Just a few days ago, the California Attorney General announced the filing of a lawsuit against Chase Bank USA, N.A. and two related companies for fraudulent and unlawful debt collection practices.  The lawsuit alleges that Chase Bank filed a staggering 100,000 debt collection lawsuits in California alone between January 2008 and April 2011.  On a peak day, Chase Bank filed more than 450 lawsuits in a single day.  The lawsuit alleges that, in order to keep up with this pace of lawsuits, Chase Bank cut corners in its debt collection lawsuits in illegal ways, including:

• Robo-signing:  signing affidavits and court documents without having first reviewing them properly to ensure they were accurate
• Sewer service:  failing to properly serve consumers with lawsuit paperwork, while falsely telling the Courts that the consumers were properly served
• Filing irregularities:  including the revealing of consumers’ personal information that could expose them to identity theft, filing false affidavits that are not based on personal knowledge, and failing to determine whether a consumer is in the military service and therefore entitled to additional protections under the law

According to the lawsuit, this is not limited to lawsuits brought by Chase, but also by debt buyers to whom Chase has sold their accounts.  You can click here for more information about the lawsuit filed against Chase Bank, including a copy of the actual complaint filed in court.

In Florida, we have recently seen many lawsuits filed by Midland Funding LLC who claims to have bought the account from Chase Bank or an affiliate.  You may have several defenses against such lawsuits filed by Midland Funding LLC and by any other debt buyer who bought the account from Chase Bank or its affiliates.  Call us today for a free consultation about how we can help you protect your rights, or simply click here to submit an online contact form.

Our client retained us when she was served with a Summons and Complaint for a credit card debt collection lawsuit on behalf of Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC.  Attorneys Jason Dragutsky, Robert Orovitz and Dana Sterna from Hayt, Hayt & Landau, P.L. in Miami represented Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC.  Their legal claims included counts for Money Lent and Unjust Enrichment.

We successfully represented our client, and were able to get the lawsuit dismissed without any payment by our client on the alleged credit card debt.  Helping Florida Consumers is what our firm is about.  Please don’t hesitate to call us on our toll-free number (1-888-834-5297) or just click here to go to our “Contact Us” page to submit your information.

Our client had been sued by Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. in County Court  here in Central Florida to recover on two separate claims from a Cash on Demand Account and a Credit Card Account.  The lawyer for Wells Fargo Bank (formerly known as Wells Fargo Financial Bank) was Enrico Gonzalez from the Temple Terrace, Florida debt collection law firm of Enrico Gonzalez, P.A.

Our client had initially filed a response to the lawsuit herself.  Once we were retained, however, we filed an amended response and asserted several additional defenses that had not previously been filed.  The amendment also allowed us the right to a jury trial, an important right in many credit card cases.

At the same time, we aggressively pursued discovery in this case, and requested the production of numerous documents to which we were entitled.  Wells Fargo was put on a strict deadline to comply with our requests.  Shortly after that, we were able to negotiate an outstasnding settlement for our client, which included the permanent dismissal of the Wells Fargo lawsuit without our client paying them anything at all, as well as removal of the accounts from her credit reports.

If you have been sued by Wells Fargo Bank, or any other debt collector, we may be able to help you even if you have already tried fighting them on your own.  Simply call us toll-free at 1-888-834-5297 or email us through our convenient web contact form to find out about how we can assist you in enforcing your rights.

We recently defeated another Florida debt collection lawsuit.  The lawsuit was filed by debt collection lawyer Adam Jeffrey Katz of the law firm Adam Jeffrey Katz, P.A. from Coral Springs, Florida.  The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Cavalry Portfolio Services, LLC who claimed to have been assigned the debt from Cavalry SPV I, LLC, who in turn claimed to have bought the debt from MBNA.

After we were retained, we applied our knowledge of Florida court rules and aggressively pursued discovery, including interrogatories, requests for production, requests for admission and a deposition.  Based on that discovery, we filed a Motion for Summary Judgment seeking to have the case dismissed before trial.  The judge ruled in our client’s favor: this meant that our client had won, and did not have to pay the debt collector any money at all.

If you would like to put our knowledge to work for you in defending a debt collection lawsuit, please feel free to contact us.  We would be honored to provide you with a free consultation to explain your rights and responsibilities.  Please don’t wait until it’s too late.

We recently had the privilege of being retained by consumers in a pair of debt collection lawsuits filed by Mainstreet Acquisition Corporation.  We have noticed a trend of Mainstreet Acquisition filing debt collection lawsuits in Central Florida in the past few months.  They have been active in purchasing debts originally owed to HSBC Bank Nevada, NA.  Their lawsuits have been filed in the Florida County Courts throughout Central Florida.  Often, they are represented by the Law Offices of Erskine and Fleisher out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

On the surface, their lawsuits appear intimidating.  They often include an official-looking alleged Bill of Sale.  Sometimes they include a purported “Plaintiff’s Affidavit in Support of Claim”.  In some cases, the Complaint or Statement of Claim is prepared in such a way that is very difficult for consumers to understand, including the use of Latin legal phrases.

Despite their appearance, however, our investigation revealed that the debt collection lawsuits filed by Mainstreet Acquisition failed to comply with Florida law.  Using our knowledge of Florida statutes and Court Rules, we were able to get both lawsuits dismissed, without our clients having to pay a penny to Mainstreet Acquisitions.

If you have been sued by Mainstreet Acquisitions Corp. in Central Florida, we would be honored if you would choose us to assist you in defending against this debt collector.  Even if you have a judgment already entered against you by this company, we may still be able to assist you.  There’s never a charge for our initial consultation, so please feel free to call us on our toll-free number, 1-888-834-5297, or contact us through this website by clicking here.  We look forward to hearing from you.

Debt settlement companies (debt relief companies) have been getting a lot of scrutiny lately, and with good reason.  Although they are making lots of money during this difficult economy, it is usually from the people who can least afford it – consumers who are already behind on their payments.

Often, these debt settlement companies will advertise that they can settle your debt at a significant discount from what you owe.  However, in most cases, this is simply a scam.  What many such companies do is convince the consumer to stop paying on their debts to credit card companies, home finance companies, store charge accounts, and sometimes even on their car payments and mortgages.  Instead, the consumer is instructed to send in just one payment – to them, of course.

At first, consumers feel relieved – they are now paying only one company instead of 3 or 4 or even more creditors.  Sometimes the creditors will send a letter asking why you’ve stopped paying.  When the consumer calls the debt relief company to find out, they are often told not to worry about it, since they are “in the middle of negotiations”.  Many times, this is simply false.

Instead, the debt settlement companies take a major share of the payments you have made to them, even though you thought the payments were going to pay down your debts.  In the meantime, your creditors usually escalate their contacts with you.  After a few months, it is not unusual to be sued by one of those creditors that you thought was being paid by the debt settlement company on your behalf.  Then, when you call the debt settlement company about the lawsuit, they tell you that they are not lawyers, and can no longer assist you.  You’re left on your own, at the receiving end of a lawsuit, and without your hard-earned cash to either pay your debt or retain an attorney to help you out.

By the time you realize what has happened and try to get your money back, most of it has been taken by the debt settlement company as their up-front fee for their “services”.  Even if you get some money back, you almost always lose a significant portion of it, and you end up with even more debt!  This is because the interest kept increasing while your debt settlement company was not paying your creditors.

Most consumers don’t know that their creditors have no obligation to deal with such debt settlement companies – and many simply refuse to deal with them.  Instead, many creditors will just file a lawsuit against you in an attempt to make you pay.  Virtually always, the debt settlement company can do nothing to force your creditors from suing you.

This does not mean that every debt settlement company is a scammer.  I myself have not personally experienced a legitimate debt settlement company, but there may be some non-profits or governmental agencies that may legitimately assist you.  On the other hand, I have represented many consumers who were taken advantage of by such debt settlement companies, leaving them in a much worse financial, legal and emotional condition than they were before.  If you are contacted by a debt settlement company, and are considering signing up, be sure to get a detailed explanation of how much they charge, when they charge it, and the exact dollar amounts that will be going to each specific creditor.  If they refuse to tell you the numbers in dollars and cents (beware those that deal only in percentages), or if they don’t promise to pay any set amount to specific creditors (and instead only talk about paying down debt generally without specifying the amounts for each creditor), or if they insist on getting paid up-front before your creditors, the debt settlement service may be just a scam.

If you have been defrauded by such a company, you may want to speak with consumer attorney near you, who should be able to advise you of your rights, and the possibility of recovering some of your money.

Recently, a new report was published regarding debt deception and how debt buyers abuse the legal system.  Although the report was based on a study in New York, my experience as a consumer protection lawyer in Central Florida reveals the same kind of debt collection abuse takes place here in the Orlando – Daytona – Melbourne metropolitan area.

Debt buyers are companies who buy debt from other companies who were unable, unwilling or prohibited from collecting those debts from consumers.  For example, a credit card company may decide that it is unlikely to collect a debt from a consumer, and simply sell that debt to another company who specializes in debt collection.  Usually, such debt is sold for pennies on the dollar.  That way, a debt buyer who is successful in collecting on that debt stands to make a huge profit.

The study revealed that 94% of debt buyers prevailed in court, usually through default judgment.  A default judgment is when the plaintiff (in this case, the debt buyer) wins the lawsuit simply because the defendant did not show up in court or did not file the proper paperwork.  The study noted that 90% of the consumers did not answer the summons and complaint, and only 1% were represented by an attorney.  As you might expect, virtually all people who had default judgments entered against them lived in low- or moderate-income neighborhoods.

Debt collectors obtain billions of dollars in judgments, sometimes using questionable or even illegal tactics.  Some of these tactics include:

• Filing lawsuits on claims that are legally barred, such as filing them after the statute of limitations has run
• Filing lawsuits on claims for which they lack proof of the debt
• Failing to ensure defendants receive proper notice of the lawsuit
• Failing to provide notice of their right to dispute the debt under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
• Using intimidation to pressure consumers to give up their legal defenses

This is consistent with my experience in Florida’s small claims courts in Central Florida.  This past week, I was in court on one of my cases in Volusia County.  My client was the only one who had a lawyer assisting her, out of 14 cases scheduled for that morning.  In other cases, I have personally observed consumers manipulated by stand-in lawyers who the consumers apparently believed to be impartial mediators.

Don’t allow yourself to be intimidated by debt collectors using illegal or questionable tactics.  If you have been sued by a debt collector, contact a consumer lawyer before you are deprived of your rights.  If you are in Central Florida (Orange County, Seminole County, Volusia County, Brevard County, Flagler County, Lake County, and surrounding area) and need an attorney to defend you in a debt collection lawsuit, please feel free to call us for a free consultation.  Or, just click here to send us an email and we will be happy to call you to discuss your case with you.  Remember, once a debt collector receives a judgment against you, they may be able to freeze your bank accounts, seize your assets (including cars), and garnish your wages.  A judgment will make it more difficult for you to obtain credit, secure housing or even find a job.   Don’t let this happen to you!

During a debt collection lawsuit, the other side may send you requests for production of documents.  Those requests are exactly what they sound like: a legal request for you to produce the listed documents.  However, keep in mind that you also have the right to ask the other side to produce documents relevant to the case.  In a debt collection case, that includes documents proving the debt collector owns the debt, copies of your billing statements, copies of your credit card agreement or other loan documents, envelope “stuffers” sent to you that discuss the terms of your contract, and numerous other documents.  Each side must generally produce the requested documents that are in their possession, custody or control, unless there is a legal objection or the documents are privileged.

Such requests are an excellent opportunity to find out whether the debt collector has the documents necessary to prove its case against you.  If they fail or refuse to produce the necessary documents, you should object to them later trying to present evidence about those documents at trial or court hearings.

If you receive such requests and believe they are inappropriate, or would like to determine your rights and responsibilities  for producing documents, you should promptly consult with a consumer rights attorney near you.  Here in Central Florida, please feel free to contact us for a free consultation: you can contact us by clicking on the Contact Us link, calling our toll-free number (1-888-834-5297), or by faxing us.  We are happy to represent consumers sued by shady and unscrupulous debt collectors.

In another recent case against Capital One, we were able to successfully help our client from Central Florida. Capital One was represented by Hayt, Hayt and Landau collection lawyers Robert J. Orovitz, Dana Kalman and Jason Dragutsky out of their Miami office. They had sued our client in County Court on an alleged credit card debt. During the lawsuit, Capital One refused to provide important information we had requested using our knowledge of Florida rules of procedure for civil cases and small claims cases. Based on their responses and the Florida burden of proof for credit card lawsuits, we filed a motion with the Court to have their case thrown out. The Judge agreed with our position and dismissed Capital One’s credit card debt collection case against our client.

Click here for a summary of another Capital One case filed by collection lawyers from Hayt, Hayt and Landau that we were able to get dismissed.

We would be honored if you would put our experience with credit card debt lawsuit defenses to work for you. As a credit card lawyer and debt defense lawyer, I am here to help consumers sued in credit card debt lawsuits in Seminole County, Volusia County, Orange County, Brevard County and Lake County. I never charge for an initial consultation. Please feel free to call us on our toll-free number (1-888-834-5297), or contact us by email to see how we can help you.

In a recent case, we were honored to represent a client who was sued by the law firm of Hayt, Hayt & Landau, PL (formerly Robert J. Orovitz, PA) in County Court here in Central Florida. In the case, collection lawyers Robert J. Orovitz, Dana M. Kalman and Christian D. Walled, from Hayt, Hayt & Landau in Miami, Florida represented Capital One Bank (USA) N.A. During our defense, we informed the Hayt, Hayt and Landau lawyers that our client did not owe the debt alleged in their complaint. However, they would not listen, and instead continued with their credit card lawsuit on behalf of Cap One. During the case, we obtained important documents and argued several motions at the Court: the end result was that our client won her case against Capital One and Hayt, Hayt and Landau!

We would be honored if you would put our experience with credit card debt lawsuit defenses to work for you. As a Florida credit card lawyer and debt defense lawyer, I am here to help consumers sued in credit card debt lawsuits in Seminole County, Volusia County, Orange County, Brevard County and Lake County. I never charge for an initial consultation. Please feel free to call us on our toll-free number (1-888-834-5297), or contact us by email to see how we can help you.

Federal law allows you to get a free annual copy of your credit report from the three primary credit reporting agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.  However, be careful of imitators that are not really free.  For example, some companies will provide you copies of your credit report, and even include the word “free” in the title of their website, but their services are not really free.  Instead, they often require you to purchase a product or service (such as a credit monitoring service) in order to obtain your credit report.    One of those, freecreditreport.com, has paid over a million dollars in fines to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to settle charges that its ads were misleading.

You can get to the website from which you can obtain your free credit report annually by clicking here.  You can request your credit report through that website, and get it almost instantly.  Or, you can also order your credit report by phone or mail through that website.  Once you get your annual credit report, make sure to review it carefully to ensure there are no errors.  Sometimes, you will see accounts you closed long ago still being listed as active.  Other accounts can indicate you are behind in your payments even when you are not.

If you find any errors in your credit report, immediately notify the credit reporting agency (Equifax, Experian or TransUnion).  Describe the error to them in detail, and provide them with documentation showing their error (if you have that documentation).  Keep in mind, you have the legal right to dispute any of the listed debts, and they are required to be marked as “disputed” if they are not removed.

In many cases, a consumer may have a legal defense to a lawsuit filed against them that seeks to collect on a credit card debt or other debt.  You may have defenses such as the lawsuit being too old (statute of limitations), the debt collector did not follow proper procedure in filing or pursuing the lawsuit, or others.  The question then is . . . how do you assert those defenses?

Don’t expect to just show up at trial and start talking about those defenses, as it may be too late by then.  The Court can decide that you are prohibited from asserting them at trial if you did not provide adequate notice about them before the trial.

In short, you generally assert those defenses by filing your Affirmative Defenses with the Court where the lawsuit is pending, as well as the debt collection lawyer.  This lets the debt collector and the Court know what your defenses are, and allows you to argue them at trial.  Filing them in writing prevents the debt collector from later arguing that they are unfairly surprised by your “new” claims.  If you properly preserve those defenses, and if you have the evidence to prove them in Court, you may be able to defeat the debt collector’s lawsuit even if they prove all of their allegations.  Don’t lose that right by waiting too long to file your Affirmative Defenses.