What to Do If You Are a Defendant in a Collection Lawsuit

If you find yourself the defendant in a collection lawsuit, the first thing to do is to review and comply strictly with all deadlines and instructions in the papers you are served with. Debt collectors and collection attorneys expect that 90 percent or more of the people they sue will default and allow a judgment to be entered against them and that many of the others will simply agree to pay. Once they have a judgment, they can begin seizing assets and wages as permitted by state law. (Certain states, notably Texas and Pennsylvania, do not permit seizure of wages in most cases.)

 

CAUTION

If you do nothing, you lose.

 

Next, determine if the plaintiff is the original creditor or a debt buyer. Original creditors can often prove the debt, although there are sometimes defenses even to claims by original creditors (see following discussion). Debt buyers frequently cannot even prove that they own or have the right to collect a debt. They often follow a business model in which they file a hundred lawsuits, are able to serve ninety of the consumers, get default judgments against or settlements from eighty-five of them, and drop the cases against the five that bother to show up and defend themselves.

Get an attorney! If you are sued by a debt buyer, or if you dispute a debt with an original creditor, it is not a good idea to try to represent yourself. Laypersons are not familiar with the rules of evidence, nor are they equipped to make evidentiary objections at a trial or to determine what should be presented in a motion to dismiss or answer. Laypersons often file answers when not required or tactically desirable, making damaging admissions. We have seen many answers asserting that the creditor or debt buyer refused to work out a payment plan (generally not a defense and not properly articulated in those cases where it is, such as with some medical debt) while omitting valid defenses, such as the statute of limitations or noncompliance with laws protecting cosigners. Consult an attorney who has some experience in defending collection lawsuits.