Unfortunately, in this economy it is familiar story.  You have a credit card or two that you could no longer afford to pay, using common sense; you paid your mortgage and bought groceries for your family instead.  Now the sheriff is at your door with a summons and complaint.  But who is suing you? In many instances it is not the credit card company, it is a business that bought the debt for ten cents on the dollar and now they are trying to make their profit from you.

But do these “debt buyers” actually have the legal right to sue you? Do they own the debt and have standing to sue on the obligation?  Make them prove it. Our advice, if you receive a summons and complaint, is to hire experienced counsel. At Gogel & Gogel, we know what to do when a “debt buyer” has sued you. You only have one chance to defend against this type of lawsuit and making a mistake can cost you a lot of money.

A credit card debt is like any other agreement between two parties. The original agreement is required to prove the obligation and if a business that was not a party to the original transaction is claiming a right to be paid they have to prove they own the claim.

You may also have other defenses to payment of the claim that can only be discovered by experienced counsel.

Now you may be saying, “but I owe the debt to the credit card company”.  The reality of the credit card debt market is that the original creditor may have sold your debt more than once.  It is not unusual to receive contacts from multiple companies each claiming to “own” your debt.  There are also many examples of consumers settling a debt with one debt buyer and then receiving collection calls and letters from another company who claims to know nothing about the settlement and is demanding payment on the same settled account.

Protect your rights if a “debt buyer” has sued you.  Contact us for assistance.