One of the most powerful defense tool used to fight lawsuits initiated by collection agencies and junk debt buyers is called invalid or failure of debt Assignment. When a 3rd party purchase debt or take over collection rights from the original creditor its called an assignment of debt. There are certain legalities involved in this process, and many times these legalities are not properly followed. This opens up a line of defense for the debtor.

Remember, this concept only applies to 3rd party debt collectors, and not original creditors. Essentially, the argument is that the transfer of debt was not done properly. This an effective tool because, often times, 3rd party outfits simply do not have the proof that the debt they are trying to enforce was legally assigned to them for collection.

Here are some examples of when you could make this argument.

• The plaintiff is not an assignee for the alleged agreement.
• There is no evidence of valid assignment.
• There is no evidence of valuable consideration.
• The plaintiff does not clarify whether the assignment was partial or complete.

Anytime a defendant in a credit card lawsuit see any of these situations, he/she may want to make the argument that there was invalid or failure of assignment. This can be done by filing motions to strike the Affidavit of Debt and move for summary judgment.

Without valid proof of assignment, a debt collector will not be able to continue to pursue the collection litigation process. Some debtors have used this affirmative defense in an attempt to get a summary judgment in their favor.

You can find out more information about Affirmative Defenses use to fight credit card lawsuits by clicking here.