PRA Group, Inc. (PRA Group) operates as a global financial services company with operations in the Americas, Europe and Australia.
The company's primary business is the purchase, collection, and management of portfolios of nonperforming loans. The accounts the company purchases are primarily the unpaid obligations of individuals owed to credit originators. The company purchases nonperforming loans at a discount to face value for both the company's Core and Insolvency portfolios. The company's C...
PRA Group, Inc. (PRA Group) operates as a global financial services company with operations in the Americas, Europe and Australia.
The company's primary business is the purchase, collection, and management of portfolios of nonperforming loans. The accounts the company purchases are primarily the unpaid obligations of individuals owed to credit originators. The company purchases nonperforming loans at a discount to face value for both the company's Core and Insolvency portfolios. The company's Core operation specializes in purchasing and collecting nonperforming loans, which are sold by credit originators when they choose not to pursue, or have been unsuccessful in, collecting the full balance owed. The company's Insolvency operation consists primarily of purchasing and collecting on nonperforming loans where the customer is involved in a bankruptcy, or similar proceeding. The company also purchases and provides fee-based services for class action claims recoveries in the U.S.
Portfolio Purchasing
To identify purchasing opportunities, the company's global investment team continuously engages with known and potential sellers, including major banks, consumer finance companies, auto finance providers, and other creditors. The types of Core and Insolvency nonperforming loans the company purchases include general purpose and private label credit cards, consumer loans, auto loans, overdrafts, and small business loans. In valuing these loans, the company considers several factors, including the type of asset, the age since charge-off, the geographic region, the sellers' selection criteria, and collections activity up to the time of sale. The company leverages its extensive data set and modeling experience to determine the price it bids for a portfolio, which considers projected future cash collections, the estimated cost to collect, financing costs, and the current market environment. All purchases are subject to approval by the applicable investment committee(s).
Credit originators sell nonperforming loans in either single portfolio transactions, referred to as spot sales, or through pre-arranged sales of multiple portfolios over time, referred to as forward flow sales. Under forward flows, portfolios are purchased on a periodic basis at a negotiated price over a specified term, typically ranging from six to 12 months. In addition, forward flow agreements contain provisions establishing specific criteria for the loans to be purchased, and many allow for termination and/or price renegotiation should the underlying quality of the portfolio deteriorate over time.
Portfolio Collections
Core Operation
The company's collection efforts are driven by a combination of internally staffed call centers and external vendors. As part of recent initiatives to enhance the performance of the company's U.S. business, it expanded its use of offshore collectors and conducted a successful work-from-home pilot program for a portion of its collection’s operations, which led to a planned reduction in the number of collection sites in the U.S. from six to three. Whether accounts are being serviced by internal staff or external vendors, except for accounts placed with a third-party debt collection agency, the company utilizes its proprietary models to proportionally direct work efforts to those customers most able and willing to pay, and ultimately, to achieve the highest correlation to profitable collections from its call activities. There are some markets, especially in the Nordic countries, where the collection process follows a prescribed and time-sensitive set of legal actions, but in the majority of instances, the company is able to use models and analysis to identify accounts with a higher propensity to pay. The company utilizes a combination of internal resources (attorneys and supporting staff), external law firms, and other third-party vendors to perform legal recovery and judicial collections.
Insolvency Operation
Accounts that are in an insolvent or bankrupt status are managed by the company’s Insolvency operations team. These accounts fall under insolvency plans ranging from Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs) and Trust Deeds in the U.K., (UK) Consumer Proposals in Canada, to various forms of bankruptcy plans in the U.S., Canada, Germany and the U.K. The company files claim or claim transfers securing its creditor rights under these plans, and it actively manages these accounts through the entire life cycle of the insolvency proceeding to ensure that it participates in any distributions to creditors. The accounts the company manages are derived from two sources purchased portfolios of insolvent nonperforming loans and its Core nonperforming loans where its customers file for protection under insolvency or bankruptcy laws after it purchase the accounts.
Digital Channels
The company utilizes digital platforms to support its inbound collection efforts, and were permitted by local regulations, its outbound communications. The company's digital channels allow it to serve its customers in a way that many of them prefer, providing convenient, user-friendly platforms for receiving information, making payments, accessing account information, viewing documents, and contacting account representatives.
Seasonality
In all of the countries in which the company operates, customer payment patterns can be impacted by multiple factors, including seasonal employment trends, income tax refunds and holiday spending habits.
Government Regulation
Significant laws and regulations applicable to the company’s U.S. business include the following:
Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, which imposes certain obligations and restrictions on the practices of debt collectors, including specific restrictions regarding the time, place and manner of communications.
Fair Credit Reporting Act, which obligates credit information providers to verify the accuracy of information provided to credit reporting agencies and investigate consumer disputes concerning the accuracy of such information.
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), which requires that certain financial institutions, including collection companies, develop policies to protect the privacy of consumers' private financial information and provide notices to consumers advising them of their privacy policies.
Electronic Funds Transfer Act, which regulates electronic fund transfer transactions, including a consumer’s right to stop payments on a pre-approved fund transfer and to receive certain documentation of the transaction.
Telephone Consumer Protection Act, which, along with similar state laws, places certain restrictions on the use of pre-recorded messages and certain automated dialing equipment that places telephone calls to consumers.
Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, which gives U.S. military service personnel relief from credit obligations they may have incurred prior to entering military service and may also apply in certain circumstances to obligations and liabilities incurred by a servicemember while serving on active duty.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which provides standards to protect the confidentiality of patients' personal healthcare and financial information in the U.S.
U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which prohibits certain contacts with consumers after the filing of bankruptcy petitions and dictates what types of claims will or will not be allowed in a bankruptcy proceeding, including how such claims may be discharged.
Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires that telecommunications companies operating in the U.S. take steps to ensure functionally equivalent services are available for their consumers with disabilities and to accommodate consumers with disabilities through, for example, implementation of telecommunications relay services.
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the Dodd Frank Act), which restructured the regulation and supervision of the financial services industry in the U.S. and created the CFPB.
The company’s non-U.S. businesses are also subject to regulation by various regulators, including central banks and other regulatory bodies, such as the UK Financial Conduct Authority, Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, Bank of Italy, Polish Financial Supervision Authority and Australian Securities & Investments Commission.
U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), UK Bribery Act and Similar Laws, which prohibit certain payments to governmental officials and other individuals.
International data protection and privacy laws, which include relevant country specific legislation in the U.K. and other European countries where the company operates that regulate the processing of information relating to individuals, including the obtaining, holding, use or disclosure of such information; the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, which aims to protect personal information that is collected, used or disclosed in certain circumstances for purposes of electronic commerce in Canada; and the GDPR, which regulates the processing and free movement of personal data within the European Union (‘EU’) and transfer of such data outside the EU; and in the UK, the Data Protection Act 2018, which implements the EU General Data Protection Regulation in the UK.
Consumer Credit Act 1974 (and its related regulations); Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations of 1999; and the Financial Conduct Authority's Handbook of rules and guidance.
In addition, certain of the company’s EU subsidiaries are subject to capital adequacy, liquidity and other requirements imposed by regulators.
History
The company was founded in 1996. It was incorporated in 2002. The company was formerly known as Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc. and changed its name to PRA Group, Inc. in 2014.