Sued for Debt – What’s Reasonable to Want out of Settlement

What’s Reasonable to Want and How do you Get it?

If you’re being sued for debt and have at least some money, you may be thinking about settling the case. What’s reasonable to pay? What’s reasonable to want in return for your money? And how do you go about it all?

These are questions that came up in a recent case evaluation. The answers are dynamic, but in a general way they point to some useful ideas.

Settlement Happens When Both Parties Agree they Can’t Do Better

In lawsuits, and perhaps all of life, you take actions you think will give you the best possible outcome. That’s a simple idea, but what it means is that if a company is suing you, they will settle if and only if they think it will give them a better outcome than pursuing the case to trial. In evaluating their case they look at “risk” (of losing) and cost (to pursue the case). When they file the suit, they fully expect to win the case either by default or within a few short weeks without having to spend any significant effort on it. Their only concern is whether you’ll be able to pay, but they do have a serious concern about this issue and will likely either settle for less than they demanded. But not much less.

If you want a better settlement, you’re going to have to take actions to change the way they view the suit.

Look at the Overall Case

Not all lawsuits or claims for money are created equal. If the plaintiff is a debt buyer (and not an original creditor), they will very likely have some or all of the weaknesses we mention in our Three Weaknesses Report. That is, they probably cannot win the case if you fight it intelligently. But they don’t expect many people to fight at all, and of those who do fight, they don’t expect many to know what they’re doing.

That means that when they file suit they completely discount all risk of losing, and they expect costs to be minimal. You need to change those opinions, and if you fight you can change their opinions about both of those things… eventually.

If the plaintiff is an original creditor, there is still a chance they’ll have the three weaknesses. But again they will completely discount any risk of losing. And remember, the lawyers bringing these cases scarcely if at all look at the cases – they have no real idea of what they have. They base their lack of concern over losing on the fact that so few people fight the cases.It’s a waste of money, they figure, to spend even one minute per case looking at the file when almost none of them will actually be disputed.

Again, you can change that by fighting. In discovery you can find out whether they have what they need – and at a minimum you will be adding to their risk (since they’ll have to start spending money to pursue the case, and they’re worried about whether they’ll get it back).

Therefore, it almost always makes sense to start fighting – and to do as good a job at it as possible – whether you have a debt buyer or original creditor, and whether or not you want to settle or try to win.

When it’s Time to Talk Settlement

After a while, you may be able to get the other side to take settlement more seriously.  When you do, what can you reasonable expect from them? Well, in short, that all depends on just how worried they are about their risk of losing and the cost of continuing. If they’re very worried, you could get them to clear whatever credit damage they have done to you, take little or no money to walk away, and give you a dismissal with prejudice.

If they’re not worried, you won’t get much from them. Simple as that.

Factors to Consider in your Favor

Some things that could help your case – you’ve shown them that:

  • They need, but don’t have, a contract with your signature
  • They cannot get records of the debt into evidence
  • They cannot prove they own the debt
  • The case is going to require a significant amount of attorney time to complete
  • The case will not be resolved for a long time
  • They know you know these things

Factors that Could Hurt Your Case

There are some things you can do to make settlement more difficult. And understand, the better your chances of winning are, the more likely they are to settle, so these factors should be considered damaging to your chance of winning at trial.

  • You have admitted to them you owe the debt
  • You have paid the debt collector money
  • You have told the debt collector where you work or bank
  • The trial has been set for a date not far away
  • You have not conducted any discovery

Do you see how all of these things lower their risks or uncertainty regarding getting money from you?

Note that one thing that is NOT a factor is how much they paid for the debt (if they’re debt buyers).  They probably did not pay much, and this might have a small effect on the amount of money they insist on, but their rights are measured by the amount of the original debt. And they will push for the most they can get according to the factors we mentioned above. How much they paid for the debt makes almost no difference. Whether they have “written off” the debt is an accounting matter that also has no impact on your negotiations or the case in general.

Conclusion

If you can do a lot of the things that help you and avoid most of the things that hurt you, you have a very good chance of winning at trial. The better your chance of winning is, the better a settlement you could get if you settle. It all starts with knowing what you’re doing as soon as you can (and of course that’s what our membership is for).

We often say there are no free lunches, and that most definitely extends to settling lawsuits. They will only settle with you and give you what you want because they think that is better than the alternative of continuing to fight. Don’t expect them to settle as a favor to you or from the goodness of their hearts. It just doesn’t work that way.

Statute of Frauds

How the Requirement of a Written Contract Can Affect Your Case with a Debt Collector

Everybody has heard of the statute of limitations, which refers to the amount of time a company has to bring suit against you, but have you ever heard of the “Statute of Frauds?” That can be equally important for some debt disputes in rare circumstances.

What is the Statute of Frauds?

The statute of frauds is a law – a written statute – that every state legislature has passed, as far as I know, requiring that certain claims can only be brought if there is a written contract. You will be able to find the statute for your state by googling “statute of frauds” and your state name. In plain English, the statute of frauds means that you cannot sue on an oral contract if the amount in dispute is over a certain limit, or if the performance of the contract was not to be completed within a certain amount of time. A promise to repay $10,000 at some undetermined time, for example, or to repay a certain sum over a period of time greater than five years (i.e., $10,000 in $100 payments until the balance is zero), would almost certainly violate the statute of limitations.

This is not an issue that comes up directly in most credit card cases, obviously, as the credit card application – if they can find it – or other supporting documentation which they often have, would take the case out of the statute of frauds.

Unilateral Contracts

Another reason the statute of frauds rarely applies to debt cases is that use of a credit card creates what is known as a “unilateral” contract to repay the money borrowed (to pay for the purchase).  A contract is made when there is an offer and an acceptance, and use of a credit card, sent under certain conditions, is an acceptance that creates a contract. And this is so whether you sign an agreement to follow the terms and conditions of the contract or not. Debt collectors love to use this because they almost never have the contract, however you should remember that they must still prove you used the card, and they must prove the terms and conditions – all with competent evidence.

Settlement

Another way the statute might come up in the credit card context is a debt collector harassing you and then, supposedly, claiming that you have agreed to settle the case over the phone for monthly payments of $200 for the next six years. That sort of agreement would probably violate the statute of frauds.

Statute of Frauds Applies to Either Party

It cuts both ways, too: if you think you have an agreement to settle a case brought by a debt collector for payments of some amount of money extending over more than five years (in some states – check on yours for the time limit that applies to you), but you do not have it in writing, then you do not have a settlement. Understand: this does not mean that payments that would occur after the five years are up do not have to be made, it means that the entire contract… is no contract. None of the payments have to be made – and none of the actions for which those payments would be made (like dismissing the case against you) have to be done.

Remedy for Violating the Statute of Frauds

There is no “remedy” for violating the statute of frauds. If you make an oral contract that does violate it, that contract is unenforceable. That is, you can’t sue or be sued, for breaking the contract – there is no contract. The fault can be “cured,” of course, in certain ways. Obviously putting the contract into writing would cure it. “Partial performance” sometimes will do it, too. That is, if the person who has something left to do starts to do it, that might cure the contract. Thus if someone claims you owe them money under something you think breaks the statute of frauds, a partial payment might have disastrous consequences for you.

Integration Clause

Most written contracts have something very much like a statute of frauds built into them – and you should be aware of this, again, in the settlement context of any debt on a written contract.  It’s called an “integration” clause. It’s the thing that says “this contract is the complete agreement between the parties and cannot be changed unless both parties sign any modification” [or words to that effect]. Most contracts have an integration clause, and every credit card contract I’ve ever seen has one. In most situations this part of the contract means that you must have a written and signed agreement before you take any action on a contract. An oral agreement will not change any part of a written contract with that integration phrase.

In your normal life, this also means that if you have an oral agreement with someone and then you create a written contract to “get it in writing,” the written contract will likely wipe out the complete oral agreement – so you have to get everything in writing, not just part of it.

Memberships with our site

Memberships with Your Legal Leg Up

Our membership is a tremendous value and an effective way to level the playing field between you and a debt collector.

After years of providing debt defendants what they need to beat the debt collectors, I have figured out a way to make beating the debt collectors less stressful and time-consuming. If you’d like to save time and stress while improving your chances of victory, keep reading.

How do you “Level the Playing Field” with the Debt Collectors?

As I have often pointed out, the debt collectors rarely have the evidence they need to win a case when they file suit. Instead, they rely on people defaulting or giving up. That’s how they get away with adding illegal fees so often or suing people who never owed any money – or suing for debts they don’t own.

The debt collectors have designed their litigation process to make it more likely that people will give up – they “tilt” the playing field so that fighting them to obtain justice and fair play is always up hill for you. From Petitions alleging the same debt three or four different ways (making it look like you might owe three times as much as they even say you do) to “fake” affidavits of robo-signers swearing to things about which they have no knowledge, to fake account statements and bogus notices – all these things are designed to trick or intimidate people into giving up. Many of these illegal or immoral tactics have been “business as usual” for the debt collectors. They’re notorious for dirty tricks.

And the debt collectors also start with some “institutional” advantages when they sue people for debt – they do this all the time, you know. The debt collectors have associations of other debt collectors and lawyers who provide them the latest information and court decisions nationally, or just contacts to help them strategize how to deal with your case. They have “document banks” – computer files of petitions, motions, discovery, etc. that they know have worked in cases before. These give them a big advantage: they can draft a petition and serve discovery with a few keystrokes by a paralegal, whereas you are left to spend hours responding. They know what works because they know what is happening in the hundreds of thousands of cases like yours that get filed every year.

How do you neutralize the debt collectors’ advantages and level the playing field?

Introducing Your Legal Leg Up Memberships

In order to counteract the advantages of the debt collectors I have created two types of membership with Your Legal Leg Up: Gold and Platinum. These memberships will allow me to provide you more and better service, give you expanded access to helpful materials, and keep you updated on the latest strategies and techniques that people are using to beat the debt collectors. You will have your own “document banks” where you will be able to download documents that have been used successfully by other people in fighting debt collectors so you don’t have to spend ten times as much time as the debt collectors do on simple documents. And you will special access to me and – more importantly – to other people like you who are actually fighting the debt collectors.

Benefits of Membership

As I mentioned above, there are four main features of membership: expanded access to materials, keeping up to date, connecting with others, and creating and building a document bank of documents you can convert to your own use without a ton of trouble.

Expanded Availability of Services

Through the newsletter and members-only homepage, you will receive updates, alerts, and reports and the tried-and-true, easy to understand materials in the ever-expanding “members-only” section of our website. Members will have access not only to the free access videos, but also to our extensive members-only video collection and the Your Legal Leg Up Video Series–now available ONLY to members, previously sold for $149 and available online.

Keeping Current

With the new membership comes a free subscription to Fightdebt!, official newsletter of Your Legal Leg Up. Every month it will give you the latest news in debt litigation as well as special tips on debt litigation, consumer issues, and credit repair. This is another benefit that is available only to members, valued at $49/year. You will also get new videos, reports and alerts as they happen.

Connecting with Others

Although some of the other benefits of membership may be more tangible and obvious, I actually think this benefit is going to be one of the most important benefits of membership. We will start with a members-only blog (which I will mediate), and this will allow more freewheeling contact between members. It is also my goal to connect those who want to be connected to other people who are from the same state. It’s hard to overestimate the advantage that comes with being able to talk to someone else going through the same thing, and working on pleadings and motions (for example) together could even make the process fun. Monthly teleconferences are free for members so callers can benefit from hearing one anothers’ questions and experiences, and a teleconference connections webpage also provides a forum on which participants may share and connect.

Software

Some people do not have a word processing program that will help them create professional documents or cut and paste documents from the document bank. Members will receive a link to a free word processor which will fill that need. Likewise, for ease of viewing, members will be provided a link to a video player that will let them play or download videos from the site.

Who can use FDCPA and Who follows it

Who Can Use, and Who Must Follow, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act

The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act only applies to consumer debts and, by and large, the actions of debt collectors (or original creditors pretending to be debt collectors). This is broken down into the questions of the type of debt for which collection is sought and the type of entity seeking the debt. In this article we will first discuss what the FDCPA covers, and then what that means to you.

Consumer Debts only

The FDCPA applies to “consumer debts,” or debts incurred primarily for personal, family, or household purposes. 15 U.S.C. Sections 1692a(3) and (5), Creighton v. Emporia Credit Service, Inc., 981 F.Supp. 411 (E.D.Va. 1997). When the debt is rung up on a corporate or business credit card, the courts will look into the nature of the debt – and not simply the name on the card. As I have pointed out elsewhere, however, making this argument can be dangerous to the “corporate shield” since it suggests a merging of assets which is sometimes used to defeat the corporate shield and allow a creditor to pursue an owner of the corporation.

Natural Persons Only

The act also only protects “natural” persons, which means it applies only to actual people and not corporations or separate associations. Again, since debt collectors never actually speak to corporations or businesses, but only to human individuals, this simply means that if a debt collector is calling on a debt rung up for business purposes, or calling a business regarding its debt (and harassing whoever picks up the phone, for example), the FDCPA does not apply.

Transactions Only

Because the FDCPA applies to only consumer debt, it applies only to “transactions” engaged in primarily for personal, family, or household debt. In other words, it does not apply to debts generated by child support obligations, tort claims (lawsuits against you for harming another person), or personal taxes, for example. Mabe v. G.C. Services Limited Partnership, 32 F.3d 86 (4th Cir. 1994); Zimmerman v. HBO Affiliate Group, 834 F. 2d 1163 (3rd Cir. 1987); Hawthorne v. Mac Adjustment, Inc., 140 F.3d 1367 (11th Cir. 1998).

On the other hand, the term “transaction” can be fairly broad, and would include things like condominium fees or other fees or debts incurred as part of a transaction that might, in fact, have occurred years before the debt in question arose. Because the FDCPA applies to debts arising out of transactions, it has applied to condo fees for a house the consumer once lived in but later (at the time of the FDCPA violation) was renting out to others for the purpose of generating income. This would suggest the reverse might also be true – a condo originally purchased for business purposes but later converted to personal use might not be covered by the FDCPA, but I have not seen a case with that holding.

The Act does apply to things you might consider “non-credit” obligations, such as bad check debts, condominium assessment fees, residential rental payments, municipal water and sewer service, and other non-credit consumer obligations – Bass v. Stolper, Koritzinsky,Brewster & Neider, S.C., 111 F.3d 1322 (7th Cir. 1997); FTC v. Check Investors, 502 F.3d 159 (3d Cir. 2007).

Debt Collectors Only

In general, the FDCPA applies only to “debt collectors.” What that means used to be a lot clearer than it is now.

The Supreme Court confused the question of who was a debt collector in some decisions in 2018. Primarily, it determined that when a company buys a debt – regardless of its status at the time of purchase – it is a “creditor” under the part of the law debt defendants had been using to sue junk debt buyers.

Instead, a person buying a debt might be a debt collector if its “principle business” is the collection of debts. It is not clear HOW MUCH of a company’s business must be collection of debts for that to be its “principle business.” I would guess a sizable majority – perhaps 90% or more – but the term has rarely been litigated, and has never been quantified to my knowledge. It would seem clear that a bank with a sizable business providing credit cards would not be a debt collector if it happened to buy someone else’s debts and bring suit on them. Likewise, law firms buying debt and suing on them would probably not be debt collectors if they do anything else – a truly unfortunate result, in my opinion.

But classic debt collectors (i.e., those working for someone else) would still be debt collectors, and so, probably, are the largest junk debt buyers.

What the FDCPA does not cover is actions by an “original creditor” (i.e., the company or person who claims you borrowed from it) unless it is pretending to be another entity. Sometimes original creditors seek to exert additional pressure on delinquent bill payers by pretending to be a debt collector, and when they do this they are not only covered by the FDCPA but also often in violation of it, since the Act prohibits deception and unfair collection methods. The Act will also not cover the actions of loan “servicers,” which are financial companies that buy debt not in default and manage it as if they had extended credit in the first place.

What It Means to Be Covered by the FDCPA or Not

As I am sure you know, the FDCPA requires and prohibits certain actions, giving you defenses and the right to counterclaim or file suit against a debt collector. If the FDCPA does not apply, you simply cannot claim any rights under it – cannot require verification, bring claims for deception or abusive conduct, or seek to enforce any other rights under the FDCPA against non-debt collectors or against debt collectors for their actions in pursuit of non-covered debt.

Making such a claim could damage your ability to defend against these debts, so you should carefully consider whether the Act applies before attempting to assert rights under it.

If your debt or bill collector is not covered under the FDCPA, that does not necessarily mean that you have no rights worth asserting. It just means that you must look somewhere else for them. Many states have their own debt collection laws, and these may apply to situations the FDCPA does not. Also, more generally, most states have laws regarding how “outrageous” a person – including a debt collector – is allowed to be.

One of the great things about the FDCPA is that it gives some specific rules – debt collectors cannot call before 8 in the morning, for example, whereas a few calls by an original creditor early in the morning will probably not be illegal. As the behavior becomes more and more extreme, however, the more likely it is to be “outrageous” enough to give you the right to sue. Threats of physical harm or police activity probably go over this line, for example; cussing you out a time or two? – maybe not. It is simply not clear what non-debt collectors are allowed to do in many instances. Courts have been pretty tolerant of some surprisingly bad or extreme actions by original creditors.

Welcome to Fightdebt

Welcome to Fightdebt (Youtube) and YourLegalLegUp

Welcome to Your Legal Leg Up. Our channel on Youtube is @fightdebt. Please be sure to subscribe.

Welcome to Your Legal Leg Up.

Our goal is to help ordinary people who are facing debt problems now or trying to live down the effects of older debt problems. We want to help you protect what you have and build for tomorrow.

Debt Defense

We got our start in helping people defend against debt lawsuits brought by debt collectors. This is possible because debt collection is really a “factory” operation. The debt collectors find out practically nothing about individual cases before they bring suit, and in litigation they don’t like to spend any more time on them. Instead, they bring dozens, hundreds, or thousands (depending on the collector) of suits that are virtually identical. Because most people – we estimate somewhere between 80 and 95% of people – default or give up without paying any attention to the law suit whatever, the debt collectors really don’t need to do anything to rake in huge amounts of money.

And that’s what they do.

But the problem with that approach for them is that if you are willing and able to fight a little bit, they rapidly find it unprofitable to continue to fight with you. They make their money by collecting debts, not fighting them. We teach you to fight them in a way that increases the debt collector’s costs and improves your chances of winning. It takes some work, but your chances of winning are excellent.

Credit Repair

If you have had debt problems at one point, there’s a good chance your credit report is still suffering. And that means that good things are passing you by. You’re spending more for housing, insurance, and many other things, and there are some things you just can’t get – all because you have bad credit. You can fix that, and we can help. There are laws that help you get your credit report reviewed and straightened out, and there are practical ways to reconstruct your credit history so that you’re better off than you were before your debt problems.

Debt Negotiation

If you have debt collectors after you for a debt you can’t afford to pay, you must wonder whether there’s a way to make them go away without suing you. Of course, any one company can do whatever it pleases, but in general, the debt collectors can be brought to the table. They’ll negotiate, and you can get back on your feet without being sued. And without having to pay what you can’t afford.

Of course there are no free lunches, and anything you do to negotiate will cost you in various ways. We help you minimize those costs so you don’t pay more than you have to for less beneficial results. It’s all about making the best of a bad situation, and part of that means to keep it from getting worse. We can help.

 

Sometimes a Raindance is just a Dance 2

Sometimes a Rain Dance is Just a Dance – – and it Rains (Pt. 2)

This is part two of this video and article. In the first part we talked about how some people do a bunch of things which may or may not be effective, and win their cases. Sometimes this is from sheer amount of effort, which causes the debt collector to think the whole thing will be more trouble than it’s worth. Sometimes it’s from doing something right (among all the things that are done). Sometimes it’s just from doing ANYTHING at all.

The point is, just because someone wins a case doesn’t necessarily mean that any one thing he or she did “worked.” Sometimes you just get lucky.

There is some (essentially random) luck, but most luck comes from doing the right things. Knowing how to do these things the right way gives you your best chance to win. Our materials help you figure out how to do the right things.

How Debt Lawsuits begin

A debt lawsuit starts with a “petition” (although it is sometimes called a “complaint,” and there may be other names for it, too). This is the statement that you supposedly owe the debt collector money, some legal reasons why the court should order you to pay, and a “request for relief” (also known as the “wherefore clause”). The debt collector can file this petition with the court without any permission from the court. When they file it, the also get a summons.

Some courts let the debt collectors write up and send the summons, too, although technically it comes from the court. The debt lawyer, as an “officer of the court,” writes it up, a clerk stamps it (or they may come pre-stamped), and the power of the court – over the case and over you – has been invoked. The summons tells you when to be at court and what to expect (“default judgment for the amount sued upon”) if you fail to show up. In all courts of which I am aware, proper service of the summons, which can happen in several ways, is necessary for the court to have jurisdiction over you. It is a constitutional requirement, but just what the constitution requires isn’t always clear, whereas the rules usually are.

What the debt collectors know is that somewhere between 80 and 95% of people who are served will not show up in court. If you do show up, and the other side does not, you should immediately ask that the case be dismissed, and many courts (perhaps most) will grant that motion. That would be lucky – but only if you were there and knew enough to request the court to dismiss the case, as absent the request the courts will often simply continue (postpone) the case until the next court date.

Assuming the other side actually appears for court as scheduled, your next step is (a) either to move to dismiss the case or (b) answer the petition. Check your rules to see what the rules of pleading are, and if the plaintiff’s case does not comply with those rules – and they almost never do in Pennsylvania, for example – you might file a motion to dismiss or its equivalent (Preliminary Objections in PA). Often enough they don’t comply in whatever jurisdiction you may be in, and a motion to dismiss can be a quick way out of the lawsuit. Or you may file an Answer. Whichever action you take, the debt collector might choose to walk away from the suit at this point. As I have often pointed out, there are a lot easier people to chase than those who file bothersome Motions to Dismiss or Answers.

Often the debt collector will not walk away at this point, thought, so the next thing you must do is both serve discovery on it and answer discovery if they serve it on you. It is important for anybody to serve discovery on the other side first, but especially for pro se debt defendants. You would never believe the games the debt lawyers play if you don’t see it, and you want to see those games in action before you start responding to their discovery.

Sometimes the mere service of discovery drives the debt collectors away, but most often, of course, it does not. You will receive vague and unresponsive “answers” like “pursuant to national banking regulation, credit card applications need not be retained beyond a period of two years” (What does that say, anyway?) or “Plaintiff is conducting a search for records and will make them available to defendant as they come into Plaintiff’s possession.” It is the task of the pro se defendant to push past these objections and vague statements to discover what, if anything the debt collector has, and to force it to admit it has nothing more. This, of course, is the reason for a motion to compel. If you do that appropriately, the chance of the debt collector dropping the case is actually pretty good.

Not Bad Faith or Frivolous

Performing legal actions with no reason other than to increase the cost and effort the other side must undertake in order to win its case is “bad faith” in litigation. An action with no reasonable basis in law or fact is “frivolous.” Both of these sorts of forbidden actions and motives can create significant problems for a person caught doing them. None of the actions listed above, however, come anywhere close to these forbidden zones: they all accomplish purposes for which the discovery and pleading rules were designed. The motions seek to weed out unwinnable claims, and the discovery probes the other side to find out what, if anything, they have in support of their claims. Following this broad pattern, you are not only increasing the chances that they will walk away at any point leading up to trial, but you also increasing your chances of winning if the matter does go to trial.

Good Luck

Lawyers are constantly performing a balancing act, always deciding whether it is potentially more profitable to act in one way rather than another. This is not because lawyers are greedy – although many of them are, of course – but is in fact part of their ethical responsibility to act in ways which promote their clients’ interests. These interests are virtually always financial, and thus as you continue to defend yourself with skill, you raise the issue more and more insistently that the lawyer would be better off pursuing other claims.

When your skill has actually pushed the lawyer to take the step of cutting you loose, you are “lucky,” and the debt collector drops its suit. If you have a pending counterclaim at this point, you can force the debt collector to dismiss your case “with prejudice,” which it means no one could ever sue you again for the same debt.

Sued for Debt Action Steps

Finding out that you’re being sued for debt can be a big shock, and it also puts you at risk for losing the things you have. We have good news for you. You can protect yourself.

Could Anything Actually Make You Glad to Get Sued by Debt Collectors?!

It’s hard to believe that could happen, isn’t it – that you could actually end up glad you got sued by a debt collector? And yet it could true.

If you’re being sued by a debt collector, chances are it’s coming at the end of a long process that started with missed bills, phone calls, letters, messed up credit reports, worry, and missed sleep at night. I don’t need to tell you how awful it is. And the lawsuit itself may seem like a nightmare. After all, if you lose, you could face new problems: garnishment of wages, seizure of bank accounts, and possibly even worse.

And you can forget about your credit report if they get a judgment, right?

So How Could Getting Sued Possibly Be Good News?

The lawsuit could actually be the end of your trouble. Instead of hanging back and destroying your credit or just bugging you to death, which you can’t do much about, they’re suing you. And there’s a lot you can do about that.

That’s because the debt collectors usually start their lawsuit without what they need to win. If you play your cards right, that may give you a chance to erase your debt for good. In the process, you can take control of your life again.

Imagine how you’ll feel when you drive the debt collector away and erase the debt. You can start repairing your credit report and get back to your life. You can answer your phone without worrying about debt collectors

Finally.

Here’s what one user of our materials said about his experience:

Today I received in the mail an offer “Stipulation For Dismissal With Prejudice”,which basically states the Plaintiff will dismiss their Complaint if I dismiss my counterclaim.  All the examples,logic and powerful arguments presented in your materials helped me beyond belief! I am eternally grateful,and right now quite ecstatic!

Thanks Ken,
Frank from Arizona 

And another:

Just a quick email to say THANK YOU for your well written manual! I was scared to death when I got a Summons and Complaint served on me by a debt collection attorne. I did exactly what you said though, and basically let them know I wasn’t going away.… So I filed a Motion to Dismiss, and that was pretty much it. The Attorney folded like a cheap suit, and I have to say it almost felt better than sex!

Thanks again! 
Gary

These people, and many more, could tell you the same thing: you can beat the debt collectors.

And when you do, it will feel even better than you would ever guess. It will change your life. They’ll never push you around again. You’ll never be scared of debt collectors and their lawyers again.

If you know what you’re doing – and that’s what we teach you – you can probably win the case even if the debt collector actually has or can get what it needs. And it usually doesn’t.  Your job is to make them start looking for those records, make them start losing money and worrying about whether they will ever see their money again.

The trick is to fight. They’re not really set up to fight you if you know what you’re doing.

I Don’t Want to Tell You You Can Just Get Away with It (But You Probably Can)

I don’t want to tell you you can rack up debt and get away without paying, because we should all pay our debts. But these are tough times, and sometimes things happen that make it impossible to pay.

And sometimes those things are the fault of the banks – they have just about ruined the economy for all of us, after all. not having to pay them would only be poetic justice. Although poetic justice can wait – if they’re after you, you’re in a fight that you just need to win.

Find Out More

If you’re ready to think about taking on the debt collectors, look through our site and consider joining us. We can help you take control of your life and force the debt collectors to leave you alone.

 

Cease-Communication Letters

Debt collectors often try to wear down the resistance of consumers by repeatedly calling and harassing them. If this is happening, you can easily make it stop. Here’s how.

Debt Collection Strategies

Debt collection is a huge and growing industry in the United States, and collectors are notorious for some of the strategies they use to force and intimidate consumers into payment.

They’re Trying to Harass You

Debt collectors know that they people they are calling do not have much money-their purpose is to move themselves to the head of the line. The way they do this is by attempting to inflict more pain or annoyance on the consumer than other bill collectors. In other words, debt collectors know you only have so much money to pay your bills – they’re competing with each other. The company that harasses you the most “wins.” Sometimes individual debt collectors claim not to engage in abusive behavior, but rather to be the victims of it. I leave the reader to decide how much sympathy these debt collectors deserve, but my point is that, in general, the debt collectors seek emotional engagement – and, also in general – the best thing you can do is avoid it.

You Can Make them Stop Bugging You

The collectors are not concerned with your priorities or well-being, but you should be, and it is hard to keep a clear head amidst all the noise and all the people trying to use you. Luckily the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) offers some help. Under the FDCPA, 15 U.S. Code Section 1692(c)c, “if a consumer notifies a debt collector in writing that the consumer wishes [it] to cease further communication with the consumer, the debt collector shall not communicate further…with respect to such debt.”

However, the collector may inform the consumer that it’s efforts are being terminated, or notify the consumer that it “may or will invoke specified remedies which are ordinarily invoked” (i.e., suing or reporting to the credit agencies). Many people fear that by invoking this rule they will cause the debt collectors to sue them – but this fear is probably misplaced (it is according to my experience). The debt collectors have their own guidelines based on what they expect to collect. If anything, writing a cease communication letter may reduce your chance of being sued because it keeps the debt collector from gathering more information about you.

What to Do to Make Debt Collectors Stop Harassing You

Crucially, if the notification is made by U.S. mail, the communication is complete “upon receipt.” In other words, to make sure the debt collector is forced to cease communications, it makes sense (although it is not required by the law) to send the letter by certified mail. That way you have proof that the debt collector received the letter. Any further communication would be in violation of the FDCPA.

When the phones stop ringing off the hook, you will be freer to make decisions according to your own best interests and priorities.

For More Help

Our Debt Collections Pack can give you a sample cease-communications letter and the guidance you need to keep the debt collectors off your back.

Debt Collection Laws – Debt Collectors and Creditors

If you are being threatened with a debt collection lawsuit, or if you are being harassed or sued over a debt by either a debt collector or an original creditor, you should know that there are some laws in place that could help you. This article will briefly discuss a few of the sources of legal rights you may have.

The difference between “Debt Collectors” and “Original Creditors”

First, a distinction that is very important in the law: the difference between debt collectors and original creditors. An “original creditor” is an entity (the law calls it a “person,” but it could be a human or a business) that extended credit to you in some way. For present purposes, it could also mean someone you owe money to in a non-credit transaction, and also means “servicers” of loans. Debt collectors are “persons” a significant part of whose business is the collection of debts due to other people.

Laws pertaining to Original Creditors

Because original creditors have some connection with the public other than debt collection and are therefore at least somewhat vulnerable to negative public opinion, the law gives them much more latitude in dealing with people who owe them money. They are not, however, permitted to assault you, obviously, or engage in other extreme and “outrageous” behavior. Where that line is drawn, however, differs from place to place. Some jurisdictions have allowed original creditors to post your name on a “hall of shame” board, for example, but I’ve never heard of anyone being allowed to chase you down the street calling you names. It’s vague, I know.

Laws do prevent anybody from defaming you (publication of false, seriously derogatory information), and this would include the publication of false information to your credit report. By and large the rule is, that all the basic rules apply to creditors, but very few special ones do. There might be particular laws in your jurisdiction, though, so you must take that with a grain of salt.

Laws pertaining to Debt Collectors

Debt collectors don’t have the “civilizing” connection to the community that most businesses do, and so the law is much more stringent regarding them. The rule there is that the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act makes “unfair” or deceptive debt collection techniques illegal. Again, the law is rather vague, but this time its vagueness is in favor of debtors. Debt collectors try many sneaky and underhanded tricks, and many shockingly abusive and outrageous tricks too, and the law is designed to try to cover them all. For further discussion, please see other articles.

Other sources of legal protections include state merchandizing practices acts (which mostly apply to marketing techniques) the Federal Truth in Lending Act, the Uniform Commercial Code, and the Federal Trade Commission. Other resources could also include the Better Business Bureau and State Attorneys General.

For a much more complete understanding of the debt law – especially if you are being sued, check out the Debt Defense System. If you are still in negotiations and want more information about what that might mean or how to go about it, check out the Debt Negotiation and Settlement System. And of course this website has a wealth of information available for free. Be sure to contact me if you have questions.

Garnishment of Assets

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