Getting better Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 I have settled several cards with collectors and one with discover, I had a verbal with discover on this card to settle last year at 30%, but couldn't come up witht he money fast enough and they withdrew the offer and sent it to a local attorney. I was served on 3/14/11 and have 30 days to answer a $16,000! suit. I talked with an attorney and they said I have no chance of winning against oc, especially discover and my only option is to settle. The Discover attorney will not go below 70%. I offered $3000. They said no way. Can anyone point me to the resources to defend myself on this case and possible win?The attorney for discover is also a collection agency and after I sent the validation letters stating do not call, etc. they have had their autodialer continue to call and no one ever speaks when I answer, 50 or so calls. Is there something there to countersue over, over bargain with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaseDismissed Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 (edited) Answer the summons general denial --not guilty and the court date will set about 6 months to a year. Enough time to figure out your next move. These things don't happen immediately. Read my MOORE LAW GROUP defeated thread for the scoop on how I had my case dismissed. Discover lawyers are NO different.Good luck!P.s. And the lawyer you talked to sucked. He is not someone to get advice from. Seek advice from those people who have been successful at dismissing cases. It's all about procedure mess-up by the debt lawyers that you get the cases thrown out. I wish more people knew this angl.eI can't answer back. Not enough time to answer these threads more than once every few months. But good luck to you. Edited October 24, 2011 by CaseDismissed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiquedave Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 I'd try to find a Consumer Attorney that would take the FDCPA violation on contingency and file a suit against the collector, take a picture of the screen display of your phone to show dates and times and get your phone log in order. Are you certain Discover still owns the debt or has it been sold to a JDB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Getting better Posted April 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 All of the written communicate says Discover still owns it, however I am confused that the attorney handling this is a "collection agency" probably one of the larger firms in Alabama. The times I have called them I can't get past anyone to talk to but the one who answer the phone(collector).I even called discover months ago to try and settle directly, they said they own the account but it had been assigned out for legal action. hoping to come up with a creative defense and that they will make a procedural error, or the I will be a big enough nuisance that they will just drop it eventually.One thing is that this account was opened in 1991 and I am wondering if I will have any luck with them not being able to produce records way back. It was originally my wifes card, and I was added on to it in the mid 90's when they gave us a credit increase. I don't rememeber ever signing anything. We are both listed on the suit.One other question, I found a law on the Alabama code that says a "bank" must have a physical location in Alabama to operate as a bank. I can find no information that says discover has an office in Alabama. Is this a possible defense to usury laws/interest rates? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
antiquedave Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Are you on as a joint cardholder or as an authoized user? If just an authorized user you are not liable but your wife is since she took it out.getting your name off the suit would be an important first step to me.An FDCPA suit could give you some leverage, my personal feeling is that having someone experienced handling that part of it takes some pressure off from you to concentrate on the other things you need to learn.My mantra has been to not assume anything and to question everything and even then I sometimes make an assumptiona lot of attorneys operate as collection agencies, the big ones have hundreds of employees dedicated t making our lives a living hellIf you tackle this you need to be willing to invest the time, I read probably an average of 4 hours a day, have a thumb drive filled to the brink with stuff, have burned up 100.00 worth of toner printing and now have a 12x18 box and 3 binders filled.Its not something you can walk into without preparation but as you can see on the board people do win, but it comes at a price of your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BV80 Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 If the autodialed calls are to your cell phone, and they did not have permission to call your cell, those are TCPA violations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobk4me Posted April 1, 2011 Report Share Posted April 1, 2011 Look into the arbitration strategy, both here and on debtorboards.com. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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