Months of struggling to pay your credit card bill on time finally resulted in missing the payment altogether. That missed payment turned into missed payments, which finally resulted in collection notices, aggressive collection calls, and unpleasant and stressful conversations with debt collectors.
Despite your best efforts, you just couldn’t make the math work, and no matter how many times you explained the situation, your story always fell on deaf ears. And then, seemingly out of nowhere – it all stopped. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Months maybe even turned into years – all with no contact from your creditor.
And that’s when it happened: someone you’ve never even heard of filed a lawsuit against you.
It must be a scam, right? “I never borrowed money from [insert name here]!” Well, faced with a confusing and unfamiliar situation, what would anyone else do? Right! Scour the internet for guidance! The problem? Most people turn to unofficial websites and forums for help and allow unidentified individuals explain what to do (often incorrectly).
So you are probably wondering, “Who is this company that sued me, and are they even allowed to come after me like this?” The answer, as with most legal questions, is not black and white.
The company that sued you is called a “debt buyer.” A debt-buyer is a company that purchases delinquent or charged-off debts from creditors for a fraction of the face value of that debt, and then turns around to try and collect all the money that was owed. Many times this is done by filing a lawsuit.
The very first thing to realize is that regardless of your thoughts about the company suing you, if the lawsuit is legitimate it needs to be treated as such. Any arguments you may want to raise about the alleged debt, need to be argued in a proper manner.
Most people assume that because they do not recognize the plaintiff who is filing the lawsuit, they can simply ignore the entire process and everything will eventually work itself out. Unfortunately, this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Ignoring the lawsuit will only lead to entry of a default judgment, which will likely result in wage garnishment, frozen bank accounts or liens on property.
So, what do you do? Defending the lawsuit is key. To make sure that this is done right, call an experienced and knowledgeable attorney at Graham & Borgese right away for a free consultation.
At Graham & Borgese, our attorneys have handled thousands of debt collection cases over the years and we can explain to you your various rights and options for resolving the debt. From there, our dedicated staff will walk you through the entire process and ensure that you obtain the very best results possible.
You wouldn’t try to repair your car engine or pull your wisdom teeth on your own, would you? So don’t try to litigate a case on your own. Call the attorneys at Graham & Borgese today.