Here is a weird thing I noticed when I was researching for an FDCPA claim I brought against a debt buyer called Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC:

Similar cases that are brought by attorneys settle for about $1,000 to $5,000 per plaintiff with $20,000 to the attorney who filed the case. I have seen cases that did not settle quickly, where the plaintiffs got about $10,000 and the attorneys got $200,000.

Portfolio Recovery Associates gave me offers of judgment for $1,000 and $5,000. I told them no.

Filing the average case is not rocket science. The attorneys who specialize in consumer protection law can probably write and file a case in 35 minutes.

So, why do the attorneys earn disproportionately more than a litigant who is willing to do the paperwork on her own? Doesn’t that incentivize the lawyers to settle quickly and often, instead of working hard to get to trial? If one or two people make it to trial and a jury awards significant punitive damages, Boom! PRA and its ilk will need to find a different way to harass and rip off the rest of us.

Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, one of the nation’s most dishonest debt buyers, will often tell a person she owes money to PRA because PRA bought the old debt, even without adequate proof the debt exists.

According to a long line of actions by the CFPB and various State Attorney Generals, Portfolio Recovery Associates does not verify or validate the debts it bought before aggressively trying to collect. PRA knows the portfolios it purchased for pennies on the dollar are riddled with errors.

I am suing PRA for making incessant phone calls to me on a debt that I don’t recall and for which it has inadequate proof. Each call I answered began the same way. “Hi. This is [random person’s name] calling from a recorded line to speak with Laura Lynn. Is she available?”

They knew I had an Arkansas landline, but still treated me as if I still lived in California which is a two party consent state for recording purposes.

Part of PRA’s defense is that it did not make the numerous calls I received in which I hung up on them. They won’t tell me who provides them telephone service so I could subpoena their records. But they did provide their own call log.

Their call log does not match up to my cell phone records.

If you decide to sue PRA to try to deter them from making more improper calls, keep good records. Tape the calls if it is legal in your state. Look up “single-party consent recording” or, if PRA starts the conversation by telling you the call may be recorded it sounds to me like they are giving you permission to record also. (Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. This is just what sounds fair to me and what I presume when someone tells me he is recording a call.)

All the PRA numbers they called me from two years ago that I tried calling back yesterday are now disconnected.

Here is a short list: If you know some of Portfolio Recovery Associate’s old numbers please email them to me or post in the comments.

(760) 823-3149

(720) 307-1681

(760) 258-4596

(442) 286-3194