Consumers all over the United States spend many happy, peaceful years without ever hearing the name Midland Funding. That is until they receive a court summons or they check their credit report.

Midland Funding is not a bank or a commercial lender so you probably have never dealt with them personally in the past. So how can they be suing you? Midland Funding make it their business to start collecting debt when credit card companies and banks give up. They define themselves as ‘one of the nation’s biggest buyers of unpaid debt’. They purchase accounts from banks and credit card companies that have an unpaid balance.

This means that you may have had a credit card with a company such as Capital One for a few years but defaulted at some point or not met the minimum monthly payment. If Capital One fails to resolve and retrieve the debt, they may well sell your account to Midland Funding as one of thousands they buy for pennies. Midland will then resume efforts to recover the debt.

Unfortunately, it’s usually not just the unpaid balance they attempt to retrieve. Instead, they add their own extortionate fees and extras so a debt of $1,500 turns into $3,000. Considering that they may have only paid a few cents for the account, the profit margin they stand to gain is tremendous.

It’s not fair but it is legal so companies like Midland Funding continue to track down the most vulnerable in society and initiate an onslaught of demands, threats and lawsuits. Many have had their friends and family harassed and hounded as part of Midland’s predatory pursuit. Midland’s current tag-line assures their customers that ‘whether you’ve seen Midland Funding on your credit report or received a letter or phone call, we’re here to help’. The reality is that they are ready to help: to help themselves to your hard earned dollars. However, it’s not a hopeless case and even as a newcomer to the world of debt collection you do have a realistic chance to beat Midland Funding in court.

Even without an attorney, many consumers have been successful and won their cases by following some of the advice gathered by experienced professionals as well as skillful amateurs. If you are defending yourself, pro se, and in need of help, you will find a wealth of helpful guidance in The Defendant’s Package.

The Basics to Beat Midland

Countless consumers get so caught up in the technicalities that surround a lawsuit that they fail, or forget, to deal with the basics. Interestingly, cases can be lost and won on the fundamental stages of a credit card lawsuit. If you are to have any chance at all at beating Midland Funding, you must file a response to your summons and complaint.

This might sound simple enough but research has shown that around 90% of credit card lawsuits involving junk debt buyers are concluded prematurely, in the favor of the plaintiff, because the defendant has failed to respond to the initial summons and complaint.

In those cases, the plaintiff is awarded a default judgment against the defendant which authorizes them to collect the sums that they originally demanded. This means that they can garnish your wages and freeze bank accounts, helping themselves in order to secure their pay out.

There is nothing that Midland Funding would like more than for you to submit your answer after the deadline or, better still, not at all. They are currently winning around 90 % of their cases by doing absolutely nothing which means they make an even greater profit.

In reality, just by filing an answer you force Midland to fight and to do that they need to work hard in order to succeed. Some consumers have actually found that the lawsuit comes to nothing once Midland realize that the defendant is ready to fight the case. Sometimes, it appears that they believe a case is not worth fighting for or maybe even that without a default judgment, their chances are very low. They would prefer to pick-on ignorant debtors who will surrender to a default judgment early on.

Don’t become another statistic. Check your summons straight away and make a note of how long you have to file your answer to the complaint. Depending on where you live, you will have between 20 and 30 days.

Force Midland to Prove Everything

As the person being sued, you may believe that the whole case rests on you being able to prove that you do not own the alleged debt. Moreover, if you do own the debt, you may feel like fighting the lawsuit is futile. However, the key to success in these cases is not giving in to these kinds of erroneous ideas.

True, if you can prove you do not own the debt, it will obviously be to your advantage. The burden of proof, however, rests not in your hands but in the hands of the plaintiff, the one making the accusations.

Consequently, instead of making admissions of the debt or tirelessly trying to prove that the debt is not yours, force Midland Funding to prove their allegations.

To begin with, force them to show you and the court hard, valid evidence that they are legal owners of the debt.

Since Midland is not the original creditor, they need to present an assignment of debt that shows that the debt was bought from the original creditor and transferred to them. You would be surprised how difficult it is for them to produce a valid assignment of debt and if they are unable to, all of their allegations are classed as ‘Hearsay’ and will not hold up in court.

In so many cases the plaintiff is not able to provide valid proof that they have the right to sue or that the defendant owes the amount they are claiming. Therefore, this could be your key to beating Midland Funding in, or even before going to court.

For more guidance, tips and examples, find out more about The Defendant’s Package. It has already helped countless consumers defend themselves against Midland Funding.

Tags: Credit Report, Debt Collector, Midland Funding, Midland Funding Lawsuit, Pro Se