Debt Settlement Group

[pkeets]

I am currently working with a debt settlement group for credit card debt. They failed to contact one of my creditors (collection agency) and now I am being sued. I have a civil court trial in September. My problem is I have offered to put down a small lump sum on an approx. $9000 debt and make any additional payments after that. The opposing attorney has not returned calls and now my debt group has said to me that they can not give me legal advice!! I have no idea what to expect if I do go to civil court. They told me I have to represent myself which I do not want to do because I am not familiar with the law. I also want to fire my debt settlement group after this but am not sure how to go about doing this since I still have 2 other credit cards with them.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

[Buebued]

Originally Posted by pkeets

I am currently working with a debt settlement group for credit card debt. They failed to contact one of my creditors (collection agency) and now I am being sued.

Thats about par for the course with all debt consolidation companies. I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard that same tale of woe. I'd be a rich man by now.

I have a civil court trial in September. My problem is I have offered to put down a small lump sum on an approx. $9000 debt and make any additional payments after that. The opposing attorney has not returned calls and now my debt group has said to me that they can not give me legal advice!!

Of course not! They couldn't help you pay off your debts but most likely did help reduce your credit score greatly. They were also very helpful in reducing the weight of all that extra cash in your wallet. Got to give them credit for something, eh?

I have no idea what to expect if I do go to civil court.

I'll tell you what to expect whether you go to civil court or not. You can expect the court to render a judgment against you for the full amount of the debt plus court costs, attorney fees and interest. Thats what happens in the vast majority of cases in civil courts all across America. Most of that is that like you people are afraid to go to court and stand up and fight. They don't have the foggiest idea about how to put up a viable defense and are up against a court that already knows that they owe the debt. But even though debtors don't have a fighting chance in local court there is very good reason why they should fight to the bitter end anyway.

They told me I have to represent myself which I do not want to do because I am not familiar with the law.

That isn't a problem you should be very worried about. You can learn all you need to know very quickly. In only a few hours you can learn how to prepare and file a graduated denial of the debt as your response to the complaint, your interrogatories, demand for admissions and production of documents as well as your certificate of maiing. You simply print out 3 copies of your response and 1 copy of your certificate of mailing. The graduated denial should be made into a notarized document subscribed to in front of a notary public and filed with the clerk of the court. The clerk gets two copies which are both stamped by the clerk and you get one back to mail to the plaintif's attorney. Then go to the post office and mail a copy of everything to the plaintiff's attorney by certified mail, return receipt requested.

Another step you will want to take is to examine all of the documents in the court file for the case while at the courthouse to be sure that you have all the documents to work with. You will want to be especially careful to check to see if there are any affidavits filed in the case. If so it may very well be very false and very misleading. You will also want to send the attorney a good debt validation letter. That is a vital step as well. There are several other steps you will want to take but telling you about them here would just be entirely too lengthy.

I also want to fire my debt settlement group after this but am not sure how to go about doing this since I still have 2 other credit cards with them.

It is simple. Just send them a registered letter telling them that you no longer want them to represent you in any way shape or form.

Firing them is not going to hurt you any more than you have already been hurt for the simple reason that those two companies will probably end up filing lawsuits against you anyway.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I think the best thing you can do is learn all the ways the attorney may have violated your rights under the law and sue him in federal court as soon as possible. That isn't all that hard to do either. You will lose in local court because the judge knows you owe the debt and that you have no defense.

When you get to federal court the judge already knows they broke the law or you wouldn't be there. They have no defense if you can prove your allegations. They will lose and you can get paid for your costs, time and effort to help enforce the law and your rights under the law.