Guards Law Pays PRA to Settle Fax Number Case

On December 4, 2024, Guards Law entered into a Consent Decree with Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC (PRA) in which it agreed to pay PRA $5,000.00 and refrain from pursuing claims based on disputes not sent through PRA’s publicly available dispute channels. In a sworn declaration, Guards Law’s managing attorney explained how the credit repair organization, Credit Saint, obtained a PRA human resources fax number for disputes before funneling cases to Guards Law.  

In Ameen v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC, (Case No. 2:24-cv-000153 E.D. Va.) a consumer filed suit alleging that PRA violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) by failing to update her credit report after she faxed in a dispute. Though the fax was transmitted successfully, PRA noted it was sent to a human resources fax number rather than a number publicly designated for disputes. During its investigation, PRA discovered that multiple Guards Law clients sent disputes to the same human resources number. Guards Law argued and continues to maintain that the number was appropriate to use and that disputes sent to it had been previously accepted. 

In July 2024, PRA and the consumer discussed the merits of the case. In August 2024 the consumer sought to dismiss her case with prejudice. PRA objected to dismissing the case before it could conduct discovery to determine whether the consumer filed the action in bad faith.