barred debt, litigation, credit-reporting, and dispute-handling practices. This history is context, not a conclusion about any individual PRA account.
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