Posts Tagged credit card debt lawsuit

What to Do with a Court Summons for Credit Card Debt

Too many, in fact most consumers do not respond to a court summons for credit card debt. Collection attorneys have become accustomed to filing a summons, winning be default and collecting money with the court’s help.

A two or three page answer is enough to begin defending against a court summons for credit card debt. The answer to the summons is only the beginning of the case from the court’s perspective. The answer needs to make the collection attorney properly document the alleged debt, according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide.

Collection attorneys know the consumer has a right to proper documentation, but frequently they cannot produce it. Most credit card agreements do not have signed contracts. Producing a complete accounting of the alleged amount owed can be a challenge as well. Debt buyers buy large batches of discharged credit card accounts from banks. Collection attorneys for debt buyers have trouble documenting the ownership of the individual accounts in the batch.

Answers to summonses for credit card debt are answered differently in different state courts. The local rules of civil procedure provide the guidelines for acceptable answers. They also dictate the proper method of summons and answer service, as well as the amount of time the consumer has to answer before going into default.

Legal defenses that pertain to defending against a credit card debt should be worded carefully so that they comply with the local rules of civil procedure. As a start a resource like the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide will give the consumer a generically worded answer. Then, the consumer can ask a local attorney to comment on the wording of their answer for a small fee, if the consumer cannot afford to pay him to do more.

It is a common practice for collection attorneys to “fish” for defaulting consumers with a batch of court summons. Most credit card debtors do not answer these summonses. For the few that do, the attorney simply withdraws the claim focusing on the easy money from the defaulters he has netted.

To beat them, civil summonses for credit card debt need to be answered!

This content is not intended as a substitute for legal advice. If you need an attorney in your local area, please contact a licensed attorney in your state.

Matt Highlander has researched credit counseling, debt settlement, debt collectors and collection attorneys. If you are seeking credit card debt relief, read Credit Card Debt Survival Guide Matt writes for the Guide.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Beating Credit Card Debt Collectors at Their Own Game

Consumer debt collectors! Credit Card debt collectors! There ought to be a law against them! Fortunately, there is a law, and educated consumers have learned how to use it to fend off these debt collectors by making their job difficult.

Time is money for a credit card debt collector, who is in the business of collecting unsecured consumer debt, most of which happens to be credit card debt. These consumer debt collectors and collection attorneys work on a percentage of what is collected. Most people think there is a debt collector for every debt, when the reality is there is only a debt collector for every easy-to-collect credit card debt.

Consumer debt collection has grown and prospered with the expansion of the credit card industry.

Consumer credit went from $133.7 billion of in 1970 to $2.5 trillion of debt in November 2007, according to the Federal Reserve and Business Week.

According to a trade group for the debt collection industry, ACA International, each year debt collectors put more than $40 billion back into the U.S. economy.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 173 million credit cardholders in the United States in 2006.

According to the American Banking Associate, in the first quarter of 2009, 4.75 percent of bank cards were delinquent.

The point is, there are millions of delinquent credit card accounts to go around to ambitious debt collectors.

The Federal Reserve compels credit card companies to budget for bad debts. The credit card companies usually sell those bad debts after they are written off to junk debt buyers for no more than 10 cents for each dollar of debt. Given that bargain, junk debt buyers do not expect to collect on 100 percent, or even 50 percent, of the accounts they purchase, nor do the collection agencies and collection attorneys who work for them.

Debt collectors make the same empty threats to both resistant and non-resistant consumers holding credit card debt. Usually, however, they only follow-up with more threats and intimidation with the non-resistant majority of delinquent credit card account holders. The secret is learning the correct response to those initial threats and how to use the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

While credit card companies are original creditors not covered by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, collection agencies, collection attorneys and junk debt buyers are subject to that federal law. According to the FDCPA a debt collector (Attorneys collecting consumer debt are considered debts collectors by this law.) must notify the consumer in writing of their right to dispute the debt and have it validated. Validation means the collector must send copies of original documentation verifying the debt. The FDCPA also says the consumer can instruct the debt collector to cease collection attempts until they properly validate the debt.

Should the debt collector invest their time with those who properly dispute and request validation or those who put up no resistance?

About the Author:

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

How to Respond to a Court Summons for Credit Card Debt

Too many, in fact most consumers do not respond to a court summons for credit card debt. Collection attorneys have become accustomed to filing a summons, winning be default and collecting money with the court’s help.

Answering a court summons for credit card debt is actually not that intimidating. It only takes a two or three page document. To defeat the collection attorney, the consumer’s answer needs to demand he properly document the debt, according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide.

The court will usually support the consumer’s demand for documentation. Collection attorney’s frequently have trouble producing original credit card agreements and statements totaling the amount claimed as owed. They are used to consumers defaulting. In addition attorneys for debt buyers have trouble documenting ownership of credit card debt from the bank that sold it to them in a large batch of accounts.

Answers to summonses for credit card debt are answered differently in different state courts. The local rules of civil procedure provide the guidelines for acceptable answers. They also dictate the proper method of summons and answer service, as well as the amount of time the consumer has to answer before going into default.

Most importantly, the rules dictate the wording of the affirmative defenses the consumer uses in the answer. As a start, the consumer can find a generically worded answer in a resource like the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. Then, the consumer needs to get the advice of a local attorney on the answer’s exact wording per the local rules of civil procedure.

It is a common practice for collection attorneys to “fish” for defaulting consumers with a batch of court summons. Most credit card debtors do not answer these summonses. For the few that do, the attorney simply withdraws the claim focusing on the easy money from the defaulters he has netted.

For the few that answer them, civil summonses for credit card debt can be defeated.

This content is not intended as a substitute for legal advice. If you need an attorney in your local area, please contact a licensed attorney in your state.

About the Author:

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

What to Do with a Court Summons for Credit Card Debt

The first thing to do is to respond the summons. Collection attorneys are used to consumers not responding to court summonses for credit card debt. Feeling helpless and guilty the consumer then loses by default, and the attorney gets the court’s backing to collect the debt.

Answering a court summons for credit card debt is actually not that intimidating. It only takes a two or three page document. To defeat the collection attorney, the consumer’s answer needs to demand he properly document the debt, according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide.

Courts usually recognize the consumer’s demand for proper documentation. Collection attorneys cannot produce a signed contract because most credit card agreements do not have one. They also have trouble accounting for the exact amount of money they say is owed. If the collection attorney represents a debt buyer, he will also have trouble documenting the transfer of the account from the bank to the debt buyer.

The rules of civil procedure for the consumer’s local court dictate the proper service of the summons to the consumer and of the answer to the plaintiff. They also tell the consumer how much time he has to respond to the summons before going into default. Most importantly the local rules of civil procedure dictate the legal language that needs to be in the answer to the summons.

Most importantly, the rules dictate the wording of the defenses the consumer uses in the answer. As a start, the consumer can find a generically worded answer in a resource like the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. Then, the consumer needs to get the advice of a local attorney on the answer’s exact wording per the local rules of civil procedure.

It is a common practice for collection attorneys to “fish” for defaulting consumers with a batch of court summons. Most credit card debtors do not answer these summonses. For the few that do, the attorney simply withdraws the claim focusing on the easy money from the defaulters he has netted.

For the few that answer them, civil summonses for credit card debt can be defeated.

This content is not intended as a substitute for legal advice. If you need an attorney in your local area, please contact a licensed attorney in your state.

About the Author:

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,