Being sued by Portfolio Recovery in Texas, please help

[Happy33]

Any help is greatly appreciated, thank you!

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC

2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? Rausch Sturm

3. How much are you being sued for? $2,000 to $3,000

4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) Synchrony Bank

5. How do you know you are being sued? I was served

6. How were you served? In Person

7. Was the service legal as required by your state? I believe so

8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? None

9. What state and county do you live in? Texas, Smith County

10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) Fall 2016

11. When did you open the account (looking to establish what card agreement may be applicable)? 2014

12. What is the SOL on the debt? 4 years

13. What is the status of your case? Suit served? Motions filed? Court website says "Filed"

14. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No

15. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? Note: if you haven't sent a debt validation request before being sued, it likely won't help create FDCPA violations, but disputing after being sued could be useful to show the court that you dispute the debt ('account stated' vs. 'breach of contract'). No

16. How long do you have to respond to the suit? 20 days

17. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Nothing at all

 

[BackFromTheDebt]

Here is what you need to do:

1.  Texas law is unique.  There are some Texans on this board.  To be specific, there have been several threads within the past few months dealing with situations almost identical to yours -- people getting sued in Texas over Synchronicity accounts.  Look up the threads and see what they did.  There are some strange things about Texas, which you can find from those threads.  

2.  This is Synchronicity, and PRA is suing you.  From what I have read, Synchronicity has a great arbitration agreement.  Great for you, that is.  If you file a MTC for arbitration, PRA rarely follows up in arbitration, meaning you win.  Again, look up the threads dealing with arbitration in Texas over Synchronicity accounts.  If you do what others did in the past, you are much more likely to win.

[Clydesmom]

1.  First there is NO "Synchronicity" account so do not go looking for the card agreement based on that.  Synchrony accounts have the BEST arbitration option of all the creditors.  If you are going to use arbitration you need to raise it as an affirmative defense in your answer to the court.  

2.  Most if not all junk debt buyers (especially PRA) do not arbitrate because of the expense.  The goal is not to actually arbitrate but to get them to drop the entire matter.

3. RSIEH (the law firm suing you) does NOT like any sort of public battle over the account.  They very much prefer the consent judgment or better a default judgment.  The majority of consumers who actually fight back with an answer and motions find RSIEH dismissing.  The last thing they want to do is actually have to prove their case and do actual work. 

4.  If you do not feel comfortable handling this on your own (it requires considerable research and work) then a free consult with a good Consumer Attorney is a good place to start.

[Happy33]

Thank you BackFromTheDebt and Clydesmom! Much appreciated.

[BackFromTheDebt]

On 9/25/2018 at 7:29 PM, Clydesmom said:

1.  First there is NO "Synchronicity" account so do not go looking for the card agreement based on that.  Synchrony accounts have the BEST arbitration option of all the creditors.  If you are going to use arbitration you need to raise it as an affirmative defense in your answer to the court.  

2.  Most if not all junk debt buyers (especially PRA) do not arbitrate because of the expense.  The goal is not to actually arbitrate but to get them to drop the entire matter.

3. RSIEH (the law firm suing you) does NOT like any sort of public battle over the account.  They very much prefer the consent judgment or better a default judgment.  The majority of consumers who actually fight back with an answer and motions find RSIEH dismissing.  The last thing they want to do is actually have to prove their case and do actual work. 

4.  If you do not feel comfortable handling this on your own (it requires considerable research and work) then a free consult with a good Consumer Attorney is a good place to start.

Heh.  I had 3 of my accounts sent to RSIEH.  The first two wound up in arbitration.  When they got the third account, I called them and asked if they really wanted to deal with me yet again.  

They dropped that third account like a hot potato.  

[texasrocker]

On 9/25/2018 at 7:29 PM, Clydesmom said:

1.  First there is NO "Synchronicity" account so do not go looking for the card agreement based on that.  Synchrony accounts have the BEST arbitration option of all the creditors.  If you are going to use arbitration you need to raise it as an affirmative defense in your answer to the court. 

Where in the TRCP does it state that one must raise it as an affirmative defense?   Hint: It does not.