Stop The Calls Fast

In my last article I discussed how you can determine if you are really going to get sued or the debt collector who is alluding to litigation or is just some garden variety cesspool. Okay, let us go on the premise that you do get sued. Does not matter whether or not the debt is yours, whether or not the debt is in or out of statute. The first thing to know is that the complaint must be answered by you or by the attorney you may hire if you choose not to be a pro se defendant (represent yourself). Answering a complaint is not that difficult. When I was having financial difficulties some years ago that is exactly what i did. So what I am going to share with you here is not what I read in a book. I also will be giving you some material furnished by “Dixiedrifter” who writes on creditboards.com. She has done a great job explaining how you answer a complaint and also how to answer interrogatories if you are so served. Neither Dixiedrifter or I are lawyers so please bear this fact in mind when you read all the material I will link you to in this article.

Attorneys for a debt collector or debt collector attorneys love to serve interrogatories. All they are are pages of of ridiculous and annoying questions many of which of no bearing or relevancy to your case or their alleged case against you. The purpose is to annoy, harass and intimidate you. You can refuse to answer all or some the questions opposing counsel wants answers to or you may answer all of them. I would not recommend answering everything since you may be opening up a can of worms for yourself. After you read what Dixiedrifter says about interrogatories you can draw your own conclusions.

I would humbly suggest that if you have debt collectors making your life miserable you should own my self help system. To learn more just click here. Everything discussed here whether it is learning about answering a complaint, dealing with interrogatories or stopping debt collectors from calling and threatening you is about one thing, taking control of your financial life and taking responsibility. A good friend of mine said to me a couple of months ago that if you buy something then you have to pay for it. I agree with that thought. The problem comes when it is not a black or white issue; when it turns gray. By this I mean a person can fall on hard times…take a look around at the devastation this economy has wrought. Coming out of a divorce one or the other party’s credit could be compromised. Someone loses their ability to make a living. Does this mean that people are deadbeats or no good because they are unable to meet their financial obligations because of events that may not be totally within their control? Of course not. What about the situation where a debt has aged well beyond the statute of limitations and it’s no longer legal to bring suit on it and it is now owned by a 4th buyer who paid .04 on the dollar for it. Does this 4th owner have the right to demand payment of the original amount plus fees and accrued interest? Even though they know they cannot sue on a debt such as this one they in fact do just that and get away with it to boot.

If you do not answer a complaint and are sued on a debt like the one above the court does not know it is out of statute or that the debt predator is attempting to hose you down. Duh, you have to tell the court. This is why there are so many default judgments. People do not answer the complaints or unfortunately if they are Hispanic they cannot read the complaints if they do not speak or read English. A sorry state of affairs. Well here is some material which I hope you read care fully which should give you an idea of what the process is like if you are served. Reponding To Summons And Complaints And Interrogatories

I hope that what has been covered here is helpful for you. Please, if you have any questions email me at stopthecallsfast at gmail.com

Until next time. Who is watching your six?

It is a violation of the FDCPA to imply or state that legal action is going to be taken against a consumer when there is really no intention of doing so. Ask me if that stops many debt collectors from getting on the phone or even putting in writing and stating that legal action is being considered or that it is imminent? Well of course you know the answer to the loaded question. I think that if you know whether or not you are going to be sued it will save you a lot of sleepless nights, anxiety, stress etc. Not too mention paying an attorney when it may not be necessary.

The easiest and most direct way to really know if a debt collector means business and is going to sue you is to check to see how much if any litigation they have been a plaintiff on your state’s judicial website. I am going to give you some specific examples using debt collectors or are famous for suing people: Unifund and Portfolio Recovery Associates. I have inserted pages from the court records for CT and NY so you can see just what the docket references look like.  Please see below. It is estimated that Unifund will sue about 200.000 people this year; that is right just for this year. So in CT here is what Unifund is doing: . Notice that just on the CT dockets there are over 2000 cases listed for Unifund. Getting the picture. Now we look in New York for Portfolio Recovery Associates. On my first pass I find the Portfolio Recovery Associates has been a party in over 31000 lawsuits in NYC. Yup no joke 31000!!!! PRA has filed 1871 cases just for Queens County New York so far this year. You do the math. If you live in Oregon, Florida, Alabama or California you can research a debt collector just as I have done here and find it if you are really going to be sued.

All you have to do is use a Google search term such as “New York Civil Courts” and the or “California Civil Courts” and the appropriate url’s will show up. When you think about it isn’t better to point and click at home and get some answers rather than maybe paying someone to tell you what you can find out just by following steps I have shown you? If you are sued you may want to think about hiring an attorney if you do not own my self help system. Some people have confidence and are not intimidated by appearing in court and defending themselves. If you are served with a summons it must be answered;no ifs ands and buts. If you do not answer you risk receiving a default judgment from the court. You can read about my self help system by clicking the tab for it on the menu bar right above this article. If you really need a good attorney email me (stopthecallsfast at gmail.com) for a CT recommendation. Outside CT I recommend going to  http://www.naca.net/ (TheNational Association of Consumer Advocates). By all means please email any questions.

Unifund CT Dockets

PRA Queens County NY 2010

If a debt collect calls you, what should you do? Give me the knee jerk reaction answer. The correct answer is you do nothing, say nothing and demand that whatever it is be sent in writing. Then hang up. Most people make what can turn out to be deadly mistakes by giving out information or committing to something on the phone. Remember that the majority of the billions of dollars earned by debt collectors each year is earned by debt collectors who violate the law or who operate on fringes of the law. The person on the other end of the phone will falsify whatever you say and fashion it so that they can manufacture the desired result. Lying is routine for these people. If you acknowledge anything or agree to anything in a phone conversation you could end up restarting the clock on the statute of limitations or even worse get sued for the debt.

Whether the debt in question is yours and you legally have the obligation or whether it is a mistake; it does not matter. Say nothing, agree to nothing and wait for their correspondence. Once you receive formal notification and a demand for payment for the subject date you should immediately send them my debt validation letter which you can have by simply emailing me (stopthecallsfast at gmail.com). Put debt validation letter in your subject line. Under the FDCPA the collector is obligated to validate the debt. If you read through prior posts you will learn all you need to know about debt validation.

I cannot emphasize enough that the the biggest mistake people make is saying anything to these collection dorks. What you say can and will end up in entries on your credit report, you being sued etc. The grave injustice is the outrageous taking advantage of those who do not speak English. You should see all the default judgments that are obtained because Hispanic speaking people cannot read or understand the wrongful acts being perpetrated upon them. I am seriously considering offering my StopTheCallsFast  system in Spanish.

Coming next: how to figure out if a debt collector is really going to sue you. Stay tuned.