Portfolio Recovery Associates Appoints Senior Vice President, Core Operations

NORFOLK, VA, Jul 18 (MARKET WIRE) --
Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRAA), a specialized
financial services company and market leader in the consumer debt
purchase and collection industry, today announced the hiring of Tara
Privette as senior vice president, Core Operations.

Privette was appointed to the new role at Portfolio Recovery Associates
(PRA) earlier this month. She is responsible for all of PRA's domestic
call center operations and will report to Neal Stern, executive vice
president, Operations.

"The addition of Tara to the Operations senior leadership team will
further strengthen PRA's call center operations," said Stern. "Her
breadth of experience, record of hard work and continual success in the
collections arena will be a great asset to the company's continued
growth."

With more than 15 years of leadership experience in the collections and
call center industry, Privette has experience leading and managing all
stages of the collections process, including pre-charge off collections,
recoveries and vendor management.

Prior to joining PRA, Privette worked for Target Corporation for 11
years, most recently as a senior group manager. She also held roles
related to customer service, collections, vendor management, and
information security.

Privette earned a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice from St. Cloud
State University in St. Cloud, Minn.

About Portfolio Recovery Associates, Inc.
Portfolio Recovery Associates,
Inc. (NASDAQ: PRAA), a specialized financial services company, is a
market leader in the consumer debt purchase and collection industry. The
Company, which has purchased more than $56 billion of defaulted consumer
debt since its inception, has operations in 10 states, approximately 25
million customer accounts and more than 2,500 employees. Portfolio
Recovery Associates also provides a broad range of fee-based services
through its subsidiaries: PRA Government Services, LLC; MuniServices,
LLC; PRA Location Services, LLC; and Claims Compensation Bureau, LLC.
Working every day with people in financial distress, the Company seeks to
engage collaboratively with its customers to create realistic, affordable
repayment plans. Portfolio Recovery Associates has a longstanding culture
of compliance, and for four consecutive years has been named to the
Forbes 100 Best Small Companies in America annual rankings list (2007 -
2010). Additional information about Portfolio Recovery Associates is
available at www.portfoliorecovery.com.

Media Contact:
Ray Atkinson
Assistant Vice President, Corporate Communications
757-351-3264
raatkinson@portfoliorecovery.com

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