Just received a letter that this outfit has attached my tax refund using the Federal Management System in Birmingham, AL. Suspected a defaulted SBA loan from 7 years ago on a business that went bad. We paid off all our bills save two, one a credit card that was written off by the credit card company (my wife took the points hit), and the SBA loan, which we got half paid off, ran out of money, and they sent us a letter saying it was zeroed out. 5.5 years go by. Eighteen months ago we did a dance with NCO Collections out of NJ trying to recollect on the credit card, and after some letters, (all certified, return receipt required), and presentation of a notarized copy of the write off letter from the credit card company along with a cease and desist letter, we prevailed.
These PCR guys are a whole different level. We are not lushes, we went out and borrowed as much as we could and paid off our debts, (took 5 years), but when SBA sent us a zeroed letter 7 years ago we figured OK, we'll take the credit hit and let's move on. Apparently not so...
My wife called PCR once, she is a professional debt collector herself for over 6 years now. She was floored at their immediate vilolations. All they wanted was our full SSN numbers. Not a chance. She held her ground only giving the last four and a name, they put on the "supervisor" (usually at the call center there is a floating higher level collector with more years experience - not a supervisor - they call it a twinteam), and he came on and they did the dance four more times and he terminated the call. The letter we got doesn't even say what the debt is, just that it has been attached to my tax refund. It was mailed from Alabama. Calls to the Federal Management System in Birmingham does no good, they give out PCR info and tell you to call them.
Pioneer is NOT a part of any federal agency, they have a contract with some, Dept of Ed, SBA, and a couple others. They are hired to collect for them. These are not government employees, they are just another collection house that is currently doing pretty well.
After talking to my Accountant, we did the following: Pull your credit report. We had not in a year, so I went to www.annualcreditreport.com, the government free reporting service. It took about 25 minutes to get all three, using their easy prompts. In my case, the SBA loan does not even show up, but a couple account inquiries do on collections. This knowledge is power. PCR has not been one of them so they are simply running on a case number presented by the FMS in Birmingham. My Accountant also suggested that we pull both of ours, so we will do my wife's this week, although the letter from PCR only shows my name.
Their insistance on getting my full SSN from my wife shows us that they have basically case numbers, which Federal Management Systems in Birmingham said to use the same number as what was on the letter. That letter was sent by FMS in Alabama, NOT from PCR. So they need the SSN to get to your full information. My next event will be to send a registered/return receipt required letter demanding PCR disclose the information they claim to have. They will have 30 days to respond. There is a chance they do not, since they were so adamant at getting their hands on my SSN. Their agreement may include a provision that the Federal Management System in Birmingham puts on the attachment. But any reasonable collection agency can work with the last four digits of an SSN and a name. This tells me that these guys are not fully informed and are working a contract with the Feds. They may be given a case file, an amount and type of loan, and maybe a name. The government cannot just willy-nilly give out all your information to anyone, unless the entire PCR corporation has undergone background checks with the feds. Somehow I doubt it.
If you have an SBA loan you have defaulted on, unless you can prove they zeroed it, you are in for a ride. PCR says they attach the tax return, but my letter came from a federal agency in Birmingham who attached. It did not have the name of PCR on it, I had to call Birmingham to get the name of PCR. But know that you need to stay with letters, certified, return receipt required, and do not do anything by phone. My wife and I thought that doing the dance with NCO Collections was a trip - PCR is a whole 'nother league. That's why they are currently the number one collector for the Feds, an astounding 33%, where others are often around 13%. And remember that knowledge is power, and if you can, pay off the damn debt. In my case, they won't even tell me how much it is, even if I wanted to write them a check today. I simply refuse to give my full SSN over a phone. All I am asking for is a reasonable conversation where I can make arrangements. Not this prison-like, mushroom treatment where I am kept in the dark. That is the path to a treadmill. Well, fine. I will use the power of the Fair Credit Act and the USPS, Certified, Return Receipt Required.

First they called me at my job and insisted that this matter be taken care of right away. The first woman I talked to was very nice and then she let me have a supervisor who was very rude. She demanded that I borrow the money from my boyfriend to pay my debt. She then said she would contact the Dept of Education and tell them that I refused to pay my debt. She said that she would let them know right away that I refused to take care of this debt. When I told her that it was Christmas time she said she did not care that I needed to send 196.00 today or she would have my wages garnished. I told her that I was going to report her to my legislators and she said they would do nothing for me. I told her I would contact the Dept of Education and she said they would refer me back to her. I told her to have a lousy Christmas and to never call my job again. I had to hang up as she was yelling at me to borrow the money from my boyfriend.

This company uses scare tactics, threats, and all-in-all atrocious behavior in attempts to collect a debt. They are patronizing, harassing me at my place of employment, and are in no way attempting to meet an agreement on the terms under which I am able to make payments.

They have also requested my routing and account numbers over the phone, which I refuse to provide.

The people at this company do not know how to effectively communicate and would do well to have someone treat them with as much disrespect as they have shown me.

Pioneer Credit Recovery claims to be associated with Direct Loans and the US Dept. of Education. They have been harassing me for at least 3 months on old defaulted student loans from 2004. They are claiming they can garnish my wages, or my tax refunds if money isn't handed over immediately. All they seem to be interested in is getting my checking account information so they can enroll me in a 'debt rehabilitation program' where they would automatically pull $97 a month from my checking account every month for a minimum of nine months. It may not seem like a huge amount, but my family and I are low-income, and we currently live on less than $1000 a month.

I want to pay these loans back, but I don't know if they are valid, as all my student loans have been with Great Lakes (who I am currently in hardship deferment with). I haven't been in school since 2005, when I gave birth and became a stay-at-home mom to my almost four year old son.

Calling PCR does no good, as every time I speak with someone, I get a different story and a different attempt to get money from me. I have called Direct Loans AND the US Dept. of Education, both of whom claim not to be able to tell me anything other than my supposed 'loan' is being handled by PCR, and I have to go through them. I tried to go to PCR's website, and it has nothing but an error message and a blank page. And I'm still getting phone calls on a weekly basis, even though I have requested to be removed from the call list while I research the authenticity of these loans.

Said companies have been calling at all hours and on weekends, have been discussing circumstances of my profile without my permission and finally have been very unprofessional when contacted and told to stop.