Monica12 Posted April 18, 2019 Report Share Posted April 18, 2019 I just Filed an appearance, idk what to expect at court, can someone give me more info. Especially on how to create my defense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted April 19, 2019 Report Share Posted April 19, 2019 Realistically? You can expect judgment against you for the amount of the debt plus attorneys fees and court costs. And then interest on that judgment at 10% until it's paid. The only reliable way to beat these cases is with arbitration. https://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/topic/329436-arbitration-overview-and-strategy-2018-most-up-to-date-info/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outtadebt Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Without knowing anything about who PRA actually claims to have purchased the account from and the amount, it is hard to predict what will happen. Arbitration may be a good route, but not always the best and potentially not an option depending on the OC and amount in question. So what county are you in? Illinois has some basic requirements that must be included with any JDB filing that I am sure Portfolio conveniently omitted. They always do, at least 100% of the time in my county. If you can pursue arbitration and the amount is small, I would offer this to consider. You may/will be successful in getting them to dismiss without prejudice and leave you alone. But there are consequences. They will report an open collection on your CR's for the next 7 years. If you need a mortgage, you will have to deal with them, Want to rent an apartment, you will need to deal with them, If you want a car loan in the next three years or so, if approved you pay a higher rate due to active collections. You will pay more for home and auto insurance for at least 3 years with an active collection. Effectively, if the debt is a couple thousand, you may beat them from pursuing the case, but will pay at least the same or more in daily life costs as the claimed value. If you choose to fight and they have provided the normal garbage to support the claim (generic bill of sale, PRA employee affidavit, one or more statements from the OC and using account stated or something like that, read the attached case. You may have a chance in court. This case was lost at the appellate level here, appealed by PRA to the Illinois Supreme Court and they refused to hear it. Game over, it appears they never pursued it further and lost. Portfoliio Case Law - Affadavits.pdf 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outtadebt Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Good luck with the decision 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Court is a near-certain judgment against you, whereas arbitration has been 100% effective against PRA. If arbitration is an option, there is absolutely no reason to risk going to court on this. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 From what I can gather from that ruling, all they missed was an affidavit from OC attesting to validity and accuracy of statements. Most plaintiff's correct these errors after such rulings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outtadebt Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Goody. I agree, that appeared to bet he main thing missing that has allowed them to proceed in the past. Why they did not cure the defect and present it I can not find anywhere. But, Illinois is such a creditor friendly state, I am very surprised that it even received consideration at the appellate level considering other rulings are not consistent with this. In any case, they parties went back and forth for another year or so and the case was abandoned by Portfolio in March 2018. They dismissed without prejudice. So my guess is that they could not get the documents to overcome the appeals court. This case was in Cook County also, That makes it very interesting to win at the Civil and Appellate level on a debt case. Especially since the defendant was pro se and the appellate court cut him a wide path for not following procedure essentially helping him win to some effect. In any case, it does provide an opportunity for case law to use against these guys when they have an issue with documents. In my county they are still following the same routine they have followed for years. They never bring all the docs to court. Just the same generic junk and wait for the default. Anyone who actually challenges the this garbage usually gets a quick dismissal (depending on the amount). In the end, this guy decided to fight. He used the old method of challenging the evidence and actually was able to win in a very unfavorable environment. We should take that lesson and see when it can continue to be applied successfully in the future. This was a $15K case, putting that on a collection account for 7 years is death from a financial perspective. PRA may have even dipped into the arb water here for that amount, knowing they would still make money when they won. And they would have won in arb had they gone through with it. We all know that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 58 minutes ago, outtadebt said: We should take that lesson and see when it can continue to be applied successfully in the future. Why? If you take it to trial, the arbitration option is long gone. Again, there is no sensible reason for trying to fight in court when arbitration is an option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 2 hours ago, outtadebt said: Why they did not cure the defect and present it I can not find anywhere. Every so often we find one of those cases. The Commissioner that handled these kinds of Appeals in our county could be stickler on that point. If they hit all of the bullet points in Business Record Exception, she'd rule for plaintiff, but if they (rarely) missed one (probably through carelessness) she would rule that they hadn't met the bar to overcome hearsay. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outtadebt Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 Again. Not sure the reason why. I live about 65 miles outside Chicago, so I am not going to Cook County to pull the documents unless I ever need to. I would like to know how they missed. B&G is a JDB lawsuit mill and they use the same docs out in the country here. Maybe someone finally had enough of their antics. I think we would really need to see the actual affidavit that was challenged and what wording they used. All in the detail. Maybe B&G actually could not get what they needed. All I am saying is this does give an opening to find a hole and possibly exploit it in our State. But since the OP has not been back to state who the OC is and the amount of the claimed debt, I am not sure arb is an option that others always parrot as a singular solution. For any case subject to the small claims carve out, at least you can try and fight with this. I would think some of our better consumer lawyers (and we have 3 really good ones in the Chicago area) may pick up on this and be able to help. The other option is to lose on default or lose at trial. As I have said, times change, so do strategies. Even if a door seems closed, maybe there is another door somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 10 minutes ago, outtadebt said: I am not sure arb is an option that others always parrot as a singular solution. For the third time, please give one good reason for taking a less than 100% chance option when there is a 100% chance option available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outtadebt Posted April 22, 2019 Report Share Posted April 22, 2019 How about the claimed debt is less than the small claims carve out in the cardholder CC agreement. Do you even know the small claims limit here in Illinois without looking it up. Your option goes poof when the limit is not reached if the right OC was in play. What would you do then..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted April 23, 2019 Report Share Posted April 23, 2019 4 hours ago, outtadebt said: Your option goes poof when the limit is not reached if the right OC was in play. I said "available" option.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monica12 Posted April 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted April 26, 2019 @outtadebt I’m in Illinois and the amount is 9k. I’m not exactly sure what arbitration is. I’ll definitely have to google that. I thank you for taking the time to reply to me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted April 26, 2019 Report Share Posted April 26, 2019 14 hours ago, Monica12 said: I’m not exactly sure what arbitration is. I provided a link in my first post here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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