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Table of Contents Defeating Court Action ............................................................................. 3

Communicating and Dealing with Collection Attorneys .......................... 4

“Forced” Arbitration/Mediation by the Court ........................................ 4

If You Do Receive a Credit Card Debt Summons, Here are the 3 Things

You Must Do. ............................................................................................. 7

The Court’s Point of View and the Rules of Civil Procedure .................. 13

Responding to a Court Summons............................................................ 14

The Rules of Civil Procedure ................................................................ 15

Answering a Summons or Complaint................................................ 17

The Rest of the Case .......................................................................... 22

Why Should a Debt Collection Attorney Work for the Other 20 Percent?

................................................................................................................. 23

More Discussion on Junk Debt Buyer Lawsuits for Credit Card Debt.. 24

Phantom Judgments ............................................................................... 27

Bankruptcy and Judgments .................................................................... 27

Suing Debt Collectors .............................................................................. 28

Finding a Good Attorney ......................................................................... 29

Resources for Finding an Attorney ......................................................... 31

This is my legal disclaimer.

I am not an attorney and do not profess or pretend to give legal advice here. This

information is based on my own experience, discussions with consumers who have

read this book, and my extensive reading and research on these subjects including

the posted experiences of credit card debtors in the online debt forums. If you need an

attorney in your local area, please contact a licensed attorney in your state.

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Defeating Court Action

If you have overdue credit card debt that you cannot afford to pay, and you are

worried about an eventual court summons and potential judgment against you, read

the next section on how to best avoid a credit card lawsuit in your current situation.

If you have received a summons consider these points as you read the information

in this chapter:

1) If you do a good job answering your summons (or finding the right attorney to

answer it for you), you may not hear from that collection attorney again.

2) Bankruptcy should be your last alternative, not your first option when you are

considering what to do about a debt that you do owe. If you get judgment

against you, then you can seriously consider bankruptcy.

3) If you cannot afford to pay your credit card debt, then you probably cannot afford

to hire just any attorney. You need to carefully search for a consumer rights

attorney who handles these cases frequently and does not need to learn on your

dime, so to speak. Seeing Finding Help later in this section.

4) As you will read here, banks and junk debt buyers have difficulty legally

documenting credit card debt to the standards of civil-court rules of procedure.

5) If you are properly prepared with a good answer, there is a good chance your

court case will eventually be dismissed due to inaction by the other side.

6) If properly prepared, a credit card debtor can make it so difficult and time

consuming for a collection attorney to win a court judgment to collect a credit

card debt, the attorney will give up.

7) Answering a summons effectively is not as easy as copying my debt validation

letter, making a few edits to it and sending it CMRRR to the debt collector.

8) Some attorneys for junk debt buyers go away if a consumer answers their

summons. But, for a high level of comfort and confidence you must be diligent.

You must hire an attorney if you can afford one. Otherwise, you must learn your

local court’s rules of civil procedure (They are not that hard to read.) Otherwise,

a collection attorney will use those rules to get a judgment against you.

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Communicating and Dealing with Collection Attorneys

The first the realize and remember is that while a collection attorney is an officer of

the court, they do not represent the court, nor are they responsible for treating you

in any kind of fair way that is consistent with court rules.

They hope their law-firm-letterhead Mini-Miranda will scare you into calling their

office offering to set up a payment plan [with monthly income you probably do not

have]. Once you do that, you have re-contracted with the creditor, their client,

admitting to the debt in writing by making payments. The vast majority of these

payment plans fail simply because the month will come when you cannot afford to

make a payment. That gives the attorney an excuse to summon you to court and

present your payments as proof of the debt to get a judgment against you. Or, the

attorney may simply decide to increase your payment amount after a few months to

an amount you cannot afford to pay, then summon you to court to get a judgment to

collect the full amount.

Your best approach is to answer their Mini-Miranda notice with my debt

documentation letter denying and disputing the debt and demanding complete

documentation of it including a signed affidavit from a bank employee with personal

knowledge of the debt. Then, they will know what they have to come up with in

court to beat you; that is, things they cannot come up with.

“Forced” Arbitration/Mediation by the Court

Junk debt buyers have been clogging state courts nationwide with bogus credit card

debt lawsuits that have not documentation behind them. To deal with this

avalanche, judges have be ordering the parties involved in a suit to try come to a

settlement before bring the matter before a judge. This happened to one of my

readers in Virginia. He wisely refused to engage with the collection attorney

because mediating for him would have been the same as admitting that the debt

was his. Read this American Banker article about similar “rocket dockets” in the

state courts of Maryland.

In Maryland courts collection attorneys behave as if they are entitled to mediating

with a consumer whom they have summoned. Unfortunately confused consumers

go along, instead of disputing and denying the debt. And, the understaffed courts

stand by and watch the consumers’ rights being abused.

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The Short Story on How to Minimize Your Chances of Being Involved in a Court

Case

In my experience, legal proceedings related to credit card debt are the result of the

debtor exhibiting weakness or opportunity to the collecting party. What are the

ways someone with delinquent credit card debt can show weakness or opportunity

to an original creditor, junk debt buyer, collection agency or collection attorney?

Actively —

1) Not responding to every initial communication from a junk debt buyer,

collection agency or collection attorney with a deny/dispute/debt validation

letter sent CRRR.

2) Not following up with further deny/dispute/debt validation demands in

response to poorly documented validation sent by the collector.

3) Talking to debt collectors on the phone, or worse returning their phone calls.

4) Calling a debt collection agency or collection attorney to discuss a debt when

invited to do so in a letter from them.

5) While on the phone with a debt collector innocently, naively, or honestly

revealing personal information that can be used against you to collect the

debt.

6) Admitting (and re-contracting) to the debt on the phone or, worse, in writing.

7) Not sending written communications CMRRR – certified mail return receipt

requested. [CMRRR alone sets you apart from every other debtor not doing

this.]

8) Attempting to settle with a collection agency or collection attorney for a junk

debt buyer.

9) Not documenting and filing/saving written communications to and from debt

collectors and referencing those in future written communications.

[Not admitting to, disputing, or even denying a debt is yours is not a

reflection on your character. It is a legal strategy to force the debt

collector or collection attorney to legally document that you owe the debt.

That is something they have great difficulty doing properly.]

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Passively —

1) Having a credit report that shows a home mortgage loan, home equity loan

and other loans and credit cards being paid on time.

2) Having personal financial information you shared with a credit card bank’s

settlement representative used against you later in a court proceeding by

their collection attorney.

3) Relying on third party debt managers, negotiators, or debt settlers to work

with creditors and debt collectors on your behave. That indicates to the

original creditor and/or collection agency that you are vulnerable because:

a) You are admitting to the debt.

b) You are not disputing the debt, and you continue to re-contract

through a settlement firm.

c) You are not communicating with debt collectors or resisting collection

efforts for yourself.

It is important to note that in addition to avoiding these perceptions of weakness,

you do not want to be obnoxious, aggressive or insulting on the phone or in writing,

lest some debt collection attorney makes your case their personal vendetta.

An initial communication from a collection attorney or law firm is not the long arm

of the law reaching out to ensnare a “guilty” delinquent credit card debtor. What it

is, rather, is a collection tool probing for weakness and opportunity.

Upon receiving their first collection-attorney letter, every credit card debtor thinks

the dominoes are starting to fall. “Now, it is only a matter of time before I will have

to pay this credit card debt, plus interest, penalties and attorney fees. Or, I may

have to file bankruptcy. I am trapped. I owe the money. There is nothing I can

do.”

This is a misperception caused by fear. The collection attorney’s goal is to create

those fears, but more importantly, he wants to find out if you are a debt collection

prospect worth spending time with. In all likelihood a denying, disputing debt

validation letter sent CMRRR from you puts you in the not-to-spend-anymore-time-

with category.

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You may receive a response to your debt validation letter (DV). It might have

something attached that “documents” your debt. Reply back, CMRRR, stating that

what they sent was inadequate validation of the alleged debt, denying and

disputing and asking again for proper validation of the alleged debt. In addition to

the DV letters in this program, you can use language like this:

I am not in receipt of any documents which verify I owe your client money.

You have provided no signed contract (Sometimes they send a poor copy of an

unsigned credit card agreement.).

You have provided no accounting of charges and interest amounting to the

alleged balance.

You have provided no proof of your client’s ownership of the debt (if a junk

debt buyer claims ownership).

This language puts them on notice that they will have to properly document the

alleged debt if they are to be successful in court. (See my story in the next call out

box.)

Just because the plaintiff’s collection attorney says something in writing or on the

phone does not make it true or even legal. Remember, 100 percent of debt collectors

lie 100 percent of the time. Collection attorneys are considered debt collectors by

the FDCPA. Although they are less likely to lie or misrepresent than collection

agencies are because they are officers of the court with licenses to practice law and

are subject to losing their privileges to appear before the courts they practice law in.

Many of them will lie orally but not in writing. Do not be bullied or convinced by

their threats of legal action.

If You Do Receive a Credit Card Debt Summons, Here

are the 3 Things You Must Do.

Consider Your Financial Situation

Do you have assets? Do you own a house with equity in it? Do you have a job? If

you do, then bankruptcy is not an option for you. So, you should hire an experienced

consumer rights attorney and make the collection attorney prove their case because

they have difficulty documenting credit card debt to court standards.

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Or, are you judgment proof? Do you have few assets, and live on fixed income that a

judgment cannot touch? Bankruptcy is an option for you, but you should still

answer the summons and make the collection attorney document their case against

you.

Bankruptcy?

Research it, but do not file for it. It should be your last option. It will negate any

judgment against. That is the time for you to use it; after a judgment has been filed

against you, and you are out of options.

What would bankruptcy be like for you? Again if you are judgment proof, then

bankruptcy could be an option to prevent further hassles from the collection

attorney. On the other hand if you have a good-paying job you will be forced into a

stringent five-year payment plan with bankruptcy and your credit score will be

ruined for 10 years.

Your Credit Score

How badly do you need an improved credit rating? Bankruptcy ruins your credit for

10 years. And, more and more employers are running credit checks that in your

case will reveal you filed for bankruptcy in the last ten years.

Finding an Attorney

Can you afford to hire an attorney at a reasonable cost of $2000-$4000?

If you can afford an attorney, then you must spend your time finding a local

consumer rights attorney [I tell you how to do that later on in this chapter], or

failing that, you need to hire an attorney who is willing to defend you or at least

advise you on what to do defending yourself.

If you cannot afford an attorney . . .

. . . then you must do your homework ahead of time while you are sending letters to

debt collectors and collection attorneys, so you are prepared should you receive a

credit card debt summons.

And, you should still look for an attorney who could advise you on a limited basis. [I

paid a young attorney, who had just hung out his shingle, for a few hours of his time

to review my court filings.] Remember, (1) 93 percent of consumers who owe do not

answer a credit card summons and are faced with a default judgment, and (2) It has

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been reported in the Wall Street Journal and other major publications that large

junk debt buyers blanket consumers with credit card debt summons planning to not

further pursue in court anyone who answers their summons. Why bother, when

they have the other 93 percent to take money from?

Here is what you need to learn . . .

If you are served, the case will have been filed in, and it will be handled by

your local courthouse. Find out what that is and where that is.

How do credit card lawsuits work in your local court?

What constitutes legitimate service of the summons in your local court?

How much time do you have to respond to the summons?

The person to start with is the clerk at your local court.

Ask to see old case files in your local courthouse of the credit card bank suing you

and/or by the collection attorney suing you. If the files have been preserved, they

are public record, and the clerk must let you see them. What you will find is most of

them are very thin. That is because most of them ended in default judgments. With

any luck you will find some files that you can read to see how those few cases went.

You will find a few of them where the defendant who owed credit card debt

prevailed, or the case was dropped or just never finished.

These will give you an idea about how things work in your local courthouse.

Then you can read through the forums, creditinfocenter.com and creditboards.com,

to see how consumers who owe defend themselves. This section includes much of

that information.

In an earlier section I explained how networks of collection attorneys work. If you

hear from an out of state attorney, they can only sue you by referring your case to a

local attorney who is accessible to your courthouse. Out-of-state attorneys are likely

not licensed to practice in your state. This kind of attorney contact usually comes

from a law firm representing a junk debt buyer.

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Banks and Junk Debt Buyers Have Difficulty Legally Documenting

Credit Card Debt

It used to be that an original creditor, a credit card bank, was the most difficult to

defeat in a credit card lawsuit. But, J.P. Morgan Chase Co.’s problems with robo-

signing credit card debt affidavits, as originally reported in American Banker, have

caused followers of credit card debt trends to revise that thinking.

Now that Chase is no longer suing consumers for outstanding credit card debt, what

is happening to its outstanding credit card debts? They are being sold to junk debt

buyers (JDBs). A recent purchaser of my Credit Card Debt Survival Guide is being

sued in Maryland for a Chase credit card account purchased by a large, well known

junk debt buyer.

American Banker started with Chase, and recently it pointed out the problems of

Bank of America’s credit card debt operations. “Bank of America sold collections

agencies rights to sue over credit card debts that it has privately noted were

potentially inaccurate or already repaid,” writes Jeff Horwitz of American Banker.

Each month one junk debt buyer bought debts with a face value of as much as $65

million for 1.8 cents on the dollar, he reports.

Those of us close to these issues have known for some time that if you do get to

court and ask for documentation, the debt buyers drop the case. It is not worth it for

them if they have to provide actual proof. And now, banks like Chase and Bank of

America cannot properly document their claims. Together those two banks account

for one-third of the credit card market, according to cardhub.com.

I had another purchaser of my program tell me when he got to the court date for his

credit card debt demanding documentation, the lawyer for the bank, another large

credit card operation, said, “Let’s both just go home.” He had no documentation

from the bank for the court.

So, to avoid public scrutiny and bad PR, the banks sell their debts to junk debt

buyers (as they have done in the past.). Here is what one publicly traded JDB wrote

in their annual report (as reported in the Columbia Journalism Review) about their

anticipated difficulties collecting debts in court over the next several years; “We

believe the current trend toward consumer protectionism could lead to judicial

proceedings or practices that create increasingly challenging requirements that

could limit our ability to effectively pursue litigation on accounts.”

It is important to (1) not admit to the debt in anyway and (2) always focus on

demanding the other side legally documenting your debt. Rules of civil procedure

dictate that photocopies and computer print-outs must be accompanied by a sworn

affidavit from someone with personal knowledge of your account. And in addition, a

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so-called sworn affidavit about an alleged debt is of no use without accompanying

documents.

What to Plan for in Case You Receive a Court Summons

These are the potential legal challenges and opportunities that can present

themselves for delinquent credit card debt holders.

Challenges for a credit card debtor as a defendant:

Being sued in court by an original creditor, a credit card bank. This was the

hardest to defend against, if the creditor file bothered to file a complaint. The credit

card banks plan for a yearly percentage of bad debt. They insure themselves for it.

For them some bad debt is a reality with high interest, unsecured credit card

accounts. They know most of those account holders in arrears cannot pay. Still,

they or their collection attorneys look for weakness and opportunity. Everyone used

to think the bank could document the debt and provide affidavits from witnesses

with personal knowledge of the account to back up those documents in court. When

faced with a summons from their original creditor, some people posting in the online

debt forums have tried to settle with the bank. However, no one knows what details

are missing from their stories; details that would reveal whether they showed

weakness or opportunity to the collection attorney, as in not sending a debt

validation letter CMRRR, or as trying to settle the debt or otherwise legally

admitting to the debt. Remember, while the bank is an original creditor not covered

by the FDCPA, its collection attorney is a debt collector regulated by the FDCPA,

and it is the collection attorney who communicates with the account holder.

Bank’s Collection Attorney Stops Pursuit after Debt Validation Letter and Follow-

up Letter

About six months after charge off of a large credit card debt I owed to a large

national credit card bank known for not selling their debts and pursuing delinquent

account holders in court, I received a mini-Miranda from a local collection law firm

representing this national bank. I was scared, but I denied, disputed and requested

validation CMRRR.

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Six months later I received their package of validation. It had a copy of my signed

credit card application, some statements with the most recent balance, and a copy of

the credit card agreement. Again, I was fearful. I wrote back, CMRRR, stating I

had disputed the balance with the bank (before charge off), and asking for more

documentation accounting for the balance. I never heard from them again. Now,

several years later, I could do a much better job of responding to them, but even

back then I differentiated myself from most of the rest of the accounts that law firm

was pursuing. I differentiated myself enough that they chose to spend their time

more productively on other delinquent accounts.

1) Just like debt collectors, these bank collection attorneys are working on a

percentage of what they collect, plus their fees. But to get paid they have to

win and collect the money. From my first two letters they knew they were

going to have to invest more time with me than with other delinquent

account holders they had probed with lawyer mini-Miranda letters.

2) Being sued in court by a collection attorney for a junk debt buyer or as part of

an integrated junk debt buyer/debt collection firm. These law firms are quite

susceptible to the debt validation strategy and follow-up. They will usually

go away after failing to or inadequately validating. If they serve you, it is to

see if you respond with a legal defense. If you do sufficiently, they will

probably disappear. If you do not, they will get a default judgment against

you.

3) Having an arbitration proceeding initiated by a collection attorney for an

original creditor. In principle, you should not re-contract and agree to

arbitration by participating it. You state you never agreed to arbitration.

You file a protest in court against this forced arbitration after you receive

notice of the proceedings and seek relief from it. Or, minimally you file in

court right after you receive notice of an arbitration award against you. (I

cover arbitration later in this chapter.)

4) Having an arbitration proceeding initiated by a collection attorney for a junk

debt buyer. (See above.) In addition when you file in court, you make the

FDCPA interpretations based on case precedents (cited in this article) from Daniel

Edelman a recognized consumer law expert.

http://www.edcombs.com/CM/News/Fair%20Debt.pdf.

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junk debt buyer prove they own the debt and actually have some connection

to you, that there was an agreement to arbitrate and it was for the amount

they allege.

5) Fighting arbitration or the confirmation of an arbitration award in your local

court. If it gets this far, you can still stop the arbitration award from

becoming a court judgment by filing a protest in your local court within 30 or

90 days (depending on your state statutes) of the date of the award.

6) Being forced into arbitration or a settlement conference with the plaintiff. If

this happens, and you cannot afford to settle, the best thing to do is tell the

court the plaintiff has not established any connection to you to cause you to

settle with them. You should not be in court.

Opportunities for a Credit Card Debtor as a Plaintiff:

1) Pursuing a collection agency for FDCPA violations and/or violations of state debt

collection and unfair-and-deceptive-acts-and-practices (UDAP) laws in your local

court.

2) Pursuing a collection attorney or law firm for FDCPA violations and/or state

debt collection and unfair-and-deceptive-acts-and-practices (UDAP) laws in your

local court.

The Court’s Point of View and the Rules of Civil

Procedure

If you owe the money, pay it, or work out a settlement or payment plan with the

creditor, is what a judge will tell you. [It is also what many uninformed attorneys

will tell you.] Judges do not want to waste their time with “guilty” debtors, who are

attempting to resist creditors’ collection attempts. (As I have stated before, while

you do in fact owe the debt, you may legally deny it and dispute it until a plaintiff

documents to the court’s Rules of Civil Procedure standards your indebtedness.)

Given the recent abuses of civil procedure by some banks and junk debt buyers,

judges’ attitudes have become more favorable toward consumers who owe. But it is

still up to you to learn your local courts rules of civil Procedure (RCP) and laws like

the FDCPA that force judges to give due process to alleged debtors’ defenses. If you,

forced to act as your own attorney, do not plead your case in a way that adheres to

the local Rules of Civil Procedure and that cites the laws and precedents that

support your position, the judge can quickly rule for the collection attorney and

move onto the next case.

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Each state has their own rules of civil procedure, and the rules differ from state to

state. These rules determine how every stage of a civil lawsuit is to be handled by

the court and the attorneys pleading their cases. You need to read and study the

rules of civil procedure in your state. First you will need to know the basics:

1) What constitutes legal service of a court summons for a complaint or petition?

2) What constitutes an appropriate response to the summons?

3) What is the time allowed for a response to a summons?

4) How do you file notice with and serve documents to the court and the other

party?

5) What legal defenses are available to you? (For example, if the plaintiff’s

documents proving your debt are bogus, that needs to be couched in the right

legal language for the court to allow you to challenge them.)

6) What constitutes proper presentation of evidence (documents) and testimony

(affidavits) supporting the documents?

If you are preparing your own answer to a complaint to submit to the court, you

should pay an attorney for a few hours of his time to review it. The attorney can

advise you whether the collection attorney is fishing for a weak prospect who will

not answer and default, or if the attorney has put together a winnable case against

you. He can advise you where the weaknesses are in the plaintiff’s documents

attached to the complaint proving your indebtedness. In addition the attorney can

advise you whether the contents of your answer adhere to the local rules of civil

procedure. Fishing or a good case, you will need to answer the complaint either

way.

Responding to a Court Summons

The first rule is to respond. Failure to respond within the time allotted will result

in a default judgment. A default judgment means the collection law firm can begin

the process for attaching your bank account or garnishing your wages. Default

judgments can be overturned, but that is a lot more work than responding to the

summons in a timely fashion.

The second rule is to respond within the time allowed for response by your local

rules of civil procedure, which is usually 20 days. A late response could be cause for

default on your part.

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If you receive a court summons from an attorney who has not attempted to validate

the debt in question, immediately send a debt validation letter, denying and

disputing the debt asking for validation. If the attorney has sent a response to your

debt validation letter, you should respond with another DV letter emphasizing the

need for proof of ownership of the account, a full accounting of the debt, and a

signed agreement. Debt collection attorneys are considered debt collectors and they

are covered by the FDCPA. (In Heintz v. Jenkins the Supreme Court decided

attorneys “who ‘regularly’ engage in consumer debt collection activity, even when

that activity consists of litigation,” are covered by the FDCPA.) Technically, they do

not have to validate, if you send them your first validation letter after they serve

you with a summons. Nevertheless, you are putting them on notice that you are

going to make them prove their case with proper documentation.

At the same time you should prepare your response to the summons. The response

is typically only two or three pages long. So it is not that intimidating to get done in

the time allotted. In some states it is just a court form you fill out and return, filing

your affirmative defenses later. You should personally file the response with the

clerk at the court house and send the plaintiff a copy CMRRR. Or, if the courthouse

is too far from you, send it to the clerk, as well as the plaintiff, CMRRR. Allow

reasonable time before the 20 day deadline for mail delivery.

The Rules of Civil Procedure

Collection attorneys hope you will not read your local rules of civil procedure so they

can win a judgment due to your inability to respond properly, while at the same

time they can get away with providing inferior documents to substantiate their

case. I read my district court’s rules of civil procedure and paid a legal advisor for

an hour of his time to review my submissions to be sure they complied with those

rules.

You can find your state’s rules of civil procedure by Googling {your state} rules of

civil procedure.

Different rules of civil procedure stipulate different required methods of serving a

summons. One state allows a plaintiff to notice the defendant of a claim for a civil

action with just an advertisement in the local newspaper. You need to make sure

you have been served properly. It is always a good idea to be sure creditors have you

correct address. While some debtors might think they are avoiding collection

attempts changing their address, in reality they are making themselves more

vulnerable to a default judgment as a result of a summons being served to the

wrong address.

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There are many other reasons to reply to a summons. Do not assume the amount of

the suit is valid. Interest rates, statutes of limitations, attorney fees and collection

fees can create valid defenses and at worst reduce the amount the plaintiff is willing

settle for.

Even though you are “guilty” of incurring the “alleged” debt, you are not legally

liable so until the plaintiff proves their case sufficiently enough to win a judgment.

In addition, and most importantly, the opposing attorney will gauge the strength

and nature of your response for weakness and opportunity. If your reply is a good

one, he may drop the case or spend minimal time on it, which will enable you to win

a dismissal due to lack of timely action. It is the attorney’s goal to get you to admit,

inadvertently or otherwise to the debt to make his job easier. Also, most if not all

states, limit attorney’s fees to 20 percent of the award, and if there is no contract

provided, then there is no proof an agreement that attorney fees would be included

in the awarded amount. There is also no proof you agreed the debt could be sold to a

junk debt buyer.

It is useful to look at this from the debt collection attorney’s point of view. A lawyer

could easily run up dozens of hours with the involvement in a civil debt collection

suit, if the debtor and/or his attorney know what they are doing. Most attorneys

charge $200 or more. Let’s say one spends 50 hours on a case. That is $10,000 in

fees. How big was the debt—maybe $10,000 to $20,000? Will the court consider

those reasonable attorney’s fees? Judges frown on attorneys’ fees to be paid by

losing defendants that are out of proportion to amounts claimed in the lawsuits they

are pursuing. According to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the plaintiff is

barred from collecting attorney fees, interest, collection fees, and any amount not

specifically provided for by [the credit card] agreement. Some credit card

agreements do not reference attorney fees, others refer to fees permissible to the

extent of the law, others say reasonable fees, and some only recognize disputes with

arbitration.

Even if the court does approve the fees, or it is only 40 hours and $8000, no credit

card bank or junk debt buyer is going to pay those fees. They are contingent upon

the attorney winning the suit, and actually collecting from the debtor. To do that,

he must spend the time, all the time, necessary to win a judgment. Then if he does

win, does the debtor have that kind of money? If they did, they would not be in

court to begin with. They would have settled the debt earlier. On the other hand,

they could file bankruptcy at the eleventh hour. So why should the attorney spend a

lot of time to win one judgment, when it is much more profitable to test the waters

with a lawyer’s letter to turn up the easy targets?

The summons filed with the court by the plaintiff will contain the

complaint/petition usually with a court docket number that needs to be used on all

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of your and their case documents. The summons should have supporting

documentation that “proves” you owe the debt.

The nature of this documentation is your first concern and opportunity. “By what

right or what authority does the plaintiff have standing without a signed contract

and a documented amount owed supported by all credit and interest charges?” As

I’ve explained earlier, given the nature of the credit card business, there is no

signed contract, and accounting for the balance claimed is difficult. In addition, a

collection attorney for a junk debt buyer must show proof of ownership of the debt,

and if it is the second, third, fourth or more junk debt buyer, he must show the

chain of ownership back to the original creditor.

Your answer to the complaint (sometimes called a petition) only needs to be two or

three pages outlining how you will defend the suit. That is another reason why you

should not be intimidated by the task of filing an answer. To the court, it is only the

beginning of the suit.

Answering a Summons or Complaint

What follows are the components of an answer to a complaint. You will need to take

this general information and conform it to your local rules of civil procedure (RCP).

To file an answer to a complaint successfully you will have to get into some degree

of detail that pertains to your particular situation. You should start the court clerk

where your case us based. Ask if there are any forms or formats for answering a

summons, and what the court wants in an answer. Unfortunately I cannot give

formatted, written language for you to just fill in a few blanks. In some states like

California these answers are forms supplied by the court, in others they are

formatted. It would also be a good idea to visit the courthouse and go through recent

case files involving the law firm and plaintiff. You may be able to do that online. I

did this and found valuable examples of documents to use in my court case.

You can apply these general guidelines to your specific situation and your local

RCP.

A.The Heading or Caption

Use what appears at the top of the Complaint you have received. Or, you can

go online and find a caption from a local court proceeding in your court

district and copy that changing the names, docket number, etc. It has the

specific court, the plaintiff’s name versus your name with the case number

(very important) and the date. If you look organized, you will be taken

seriously and more consideration will be given to dropping your case by the

collection attorney.

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B.Defendant’s Answer to the Complaint

The Complaint will have numbered paragraphs, each charging you with

something.

You need to deny every charge, even if they are correct and true. For

example they may allege that – “plaintiff issued defendant a line of credit in

form of a credit card.” It would be difficult for you to outright deny that, so

you can respond to that and other charges with something like this: “the

defendant is without information or knowledge sufficient to form an opinion

as to the truth or accuracy of the allegations contained in paragraph #x of the

Complaint. As a result the defendant denies generally and specifically each

allegation in paragraph #x.” If you do not deny the charges then by omission

you may be admitting to them. You need to answer in a way that makes the

plaintiff prove everything. You can admit to personal information about you

that is true contained in the complaint. (Your name and address for

example).

C.Affirmative Defenses

In this section you state all your legal defenses.

Simply denying the complaint’s charges is not sufficient for an effective

answer. You must use these commonly recognized legal defenses or others in

conjunction with the denials. In some RCPs, if you do not state a specific

defense with your answer to the complaint, you lose the right to use it later

on in the case. Some purported experts recommend that you use all available

affirmative defenses whether they apply or not. You can use the legal term

given for each of these defenses to learn about them online and understand

their meaning for your case. Here some affirmative defenses that can apply

to debt collection complaint summonses. There are others. These are focused

on the basics that collection attorneys have trouble getting right:

Producing a contract;

Documenting proof of indebtedness;

Documenting ownership (if a junk debt buyer);

(In addition the collection attorney must adhere to the minimum standards of

civil procedure.)

1) The Plaintiff's Complaint violates the Statute of Frauds as the purported

contract or agreement falls within a class of contracts or agreements required

to be in writing.

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[There is no signed contract for your debt. You are making the

plaintiff prove a contract exists. Again, you do not have to admit

that there was a contract. It is up to the plaintiff to prove there was

a contract. Also, sometimes the plaintiff will submit as evidence a

relatively recent credit card agreement which should have a

copyright date. If that copyright date is later than the date the

alleged account charged off, the agreement can be challenge because

it went into effect after the account closed.] Minimally they must

produce a one-sided unsigned contract of adhesion common to credit

card agreements. If they cannot do that, they should have problems.]

Link explaining the Statute of Frauds in detail;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statute_of_frauds.

2) The Plaintiff has not shown proof of indebtedness. There are no documents or

other evidence provided by the Plaintiff proving the amount of alleged

indebtedness. The Plaintiff has provided no (or insufficient, if some is

provided) documentation and accounting for the alleged sum of the alleged

debt. There are no sworn affidavits from bank employees with personal

knowledge of this debt. The plaintiff has failed to prove its case. It failed to

document how they arrived at the amount they allege is owed. (Bank of

America, for example has been guilty of selling debts with inaccurate account

balances. Just because the JDB has that amount on the sales transfer does

not mean is it accurate without an affidavit from someone at the original

creditor.) [The plaintiff -- the creditor or debt buyer -- ALWAYS has the

burden of proof in a debt collection case. This means that the plaintiff has to

come up with evidence to prove to the court that (1) the plaintiff has the right

to sue you; (2) the debt is yours; and (3) you owe the exact amount of money

that the plaintiff claims you owe. You do not have to prove that you do not

owe the money. Rather, the plaintiff has to prove that you DO owe the

money. AS long as you do not admit to the debt.]

3) The Plaintiff’s cause of action and complaint is barred by the applicable

statute of limitations. [If your alleged debt is beyond the statute of

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limitations (SOL) in your state or the state specified by the credit card banks

agreement, you can use this, if the choice of law provision in your state is

favorable.]

4) The Defendant asserts lack of Privity. (Privity of Contract is defined by

lectlaw.com as the relation which subsists between two contracting parties.)

Defendant never entered into a contractual or debtor/creditor relationship

with Plaintiff. (They have to prove you did.) With the absence of a signed

contract and under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, the Plaintiff

cannot collect attorney fees, interest, collection fees, and any amount not

specifically provided for by agreement. [Without an agreement acceptable to

both parties, you can invoke the FDCPA, or your state’s version of that law.

This can be used against a junk debt buyer. Section 808 says collection of

any amount (including any interest, fee, charge, or expense incidental to the

principal obligation) unless such amount is expressly authorized by the

agreement creating the debt or permitted by law is a violation.]

{Number 5 is for use against a junk debt buyer.}

5) The Plaintiff's complaint does not show proof of assignment by the alleged

original creditor of the alleged debt. There is no statement or affidavit of

Check Your State’s Statute of Limitations by clicking on:

http://whychat.5u.com/States/states.html

Statute of Limitations and Choice of Law State

Compare your state’s SOL with the SOL of the state specified in your credit card

agreement to see which is shorter, six years or three years for example. Then you

should consult an attorney or legal advisor on how choice of law as it applies to

contracts is handled in your state and whether this defense will work for you.

Choice of law is explained here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choice_of_law_clause]

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assignment or proof of the sale of the alleged debt to the plaintiff. There is no

evidence the alleged assignor participated in or had any knowledge of the

alleged assignment of the alleged debt. Therefore, Plaintiff is not an

Assignee for the alleged agreement of the alleged debt and there is no

evidence to show otherwise.

6) Defendant reserves the right to amend and/or add additional answers,

defenses and/or counterclaims at a later date.

D. Counter Claims

Now it is your turn to put the Plaintiff on the defensive. However by doing that,

you make it your job to prove those claims. You can claim the following, if they

apply:

Counter Claim 1. Plaintiff has provided false information to consumer reporting

agencies in violation of Section 807 of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. (If

they put a listing on your credit report after you DV’ed them or they did not remove

the listing when you DV’ed them. That is a violation of the FDCPA.)

Counter Claim 2. Plaintiff has misrepresented the legal status and amount of the

debt in violation of Section 807 of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. [Section

807. False or Misleading Representations states, among other things, the following

conduct is a violation of this section. 2. the false representation of—(A) the

character, amount, or legal status of any debt; . . . .) Without a signed contract or

documented amount owed this applies to the plaintiff.

E. Relief Sought by Defendant

You must ask the court for relief in writing. Otherwise you will not get any.

The Defendant requests;

1) The Plaintiff’s complaint be dismissed with prejudice (meaning they cannot

file again. Sometimes the court will grant that. Other times the court will

simply dismiss.)

2) Judgment to be entered against Plaintiff in the amount of $1,500 (make it a

smallish amount and you may get it without an attorney.) plus defendant’s

attorney fees (if you have one) and court costs.

3) F. Motion to Dismiss or Motion for Summary Judgment Based on Lack of

Evidence

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At this point you may want to make a formal motion to dismiss or motion for

summary judgment based on the lack of documentation provided in the complaint.

You will need to find a sample motion online or in the local courthouse files to

comply with your local rules of civil procedure. (See call-out box on the next page.)

G. Delivery of Your Answer

Send your answer CMRRR to the plaintiff attorney and to the court clerk

referencing the case number.

The Rest of the Case

Now comes the rest of the case. IF (and it’s a big if) the collection attorney does not

fold upon receipt of your answer to his complaint. Discovery, motions and

pleadings, trial and judgment can follow. Usually these debt collection cases end

with a lack of action by the plaintiff until the defendant’s motion to dismiss or

motion for summary judgment is successful. The collection attorney knows he will

probably lose so he may file a Hail-Mary request for summary judgment hoping

your respond improperly. Your response to that will depend on your local RCP and

the particulars of your case.

Discovery Requests for Admissions - Talking to readers of my material, I have

noticed a technique being tried by more and more collection attorneys. Soon after

sending the summons they hit the consumer with discovery requests; requests for

documents and requests for admission. This is their attempt to get out of having to

document the credit card debt they allege the consumer owes. They want to get the

consumer to admit to the debt--to do their job for them. This puts the consumer in

the position of having to lie to the court about owing the debt or admitting to it and

receiving a judgment, or in cases where the consumer does not have an attorney,

not answering the discovery in the proper time period (usually 30 days). When that

happens, whatever admissions are requested are deemed admitted by the court.

Consumers do not want to lie to the court, nor do they want to lose to the collection

attorney, but they need to do something to force the plaintiff to properly document

their claim. So, what do they do? According to the National Consumer Law Center

(1) some small claims courts may not even allow requests for admissions and not

punish consumers for not answering them, (2) Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 36

[which could be different than your local state’s rules of civil procedure] allows

consumers state why they cannot admit or deny a matter. They may, for example,

have no recollection or records of a debt. Or, the consumer could admit to applying

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for and using a credit card, but deny the alleged amount owed claiming the

payments were not credited, and fees and finance charges are inaccurate.

Why Should a Debt Collection Attorney Work for the

Other 20 Percent?

According to consumer debt expert Budd Hibbs, “A judge told me . . . in a pretty

good sized county . . . near Dallas that in one month just over 1,200 civil cases were

filed at that courthouse and out of that, over 1,000 of them were debt collection

cases. Unfortunately, he said that of the 1,000 that were filed, more than 80 percent

went to default judgment." . . . . “In the majority of cases, Hibbs adds, [your debt is

with a junk debt buyer] “unfortunately, the majority of these cases probably would

never pass the litmus test for legal validation in most courts. . . . It's not about

whether or not that person owes the debt; it's about the rule of law. In the majority

of cases, the rule of law would not allow these cases to proceed had the consumer

stood up and said, 'Hey, wait a minute. I've got a lawyer. I'm contesting this. What

you've got doesn't meet the legal requirements.'”

CNBC and other media outlets reported credit card default rates reached record

highs in April 2009. Some banks reported annualized default rates going over 10

percent. According to statisticians, credit card default rates track the rate of

unemployment which in April 2009 stood at 8.9 percent.

Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Examples

The contents will depend on where the plaintiff is wrong in your case—out of SOL, no

contract, no proof of ownership, etc.

Here are two examples

http://www.debt-consolidation-credit-repair-

service.com/forums/showthread.php?t=293699

Discussion of Motion to Vacate a Credit Card Lawsuit

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/legal/VacatingJudgments.shtml

Sample Motion to Vacate

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/forms/sampleletter16.shtml

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According to the Nilson Report of April 2009, 91.1 million Americans had one or

more credit cards at the end of 2008.

.089 X 91,100,000 is 8,107,900 people defaulting on their credit cards in 2009. Why

should a debt collection attorney work for the other 20 percent?

More Discussion on Junk Debt Buyer Lawsuits for Credit

Card Debt

If you receive a summons from a junk debt buyer with some documentation

attached, or if they furnish documentation when you demand it, those documents

may appear strong, but they will have weaknesses in them.

Your first question should be why did they bother going to the extra expense of

acquiring those original creditor documents to bolster their court case against you?

It is probably because they looked at your credit report and liked what they saw.

You may have a mortgage, perhaps even a home equity loan. They may have run

your home address through Zillow to find your home’s current value and then

estimated your net worth. If your debt is over $25,000, your net worth is worth

some extra effort on their part. You should be prepared to spend at least a little

money on good legal advice to protect your assets. In Chapter 8 I give you

strategies for avoiding knee-jerk bankruptcy recommenders and other attorneys

who know nothing about defending a credit card lawsuit. But, if your assets are

limited, then just a good challenge to their documents, or lack thereof, should make

your court case go away.

Today it is common for collection attorneys for JDBs to submit an affidavit from an

employee of the JDB (accompanied by old credit card statements and a copy of the

contract of adhesion) attesting to personal knowledge of many things related to your

debt, like the transfer of ownership from the last owner, and the way the original

creditor prepared their documents pertaining to your debt., as well as the accuracy

of the alleged amount owed. Here is an example of an affidavit that won a case for

a junk debt buyer.

http://wyomcases.courts.state.wy.us/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID

=454070

This affidavit worked because the defendant did not properly challenge it by

disputing the alleged amount owed.

This kind of affidavit is stretching it to say the least. Its rationale is based on the

rules of civil procedure business records exception to the hearsay rule. This rule

says that business records generated in the normal course of business can be

submitted to the court as evidence when accompanied by an affidavit from a person

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with personal knowledge of those records. No actual witness is required to appear

in court to present the business record evidence.

The way for a defendant to fight that is by him generating his own affidavit or

sworn denial of the debt in question. This graduated sworn denial goes like this.

I [YOUR NAME HERE] deny this is my debt and if it is my debt, I deny that it is

still a valid debt and if it is a valid debt, I deny the amount sued for is the correct

amount.

This needs to be sworn to and notarized.

While most everyone agrees a Sworn Denial will force the JDB to produce an actual

witness to testify to prove their case, Sworn Denials are controversial. Apparently

in many states, i.e. Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee, they

are expected, while in other states they could be the equivalent of a third rail of

admitting to the debt, “if it is my debt . . . .” Here is one attorney’s explanation of

how the Sworn Denial works. http://www.attorney-in-alabama.com/not-pay-

debt.html

Those who are in favor of using the Sworn Denial see it not as a lie, but rather as a

statement of not remembering the debt. That element of memory does prevent the

Sworn Denial from becoming an actual lie. Supposedly a Sworn Denial forces the

other party to bring a witness into the courtroom to support the alleged

documentation. Here is a good discussion of forcing the collection attorney to

document the debt without using a Sworn Denial.

http://www.justanswer.com/consumer-protection-law/2pufv-fighting-credit-card-

junk-debt-buyer-lawsuit.html

[www.justanswer.com is a good resource for legal advice from attorneys with

consumer protection/debt defense experience.]

The key is not only not admitting to the debt, but disputing it and denying it legally.

Your admission makes their job easy. If you do not dispute a fact, they do not have

to prove it. That is why you need some input from an attorney experienced in

consumer rights and debt collection in your court house.

It is a matter of figuring out your specific case and the weaknesses of the JDB and

collection attorney and the documents if any.

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From the Trenches

Here are some related comments and experiences from readers of my materials.

A California reader survived over $100,000 in credit card debt with several

credit card banks by carefully using two different attorneys to answer two

different summonses, neither summons went anywhere after that. And, the

rest of the collection efforts were stopped by a DV letters mailed CMRRR.

A reader in California went through old credit-card-debt-lawsuit case files at

his local courthouse. He wrote me, “In one day there were 180 suits filed;

most were debt collection cases. I learned that only a very few respond to a

credit card lawsuit, and the rest get a default judgment against them. Of

those who do respond, the cases are usually dismissed without prejudice. You

can see the trends and characteristics of the debt collection law firms by

monitoring the cases.”

Another reader was being sued in a rural Georgia courthouse. He knew the

court’s clerk. He asked to see the case files of past credit card debt collection

cases. The clerk told him there were none. Apparently the collection

attorneys in Atlanta (200 miles away) never traveled to that courthouse when

a defendant answered a summons. The clerk said he had never seen a credit

card debt collection case come before the court in his 20 years. (Obviously this

leaves out all of the people who settled with a collection attorney after

receiving their summons.)

Small Business Credit Cards with Consumer Personal Guarantees

If you send my debt validation/documentation letter in response to a mini-Miranda

for the type of debt, the debt collector or collection attorney will tell the FDCPA does

not cover business credit cards. What they will not tell you is that most courts

require a signed contract to award a judgment for the collection of a business debt.

An unsigned, un-named credit card bank contract of adhesion will not work. But,

you will need your attorney to present in court the proper case law and a properly

worded motion to dismiss

[I have documents for a court case like this that happened in Illinois. Email me if

you would like it.]

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Phantom Judgments

Collection attorneys have been known to send summons or arbitration notices to the

wrong address. They know by doing so they can possibly get a default judgment.

Then miraculously, they find the correct address for where to send the notice of

judgment. Then they may hold the judgment and do nothing for a long enough

period of time to make it more difficult to have it overturned. This could happen to

someone moving from one state to another. The collection attorney must get the

judgment approved in the defendant’s new court district to be able to enforce it.

That is when the defendant can fight it and raise a “sewer summons” defense

stating they were never served. In addition, everyone has the right to a local trial.

Bankruptcy and Judgments

If the worst happens, bankruptcy will protect you from a court case you are losing.

According to lectlaw.com, “The filing of either a Chapter Seven straight bankruptcy

or Chapter Thirteen debt adjustment immediately stops any lawsuits from being

filed or judgments being taken against you. If a lawsuit is pending at the time of

such filing, it can go no further. If a judgment has been taken, its enforcement can

go no further. If a creditor has a judgment and is garnishing your wages, the

garnishment can be stopped. Filing for Chapter Seven straight bankruptcy may

relieve you of the obligation to pay the judgment. In a Chapter Thirteen debt

adjustment, you may be able to satisfy the judgment over a period not to exceed five

years. If the judgment has placed a lien on your home, that lien can be removed if it

interferes with your homestead.”

It is important that you understand whether you are a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13

candidate. In Chapter 7 you will be able to discharge most or all of your debts. In

Chapter 13 you will be forced to comply with a five-year payment plan. You will

need to take a means test to make that determination.

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"Scrub Your Inventory For Known FDCPA Plaintiffs Today"

"The Subscription Service that every Agency, Creditor Rights Attorney, and Debt

Buyer should have" http://www.fdcpacases.org/page/page/4544578.htm

Suing Debt Collectors

Who Can You Sue and What Can You Sue For

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/eBooks/PoorMansClassActionLawsuit.shtml

Nolo.com has a means test for determining how personal income prior to

bankruptcy;

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectId/8400442E-EEE8-4479-

A8D109AFB7E2E9collection agency/213/161/128/ART/

Suing Debt Collectors and Getting “Free” Legal Help

A few people delight in suing debt collectors for violations of the FDCPA and

the Fair Credit Reporting Act. For most though those violations are a means of

enlisting the help of a qualified consumer attorney at little or no cost.

To be successful at recruiting an attorney on this basis, you will need to keep a

log of phone calls from debt collectors and maintain files of all correspondence.

If a debt collector threatens you over the phone, it is a violation. If a debt

collector contacts you after you have DV’ed CRRR, it is a violation. You can

review the FDCPA Violation Highlights in Chapter 6 for more “opportunities.”

Debtor lawsuits have become such a problem for the legal industry that a

database of those who have sued debt collectors is made available to other

debt collectors.

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FDCPA violations you can pursue in small claims court

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/eBooks/PoorMansClassActionLawsuit.shtml

A junk debt buyer was sued successfully at a $30.00 cost to the consumer plaintiff.

http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16591

Finding a Good Attorney

From the time you stop paying your credit card debt until the time you may receive

a summons for one of you credit card debts will be a minimum of one and half to two

years. Hopefully this will be enough time for you to build up a small war chest

(which you may never need) to hire the right attorney to answer a summons. This

war chest is for your piece of mind. Another thing that will contribute to your piece

of mind is lining up the right attorney, should you need him or her.

The problem is most lawyers are not involved in consumer protection and consumer

debt lawsuits. But, they do understand bankruptcy. If you cannot afford to pay,

then you are a candidate for bankruptcy. As far as they are concerned, there is only

one solution for you, and that is bankruptcy.

Also, many lawyers do not want to represent a “guilty” debtor. They mirror the

court’s attitude about debt; if you owe, then work out a settlement with the plaintiff

and do not waste the court’s time. In addition many good honest attorneys who do

not handle this kind of work every day do not want to add their fees to a consumer’s

debt worries should they lose the case. For the more ambitious attorneys there is

very little money to be made defending a guilty credit card debtor.

Most attorneys do not realize that credit card banks have difficulty documenting

debts. Consequently, Main Street attorneys are not up on the finer points of debt

lawsuits, i.e. the inability of the plaintiff to document the debt or supply proper

affidavits supporting documentation of the debt, and so forth. Since they are

unfamiliar with those finer points, they assume the worst and prepare for it by

quoting large retainers to take on a trial court case.

On the other hand most consumer rights handle these “guilty debtor” cases

frequently. They understand the weaknesses of the creditor plaintiff cases. And,

they know how to use the rules of civil procedure to take advantage of those

weaknesses. What can happens is you may make some phone calls to attorneys,

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come up empty handed and then give up. You just have to be persistent in talking to

as many attorneys as it takes to find the right consumer rights attorney.

You can visit your local courthouse to review old case files of past credit card debt

cases to find attorneys who have successfully defended these cases. If you reach one

consumer rights attorney who is too busy, you can ask for a referral to another.

What if you simply cannot find a good consumer rights attorney? If you read those

case files in your local courthouse you will develop an understanding of the rules of

civil procedure work in your local court for debt collection cases.

Then, you can look for a sympathetic consumer rights attorney who may not be in

your local court district, but who can quickly advise you on exactly what to do

because you understand what he is talking about. And, he knows what he is doing

because he is court with collection attorneys frequently.

Retaining an Attorney on Contingency for Possible

FDCPA or FCRA Violations by a Creditor

According to its web site, The National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA)

is a nationwide organization of more than 1500 members who represent and have

represented hundreds of thousands of consumers victimized by fraudulent, abusive

and predatory business practices. You can use NACA’s lawyer database at

http://www.naca.net/

Enter your state and, under “Search by Areas and Level of Expertise,” look for a

lawyer with experience in “Fair Debt Collection Practices.”

There are enough attorneys in NACA that you can probably find one or more in

your locality. These attorneys deal with FDCPA and FCRA violations regularly.

They are comfortable taking a case on contingency because they know their chances

of winning are good. At the most basic level, they get paid out of the violation fines

won against creditor defendants. Sometimes though, they defend a consumer

against a creditor, counter sue and win a fine, damages and legal fees.

To benefit from this free, expert, debt-specific legal advice, it is very important that

you understand the FDCPA, keep a journal of phone calls from debt collectors and

maintain files of all written correspondence with them. The economy is just as

difficult for attorneys today as it is for credit-card account holders, which means if

you can document an FDCPA violations, you will probably find an attorney to take

your case on a contingency fee basis.

In addition to NACA attorneys, there are other attorneys and law firms who

position themselves as consumer advocates ready to fight for debtor rights. They

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earn their living suing creditors on violations of consumer debt laws, and by

structuring their compensation so a debtor can afford them.

Resources for Finding an Attorney

Creditinfocenter has a state by state list of consumer friendly attorneys

http://www.creditinfocenter.com/legal/

In Chicago, Edelman, Combs, Latturner & Goodwin, LLC is a widely recognized and

respect consumer protection law firm.

http://www.edcombs.com/

This law firm specializes in fair debt collection and fair credit reporting

http://www.smithlaw.us/

In Minnesota Barry & Helwig, LLC “We Sue Abusive Debt Collectors”

http://www.lawpoint.com/

Krohn & Moss “Attorneys for the FDCPA” has several regional offices across the

country http://www.westopdebtcollectors.com/

CreditBoard’s growing list of consumer attorneys referred by posters

http://creditboards.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=295102 (You must join

creditboards.com -at no cost- and use the remember-me option for this link to work.

If you still cannot access this specific page on creditboards, log onto to creditboards

as a member, then copy this web address and past it into the address bar at the top

of your browser.)

Avvo allows you to search for Legal Guides, Answers & Advice or Lawyers by legal

topic and zip code. http://www.avvo.com/

NACA is the most in depth resource for consumer rights attorneys. Most of the few

law firms listed here appear in the NACA directory. A local Google search for

consumer rights attorneys in your area will probably turn up more attorneys worth

contacting.

Some consumer rights attorneys are only interested in class action lawsuits. They

do not work with individual cases.

Trial Lawyers for Public Justice has access to local attorneys.

http://www.tlpj.org/

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A directory of pro se assistance web sites across the country

http://www.ptla.org/pro-se.htm

Pro se legal help

http://www.legalhelp.org/

Legal Aid for Low and Moderate Income Consumers

Northwest Justice Project provides aid for civil legal problems including consumer

debt http://www.nwjustice.org/

Links to each state’s legal aid organization

http://www.lawhelpca.org./

Pine Tree Legal Assistance is based in Maine but has numerous links for legal

assistance across the country

http://www.ptla.org/ptlasite/index.html

Resources and Court Case Discussions

Creditinfocenter has a legal advice section - http://www.creditinfocenter.com/legal/

Creditboards has well-commented “Help! I’ve been served.” legal forum.

http://www.creditboards.com/

Why suing on purchased debt is rarely successful.

http://www.michigancollectionlawblog.com/debt_collection_tricks_and_tra/.

Case law for using card agreement’s choice-of-law state’s SOL

http://www.consumerlawclass.com/documents/mackey.html

This explains why a contract’s choice of state law provision prevails.

Credit Card Debt Lawsuit Basics http://www.nedap.org/hotline/clbasics.html

Vacating a Default Judgment http://www.nedap.org/hotline/vacating.html

Sargent Shriver National Center for Poverty Law

http://www.povertylaw.org/poverty-law-library

Here is the 40-page Defense of Collection Cases with precedents compiled by Daniel

A. Edelman from a noted Illinois consumer rights law firm, Edelman, Combs,

Latturner & Goodwin compiled in June 2007

http://www.edcombs.com/CM/Custom/collectiondefense07.pdf