Cavalry Portfolio Services: What to Do If They Contact You

Cavalry Portfolio Services, LLC is a debt buyer headquartered in Valhalla, New York, with additional offices in Arizona, Oklahoma, and Minnesota. The company is a subsidiary of Cavalry Investments, LLC, which was founded in 1991.

One distinctive thing about Cavalry is that they use multiple legal entities to hold the debt they buy. You may see “Cavalry SPV I, LLC,” “Cavalry SPV II, LLC,” or “Cavalry SPV IV, LLC” on your credit report or court paperwork. These are all part of the same operation. Cavalry Portfolio Services acts as the servicer, while the SPV entities are the legal owners of the purchased debt.

Cavalry has faced regulatory and legal attention over the years. In 2013, the Arizona Department of Financial Institutions fined the company $175,000 for collection practices between 2007 and 2013.

A federal appeals court also ruled against Cavalry for charging post-billing interest on accounts after the original creditor had stopped accruing it. As of recent filings, the company has accumulated more than 3,400 complaints in the CFPB database.

Why Cavalry Is Contacting You

Cavalry buys charged-off debt portfolios and then tries to collect the full balance. The debts they purchase typically come from:

• Credit card issuers: Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, and other major card companies.
• Personal loans: Defaulted bank and online lender installment loans.
• Auto finance: Deficiency balances after vehicle repossessions.
• Payday and title lenders: Short-term loans that went into default.
• Telecom and utilities: Final unpaid balances on phone and utility accounts.

Cavalry’s willingness to buy payday and title loan debt is somewhat distinctive among the larger debt buyers. It also means their portfolios often include accounts with aggressive original interest rates and fee structures, which can compound when Cavalry tries to collect.

Your Rights Under Federal Law

Two federal laws set the boundaries for how Cavalry can operate. Knowing them gives you real leverage, especially given the company’s history with post-billing interest charges.

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) regulates collector conduct. Under the FDCPA, Cavalry cannot:

• Threaten arrest or jail: Unpaid consumer debt is not a criminal matter.
• Call at odd hours: Contact is only allowed between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in your time zone.
• Contact you at work after you say stop: Once you tell them, they have to stop.
• Use harassing language: Profanity and repeated calls meant to annoy violate the law.
• Charge unauthorized interest or fees: Cavalry has specifically been held liable for this in court.
• Lie about what you owe: Misrepresenting amounts or consequences is prohibited.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) gives you the right to dispute inaccurate information. If Cavalry violates either law, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) at consumerfinance.gov.

How to Verify a Cavalry Debt Before Paying

Don’t pay or admit the debt is yours until you’ve verified it. This matters especially with Cavalry because of their documented history of charging unauthorized interest. Roughly a third of CFPB complaints against them allege the debt wasn’t owed at all.

Within 30 days of Cavalry’s first contact, send a written request by certified mail. Ask for the original creditor, the exact balance at charge-off, a breakdown of any interest or fees added since Cavalry acquired the account, and documentation showing the chain of ownership. The fee and interest breakdown matters most given the post-billing interest issues.

How to Check Your Credit Report for Errors

Pull your credit reports from all three bureaus at AnnualCreditReport.com. Look at how Cavalry is reporting the account, and pay close attention to the entity name. Is it listed under “Cavalry SPV I LLC,” “Cavalry Portfolio Services,” or another variation? Is the balance correct? Does it appear more than once, perhaps under both the original creditor and Cavalry?

Any inaccuracy is grounds for a dispute. File disputes directly with each credit bureau showing incorrect information. The bureau has 30 days to investigate, and if they can’t verify the information, they have to remove or correct it.

How the Statute of Limitations Affects Old Debt

Every state has a statute of limitations on debt, which is the window of time a creditor can sue you to collect. Once that window closes, the debt is time-barred and can’t be enforced in court, though it may still appear on your credit report.

Limits vary by state and type of debt, with most credit card and consumer debts falling in the 3 to 6 year range. Cavalry has been named in class actions for pursuing debts past the statute of limitations without proper disclosure, so always check the age of the original default before responding. Making a payment or acknowledging the debt in writing can reset the clock in some states.

Your Options for Handling a Cavalry Collection

Once you’ve verified the debt, you generally have four paths forward:

• Pay in full: Resolves the account, but doesn’t automatically remove it from your credit report.
• Negotiate a settlement: Cavalry often accepts 30 to 50 percent of the balance, especially on older accounts. Since they paid far less than face value, any settlement is profit. Get any agreement in writing.
• Request a pay-for-delete: Some collectors agree to remove the account in exchange for payment. Get it in writing.
• Dispute or wait: If the debt can’t be validated or the reporting is inaccurate, you may be able to get it removed without paying. Collection accounts fall off your credit report seven years from the original delinquency date regardless.

Can Cavalry Portfolio Services Sue You?

Yes, and they actively do. Cavalry has been named in more than 170 federal court cases and files many more lawsuits in state courts, typically under one of the SPV entity names rather than Cavalry Portfolio Services itself.

If you are sued, do not ignore the complaint. Most Cavalry lawsuit wins happen because the defendant never showed up, resulting in a default judgment. When consumers actually answer and force Cavalry to produce complete documentation, outcomes are very different.

Attorneys who defend these cases regularly report dismissals or favorable settlements when proper records can’t be produced. Consult a consumer protection attorney as soon as you’re served.

How to Contact Cavalry Portfolio Services

Handle all communication in writing whenever possible. Phone calls leave you without a record. Here’s how to reach them:

• Address: Cavalry Portfolio Services, LLC, 500 Summit Lake Drive, Suite 400, Valhalla, NY 10595
• Phone: (866) 483-5139

If you do need to speak by phone, take notes with the date, time, the name of the person you spoke with, and what was said.

Final Thoughts

Cavalry’s multi-entity structure and their history of questionable interest charges are both useful to know when you’re deciding how to respond. The SPV name on your credit report and the Cavalry Portfolio Services name on the phone call are the same operation, and both are subject to the same federal rules.

Check the dates, verify the balance, scrutinize any added interest, and don’t ignore a lawsuit if one arrives. Methodical documentation beats panic payments every time.