Portfolio Recovery Associates Is Suing Me in Florida — What Do I Do?

Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC ("PRA") is a wholly owned subsidiary of PRA Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRAA), one of the two largest publicly traded debt buyers in the United States. PRA is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, and files thousands of consumer collection lawsuits each year — particularly in Florida, where it is among the most active debt-buyer plaintiffs in state courts.

PRA buys portfolios of charged-off consumer debt — primarily credit cards from Synchrony Bank, Capital One, and various store-card issuers — at deep discounts, then collects through in-house collectors and outside Florida collection counsel.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken two major enforcement actions against PRA. In 2015, the CFPB ordered PRA to pay $19 million in consumer redress plus an $8 million civil money penalty for collecting unverified debts, using false affidavits in court, and filing collection suits without adequate documentation. In 2023, the CFPB took a second action for continued violations, resulting in an additional $24 million settlement. Both consent orders are public.

Why this matters in Florida: the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act provides a fee-shifted counterclaim that converts PRA's documented compliance failures into real downside risk. Combined with Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(a)'s document-attachment rule and Florida case law on chain of title, PRA defendants in Florida have unusually strong leverage.

If you were just served with a complaint from PRA in Florida Circuit Court or County Court, here is what almost certainly happened. You fell behind on a credit card or other consumer account. The original creditor wrote the account off and sold it as part of a portfolio to PRA at a deep discount. PRA is now suing you in Florida because a default judgment is the most efficient way to convert that purchase into a full-balance recovery.

Industry data and CFPB studies confirm that the majority of consumers sued in debt collection cases never file an Answer. They get scared, do not understand what to file, or assume the lawsuit will go away if ignored. When that happens, the Florida court enters a default judgment automatically.

In Florida, a default judgment carries serious consequences. With a judgment in hand, PRA can garnish up to 25% of your disposable income — although Florida has a strong "head of household" exemption under Fla. Stat. § 222.11 that protects primary wage earners supporting dependents. PRA can also levy bank accounts and place liens on real property.

Filing a real Answer flips the case from a near-automatic default into a real lawsuit that PRA must prove under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(a) and Florida case law on chain of title. Given PRA's twice-documented CFPB record of suing without adequate paperwork, this is exactly the kind of case where filing back works — and where the FCCPA counterclaim makes settlement particularly attractive to PRA.

Florida gives you twenty days to file your Answer or other responsive pleading after you were served with the summons and complaint. This deadline is set by Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.140(a) and applies to most civil debt collection cases in Florida Circuit Court and County Court.

You count the twenty days starting the day after service. Weekends count. If the twentieth day falls on a weekend or court holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.090(a). "Served" in Florida generally means a sheriff or licensed process server personally handed you the papers, or — under certain conditions — left them with a person of suitable age at your usual residence.

If you miss the twenty-day deadline, PRA will move for default judgment under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.500. Once a default is entered, vacating it requires a motion under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.500(d) showing excusable neglect, a meritorious defense, and due diligence — a three-part test that gets harder the longer you wait.

Florida's twenty-day deadline is on the shorter end nationally. The single most important step you can take right now is to mark your deadline on your calendar and treat that date as the most important date on your schedule. Do not wait until day nineteen.

Florida has a strong procedural rule that requires debt buyers to attach the underlying account documentation to their complaint, and against PRA specifically, the rule is unusually powerful. Under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(a), every claim founded on a written instrument must have a copy of the instrument attached to the complaint. This applies to credit card cases — the original cardholder agreement is the written instrument.

In practice, PRA complaints filed in Florida often attach only a generic "account statement" or affidavit from a PRA records custodian, without the original cardholder agreement and without the bills of sale that establish the chain of title. Florida case law has repeatedly held that this is insufficient.

The key Florida cases are: Harry Pepper & Associates v. Lasseter, 247 So. 2d 736 (3d DCA 1971), holding that where attached exhibits contradict the allegations of a pleading, the exhibits control; Glen Garron, LLC v. Buchwald, 210 So. 3d 229 (4th DCA 2017), reinforcing that ruling in the debt-buyer context; and Jaffer v. Chase Home Finance, LLC, 155 So. 3d 1199 (4th DCA 2015), holding that the chain of assignment must be specifically proven for the defendant's account.

This maps directly onto the CFPB findings against PRA. The 2015 consent order required PRA to obtain the original cardholder agreement and account-level transfer files before suing — and the 2023 action found PRA still falling short. The exact paperwork PRA was sanctioned for lacking is the same paperwork Rule 1.130(a) requires it to attach to every Florida complaint. If PRA cannot produce a clean chain of title from the original creditor through every intermediate buyer to PRA — with account-level identification — your Answer can raise lack of standing as an affirmative defense.

For credit card debt and most consumer accounts in Florida, the statute of limitations is five years under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b), which governs claims founded on a written contract. If PRA waited too long after you stopped paying, your debt may be too old to collect — but only if you raise this defense yourself.

The clock starts running on the date of your last payment. If you made your last payment in March 2019, the five-year clock began on that date and expired in March 2024. A lawsuit filed in late 2024 would be filed outside the limitations period and would be time-barred. If you cannot remember when you last paid, look at your old credit reports.

The statute of limitations in Florida is an affirmative defense that must be raised in your Answer. Under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110(d), affirmative defenses must be specifically pleaded. If you fail to plead it, you waive it.

This defense is unusually important in PRA cases because the CFPB has specifically found PRA filed lawsuits on time-barred debts in both 2015 and 2023. The Florida FCCPA is particularly powerful here: under Fla. Stat. § 559.72(9), filing a lawsuit on a debt the collector knows is not legitimate — including a time-barred debt — is itself a violation of the Act. That gives you not just a defense but a fee-shifted counterclaim. PRA's twin CFPB consent orders are direct evidence that PRA had reason to know about the SOL status of debts in its portfolio.

Most credit card agreements contain a clause requiring that any dispute be resolved through binding arbitration administered by AAA or JAMS. When PRA bought your account, they bought it subject to whatever terms were in the original cardholder agreement.

This is a powerful defense for Florida PRA defendants. Even though the arbitration clause is enforceable by either side, PRA — like most debt buyers — often does not want to arbitrate. AAA and JAMS commercial filing fees for a business claimant typically run from $1,500 to $5,000 or more, plus the arbitrator's hourly fees. If the disputed debt is, say, $3,200, the cost of arbitration may exceed the recoverable amount.

This creates the "arbitration fee trap." When a Florida defendant files a motion to compel arbitration under Fla. Stat. § 682.03 — and the court grants it — PRA must choose between paying thousands in arbitration filing fees or abandoning the case. They very often abandon, which can result in a dismissal.

Florida courts will compel arbitration if the agreement is valid and the dispute falls within its scope. Under Florida's Revised Arbitration Code, motions to compel are typically brought early in the case to avoid waiver. To use this defense, you generally need a copy of the original cardholder agreement showing the arbitration clause.

Florida has an additional layer of leverage: even if PRA abandons the case after arbitration is compelled, you can pursue an FCCPA counterclaim under Fla. Stat. § 559.72 for filing a baseless suit. PRA's twin CFPB consent orders provide a documented basis for arguing that PRA knew or should have known its case was baseless. That kind of downside risk frequently causes PRA to settle on terms favorable to the defendant.

Your Answer is the most important document you will file in this case. It is your formal response to PRA's complaint, and it locks in your defenses for the rest of the lawsuit. A good Answer in Florida does three things: it admits or denies each numbered allegation under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.110(c), it raises every applicable affirmative defense under Rule 1.110(d), and — where appropriate — it raises an FCCPA counterclaim.

For the admit-or-deny portion: do not admit anything you do not actually know. If PRA alleges that you owed Synchrony Bank $3,217.42 as of a charge-off date you do not remember, deny that allegation for lack of knowledge. Florida pleading rules expressly allow this kind of denial.

The affirmative defenses to consider in a Florida PRA Answer include: lack of standing or chain of title under Jaffer v. Chase Home Finance; failure to attach required documents under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(a); statute of limitations under Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b); failure to state a cause of action; account stated cannot be established; arbitration clause; and the head-of-household exemption under Fla. Stat. § 222.11 if applicable.

Where FCCPA violations are present — and PRA's CFPB record makes these unusually likely — raise a counterclaim under Fla. Stat. § 559.72 for fee-shifting plus statutory damages plus potential punitive damages under § 559.77. This dramatically changes PRA's risk calculation.

What you should never do: do not admit you owe the debt. Do not call PRA. Do not promise to pay. Do not ignore the lawsuit. The 20-day clock is unforgiving.

Florida has one of the strongest consumer protection regimes in the country for debt collection defendants — the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act, codified at Fla. Stat. §§ 559.55–559.785.

The FCCPA prohibits a wide range of unfair or deceptive collection practices. Three provisions matter most in a PRA case. Section 559.72(9) prohibits asserting the existence of a legal right when the collector knows the right does not exist — including suing on a time-barred debt. The CFPB's findings against PRA are direct evidence of exactly this kind of conduct. Section 559.72(7) prohibits willfully harassing communications. Section 559.77 authorizes a private right of action with statutory damages up to $1,000, actual damages, and attorney's fees, plus potential punitive damages.

Uniquely, the FCCPA gives you a counterclaim that survives even if PRA voluntarily dismisses the lawsuit. So if PRA files a baseless suit and then walks away when challenged, you can still pursue them for the FCCPA violation.

In addition, the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act applies to PRA. The FDCPA prohibits false statements, misrepresentations of the amount or character of the debt, and abusive collection tactics. FDCPA violations entitle you to up to $1,000 in statutory damages plus attorney's fees in federal court. The CFPB findings against PRA are direct evidence of FDCPA-violative conduct.

The combination of FCCPA fee-shifting, FDCPA statutory damages, and PRA's documented regulatory record is the reason debt buyers often dismiss Florida cases when they see a real Answer with counterclaim.

After you file your Answer with the Florida court clerk and serve a copy on PRA's attorney, the case enters discovery. Discovery in Florida is governed by Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280 and following.

In a PRA case, this is where the chain-of-title defense gets tested. You can serve a request for production of documents under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.350 demanding every assignment document, every bill of sale, the original cardholder agreement, and the complete account history. PRA must respond within thirty days. If they cannot produce a clean chain of title and an authenticated account record, their case is in serious trouble.

What very often happens next is a settlement offer. The economics for PRA change dramatically once they realize they are facing a defendant who is going to make them prove their case — and who may have an FCCPA counterclaim pending. Florida practitioners report that PRA commonly settles real-Answer cases for forty to sixty cents on the dollar, sometimes much less.

If the case does not settle, it proceeds to a court date. Cases under $8,000 are heard in Florida small claims under Fla. Sm. Cl. R., where the rules are simplified. Cases between $8,000 and $50,000 are in County Court under regular rules; cases above $50,000 are in Circuit Court.

A meaningful share of PRA cases get voluntarily dismissed in Florida after Answer, especially when chain of title is weak or the FCCPA counterclaim raises real risk.

Answered is a self-help legal platform built specifically for pro se defendants in consumer debt collection lawsuits. The Florida playbook was reviewed by a Florida-licensed consumer-rights attorney and is built around the specific statutes and rules that govern PRA cases — Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(a), Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b), the FCCPA, and the chain-of-title cases including Jaffer, Harry Pepper, and Glen Garron.

When you upload your summons and complaint, Answered does the following: it extracts your service date and your 20-day Answer deadline; it scans for the procedural defects most commonly found in PRA pleadings, including missing original contract attachments under Rule 1.130(a) and missing bills of sale (the exact defects the CFPB sanctioned PRA for); it identifies whether your debt may be time-barred under the five-year SOL of Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b); it checks whether an arbitration clause is likely available; it analyzes whether an FCCPA counterclaim is supported by PRA's conduct in your case; and it generates a court-ready Answer with the affirmative defenses that apply to your case.

The Answer document is formatted for Florida Circuit or County Court, includes the proper caption and case style, and contains the affirmative defenses and (where applicable) FCCPA counterclaim language.

Pricing is simple: free to start, and a one-time $99 charge to unlock and download your final documents. There is no subscription. There is no per-document fee.

The founder, John DiSalle, was sued by a debt buyer, fought back using exactly this process, and won. Answered exists so other defendants do not have to figure it out from scratch.