Collections Defense
If you get sued over a debt, there is often no need to lose sleep. It happens to the best of us. Sometimes it’s a result of an inability to pay due to loss of employment or just lack of funds that you would have paid if you had the money. Other times it’s a debt you forgot about or never received a copy of a bill for that you would have paid if you had received the bill. Then there are debts that you genuinely feel like you should not have to pay. Luckily for you, we can help with just about all of the above!
Just like criminal defense where one is innocent until proven guilty (Link criminal defense to criminal defense page), debtors have the right to require that the creditors prove that the debts are valid and owned by the debtor. Often, a good debt defense attorney can either help settle a debt for you at a reduced amount, extend your payment terms, or even potentially have the debt thrown out completely.
It’s a little-known secret that when someone doesn’t pay their bills, there are companies that are in the business of buying debts of creditors at a fairly reduced amount and obtaining the right to collect those funds from you. This process of collection often gets lumped in as a “collection company” but it’s really a debt buyer who has acquired your debt. While collection companies focus on collecting on behalf of the creditor, the debt buyers are looking to make their money on the collection of the discounted debt that they purchased. The good thing is that many of these debt buyers buy in bulk and do not have all the paperwork required to “win at court”. They rely on the idea that those who owe debt probably don’t have money for lawyers and will just let the legal process take over and “default”. A default would allow the debt buyer to win automatically without having to prove they are even owed any money. It happens every day. They are literally banking on you are doing nothing and making their life easy.
Those individuals that do hire attorneys stand in a good spot because a debt defense attorney can put the debt buyer or the creditors to the test making sure that they actually have debt assignments, contracts, account statements, and witnesses.
Sometimes, the mere appearance of an attorney can get these matters settled on much better terms than what was offered before a court proceeding began.
In some cases, people sued have legitimate claims or defense they can argue which could lead to the charge being dismissed and sometimes even monetary compensation. What if you had already paid the debt you are being sued for?
What if the debt wasn’t yours, to begin with? What if you were being harassed or deceived by a creditor? What if agreed terms weren’t lawful? What if the debt collector sues in the wrong place? What if the creditor filed the case too late?
If you don’t hire an attorney, you’ll likely never know if you could beat the case.
The Attorneys at RICK STOCK LAW have handled debt matters just like the above for many years. Ignoring a debt collection matter does not make the issue go away.
Allow us to help you find a path to financial freedom.