How to Deal With Pioneer Debt Collections

No debt is good! And actually, very few can refuse to pay off a debt intentionally. But when your debt gets forwarded to a debt recovery agency, your efforts to negotiate a repayment plan can fall on deaf ears. Besides, they can go to unimagined lengths to try and pester you to pay the debt.

Luckily, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) can protect you from unrelenting debt collection agencies. Therefore, if you have heard from Pioneer Debt Recovery or any other debt collections company, you should know how to deal with them. For today, let’s answer all the questions you have about Pioneer and how DoNotPay can come in handy.

What is Pioneer Credit Recovery?

Mostly referred to as Pioneer Debt Recovery or PCR, this is a New York-based debt collection agency with offices across many other states. Generally, PCR specializes in collecting defaulted student loans, county/municipal court loans, IRS tax debts, among other federal/state loans.

Pioneer Contacts

Is Pioneer Credit Recovery a Scam?

No. Pioneer Collection is a legitimate business with A+ accreditation. However, there are 10s of complaints against the company with the CFPB (Consumer Financial Protection Bureau) and more than 100 with BBB (Better Business Bureau). Most of the complaints revolve around Pioneer failing to validate debts, false information, as well as the harassment of debtors like threats of legal action or wage garnishment.

Can PCR Sue Me or Garnish My Income?

According to FDCPA, it’s not legal for Pioneer Collections or any debt collection to threaten to sue you or garnish your wage without having a court order consenting the same. While they will unlikely sue you for debts they cannot verify belong to you, they can take legal action for legitimate debts that you have defaulted. However, if the statute of limitations on the debt has expired, the collector cannot sue you.

What Are My Rights When Dealing With Pioneer Credit Collection?

Being a debt collections agency, Pioneer is liable to FDCPA. Therefore, when dealing with agents from the company, you need to understand your rights as a debtor. Of course, the debt collector can take advantage of you by harassing and throwing empty threats if they know you don’t know your rights under FDCPA and your state debt collection laws. In summary, below are your rights:

• The agency should not call you between 9 p.m. and 8 a.m.
• Call you after demanding they should not, including using robocalls.
• Harass you in any form, including using offensive language against you or any other person they call about your debt.
• Use a false company name or claim to be a law execution officer when communicating with you.
• Report or threaten to report untrue info to credit bureaus
• Get in touch with third parties other than your spouses, such as friends, family, or workplace. If they do, it should be once per person and only to obtain your contacts. They should not mention anything about your debt.
• Contacting you after informing them they should only reach you through your attorney.
• Lie about the debt you owe or that you’ll be arrested/sued.
• Some states may not allow the collector to contact you after the expiry of the statute of limitations on debt collection.

What Should You Do When Pioneer Contacts You?

If any person calls you saying they are from Pioneer or any other credit recovery company, you need to be extra careful as scams are increasing. You have a right to obtain debt validation information from the collector during the first call/email or within five days in writing after the initial call. The validation information should establish:

• The amount you owe
• Name of the collector
• Creditor’s name
• What you should do if it’s not your debt

Using these pieces of information, verify that the debt belongs to you and the amount they claim you owe is accurate. If the statute of limitations on the debt has expired, you can choose to ignore the collections. Otherwise, if you don’t owe the debt or the amount is incorrect, write a demand letter within 30 days requesting debt verification from PCR. The debt collection agency is barred from contacting you again until they reply to this letter. Draft a letter to the debt collector in minutes using DoNotPay!

Dealing With Pioneer Collections on Your Own

If you indeed owe the debt Pioneer is chasing you for, you have a few things you can do to deal with them:

1. Pay the debt: It’s not a must you pay the total amount — you can negotiate with Pioneer for a favorable payment plan, including a pay-for-delete agreement that stops them from reporting you to credit bureaus. In the end, PCR can settle for way less than you owe.
2. Demand they stop contacting you: You can write a letter to Pioneer Credit Recovery demanding they stop calling or emailing you. You can also ask that they reach you through your attorney only. Remember, debt collection can sue you even if you request they stop calling/emailing/writing you.
3. If you think they have violated any of your FDCPA rights, report them to the FTC or CFPB.

Say No to Harassment From Pioneer Using DoNotPay

Pioneer Credit Recovery Inc and all other debt collections companies have one thing in common — they can easily violate FDCPA rules in their pursuit of recovering the money you owe to them. When that happens, fight back using DoNotPay’s Debt Collections product.

Here’s how it works in 3 easy steps:

1. Search “debt collection” on DoNotPay.

2. Answer a series of questions about the debt collectors, including when you were contacted and how you were contacted, so we can determine if they have violated any debt collection laws.

3. Decide which course of action you want to take based on our guidance, such as filing a debt verification request, demanding for the collectors to stop contacting you, or reporting them to the CFPB.

And that’s it! Once you choose the course of action you want to take, DoNotPay will handle the rest. We’ll deliver your request directly to the debt collectors via first-class mail or file your complaint automatically with the CFPB so that they’re no longer able to use unfair debt collection practices.

DoNotPay Can Help Regardless of the Agency

Our product is easy, fast, and successful no matter the agency chasing you for debt. We can also answer some vital questions you might be having:

• How to remove bad reports from my credit
• Can I get my credit limit increased?
• Can the collector garnish my stimulus package?
• Is it lawful to get chased for medical debts?

What Else Can DoNotPay Do?

Our objective is to help you get through each day without the need to leave your home to do what needs to be done.

• Cancel your subscriptions quickly
• Get help to clear your bills
• Claim missing money
• Write financial assistance appeal letters

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