If the original creditor is suing you through a collection attorney, the following sequence of events will probably have occurred:

• You opened a credit card with ABC bank.


• You didn’t make your payments for a few months.


• The bank called you and you failed to work out a payment arrangement.


• The bank got sick and tired of you ignoring their notices and phone calls so they hired a collection agency or collection attorney to sue you.

OR

The collection agency is still sending you notices and repeated phone calls and you are fed up.

• If the debt if fairly new, have you sent the collection agency or attorney representing the original creditor a debt validation notice?

Sending a timely debt validation notice to the collection agency will help you. This notice must be answered by the collection agency.

• Have you called the original creditor to verify that they did indeed hire this collection agency to hound you?

If it is a collection agency working for the bank, check them out by calling your original creditor and see if they hired this collection agency to collect your debt. Some collection agencies claim they work for the original creditor when, in fact, they do not. Do not talk with the collection agency! Do not admit anything. Contact the original creditor and verify that this debt was turned over to that collection agency by them. If the original creditor says that they did, I would settle up with the original creditor so that the collection agency gets off your back. You are not obligated to do business with the collection agency. Work with your original creditor.

If I knew that this debt was new and the original creditor did indeed hire this collection agency to hound me, I would work out a payment arrangement with the original creditor to avoid a lawsuit.

• Will the original creditor prevail in a court of law?

First and foremost, has your statute of limitations run out? If so, you’d win. If not, your chances of winning are slimmer. If the debt is recent, your chances are bad because the original creditor is more likely to have all of your statements, the contract, and customer agreement etc. They need these documents in order to prevail.

In my case with Capital One, my debt was five years old and they sued me. The attorney had a customer agreement evidenced from 2005, and had all of the credit card statements. I filed a motion to strike the card agreement because 2005 wasn’t the year I had the card and that motion was granted. I got that case dismissed even with all of the credit card statements submitted to the court. I fought back and they gave up. However, this debt was old.

People with fairly new debt, being sued by the original creditor and not a junk debt buyer, are unlikely to win because the original creditor will most likely have all the proof in their files to win

If you have proven that the collection attorney that is suing you is most definitely working for the original creditor, you can end the entire lawsuit by simply calling that collection attorney and discussing a settlement. Once the settlement has been reached, the attorney will withdraw the lawsuit as long as you continue to make your payments and don’t miss any or they will be able to receive their judgment legally. Check the terms of your settlement.





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