Imagine settling your debts and getting a fresh start so even if you are sued, you can laugh about it, have fun, and know that you are okay, that everything is fine.
Isn’t this better than carrying around a ball and chain all your life?
Carrying around old debt is like carrying around an ancient ball and chain. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/lazylikewally/
This article shows you that you CAN win even if you are sued by creditors, EVEN if you are convinced they are right and you owe them money.
And you can do so without an attorney even.
Baby sleeping - I'm not going to wake up and bother with a law suit, photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/familymwr/
Let’s start at the beginning.
I work a lot with folks who owe money to creditors and who are following a program such as my Credit Card Relief Formula.
They settle their debts for dimes on the dollar and move on with their life.
Without bankruptcy.
And they get their credit rating up there, too.
Even if they file for bankruptcy, my system lets them build their FICO score really high again, in about 12 to 18 months.
But one of the pesky problems that comes up and PREVENTS people from doing a debt settlement is the threat of being sued.
Most creditors don’t sue most of the time
Fact is, most creditors leave you alone most of the time. They don’t sue because
- You can’t get blood out of a turnip
- Suing takes money and resources
- Even if they win, if you have no money they can’t collect.
But I estimate about 3% to 5% of creditors will file a lawsuit. It may not even be that many, but I’m being conservative. I don’t know any exact figures but I think that’s pretty close and this is with about 8000 students or whatever I have, many of whom have posted on my Free and Clear Club or corresponded with me privately.
If you simply follow an easy system, you can fight back and win in the paper war against your creditor. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/tabor-roeder/
So if you do a debt settlement, chances are you may be sued by say one creditor. Maybe two. Maybe none. Probably zero, one or two.
What should you do in that case?
They can’t take you to jail for not paying your debts
The creditor can’t go into your house without your permission (at least they can’t without a judgment and court order to do s0), they most definitely can’t call the cops and arrest you.
Law suits are a “civil” matter. Not a “criminal” matter. So you can rest assured that you aren’t doing anything wrong, shameful or illegal if you can’t pay your bills and you need to settle.
Don’t fall into the shame trap either.
I'm not ashamed of settling my debts, are you? From one dog to another, photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/istolethetv/
It’s not your fault. It’s reality. Deal with it like a business owner or a large faceless corporation. It ain’t personal. It’s just life.
And congratulations for taking charge of your obligations and not just burying it all in the sand. You are smart and doing the right thing to deal with it.
So now, let’s say you are being sued.
How the law suit proceeds
A lawsuit begins by the creditor filing a complaint. That’s the official word used by most local courts for the initial filing of a lawsuit.
A complaint.
And with this, sometimes there is a court date set up to hear the case.
Sometimes that comes later.
It depends upon the local rules although most courts are pretty similar.
After a complaint is filed with the court, the creditor must serve you with a lawsuit.
How to avoid the sewer service scam
You can avoid service and you aren’t doing anything illegal. Don’t answer your door to strangers. Even if it’s the court marshall or sherriff, you often do not have to open your door. They can’t serve you if they can’t hand you the documents.
Sooner or later they will serve you even if you avoid or evade service. They may serve you by “posting” the complaint to your door, where that is legal. Or by publishing in a local newspaper.
But either way, whatever they do, they are supposed to make sure you have a copy of the complaint.
There is something called “sewer service” where whoever is supposed to be serving you with the complaint SAYS they did that, but they simply threw away the complaint and lied on the paperwork.
I know we served you...the court complaint is here in this sewer somewhere. Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/jondoe_264/
So people frequently end up with a judgment against them with no idea they were ever sued!
This can be set aside quite easily if it happens. But most folks don’t do anything about it, so these phony sewer services are quite effective.
But what I’m saying to you here and now is that you have the incredible amazing power to WIN most law suits against you even by creditors to whom you legitimately owe money.
It starts with being served. Sometimes you can avoid being served and they will give up. It happens.
But usually you will be served eventually and now you’ll have a day in court. But a lot happens before it gets to that point, and this is where you can actually win.
If you are served, here’s how you can win a law suit against you
There are a lot of things you are allowed to do if you are served.
The worst thing to do is nothing.
They expect that.
See, creditors almost NEVER run into a debtor who fights back in the legal system.
The creditors are used to debtors doing NOTHING.
And this is WHY you can win.
Imagine an opponent who comes to you in battle but their gun isn’t loaded because they don’t expect you to shoot back. Their sword is made of cardboard because it’s cheaper than a real sword and nobody ever engages in swordplay anyway. Their armor is cheap paper and not metal because they don’t expect to get stabbed or shot at.
That’s the situation with the attorney the bank or creditor is sending after you. The creditor doesn’t expect you to fight back. So the attorney they send as their warrior in battle is often not even armed with the most basic of weaponry.
The attorney expects that:
- You won’t show up to court
- You won’t fight the law suit
- They will automatically win
- They will get a judgment
- You won’t fight the judgment
This is what happens in 99% of all cases and it is why you CAN win.
What I did, is I have had a huge amount of experience by virtue of being married to an attorney, by virtue of having thousands of students, and having a lot of experience in business and a lot of students who got sued.
I’ve found you can win most law suits because of how poorly prepared the attorneys are.
Let me give you a few examples of what you can do.
File a general denial.
- Make what are called affirmative defenses
- Make the creditor answer a long list of detailed questions they very likely can’t and don’t want to answer
- Subpoena records they probably can’t find
- Cross complain, that is, file a lawsuit right BACK at them, for causes of action they don’t want you to even know about let alone get out in open court
So I went to a judge, a former judge to be exact, and together we fashioned a course that shows you how to fight law suits and win, and not even having you hire an attorney either. This can be a do-it-yourself affair with a little help from someone I’ll show you how to find on Craigslist.
Right now, I want you to post your situation here or your question. I will contact you first when we are ready to have a webinar.
Thank you!
UPDATE:
Sue Happy has been released. Check it out HERE
- The secret to owning real estate so it can’t be taken away from you by creditors, ex-spouses, banks or even the IRS!
- The debt settlement retirement plan -- how to use your retirement plan to get OUT of your debts for Dimes on the Dollar and end up with a GREAT credit score (the lenders don’t want you to know how easy this is...)
- This simple entirely legal retirement plan lets you get to half your retirement money for ANY reason -- and you get to pay it back over five years (even longer in some cases)!
- Don’t have a business? Here is how you can take advantage of many small business tax loopholes (Hint: you can be your OWN self directed retirement plan trustee and invest in real estate, a business, help out a son or daughter buy their first house, and much more)
Richard,
I have been working with a debt settlement company and I received my first lawsuit. Any advice as to how to proceed and fight it?
Get out of the debt settlement company, Run and demand your money back. They will not help with a law suit. There is alot of good information on the web.
You can file an Answer and go through the motions. You have rights, and Junk debt buyers/lawyers are violating the FDCPA everyday. If you need help you can email me at sbwcl@optonline.net Please only this reply.
Susan
Richard,
Great information as always. I have already begun fighting back. However, I would like to know what to do about those sneaky creditors who place judgements on your credit report without your knowledge. Someone leaed a car in my name without my knowledge paying for the entire three year lease up front. When the car was returned the bill was sent to me for the wear and tear on the vehicle.
When I contaced the dealer and advisd that I had no knowledge of this transaction in my name, I never heard from them again, but I recenly found a $4,500 judgement on my credit report.
How can I fight this
I have been behind on several credit cards for a long time. There is no way to pay off 20% + interest so I just keep paying double the min or more.
Would like to settle and get rid of this debt asap.
I already have a pending lawsuit and ready to fight back. They have been unreasonble when I have tried to negotiate.
Hello Richard
I have received notice for a debt settlement.It says I have 30 days to dispute. I do not have any recollection of this creditor. The local collection service is trying very hard to phone contact. What should I do? Post dated 6/20/2011
I am in a mess of a financial situation. What I have found though research is that even if you do nothing you can still win. It takes time, but in the end it is all about money and nothing more. I learned long ago about how cooperate law suites work though my insurance company that was going after a state organization on my behalf. Just recently again on a workers comp case my company that I had owned had against it. You are right when you say you have to treat this like a business. That is exactly how you need to treat this and do not take anything personal. Collectors are trained to get you to feel guilty or scared to get money out of you. If you fall for it you will fall victim to their tactics. The creditors do not care about you, your family, your current financial situation or anything else. Why should you care about them. I know I don’t. When it comes to phone calls, for $9.95 a month you can subscribe to a service that will block all unwanted calls for you. As far as lawsuits go, they cannot get blood where there is non. Although there are many different circumstances when it comes to lawsuits, the bottom line is if an attorney cannot collect a debt, the attorney will not get paid for their work and therefore have no interest in continuing. Do not think because they are a big bank or company that they have unlimited funds to use to go after you to collect the debt. It still has to make financial sense and if it doesn’t they won’t pursue. Even the IRS has laws in place to protect people who owe money but cannot pay. Why would anyone think that these creditors are better then the IRS. They are not better and in my opinion they are a lot worse.
My situation is I owe more than $100k and I have stop paying on most of it because of my poor financial situation. I now have my creditors spinning their heels because they cannot find me. I am trying to beat out the statue of limitations or they just give up altogether, which ever comes first is fine with me. If there is a better way that would speed up this process, I am very interested in hearing about it.
I have 2 credit cards with Chase. Interest rates NEARLY 30 %. Missed a couple of payments and now talking with them. Feels strange but they are willing to talk about solutions. They say they know a lot of us are in trouble.
Thanks for your info and encouragement in difficult times.
I just settled with chase. I had 4 credit card with a total balance of 20,000. They settled with me at the 140 day mark for 30%.
I am so glad that you are publishing a solutions for so many whos lives are so minimized because of the big bank profits.
I went through all this stress 10 years ago. I was widowed , sold the house and moved to Michigan where prices seemed so low and so good. I did not know all the other economic factors of the area, and I lost track of the cash I had. I lived on short term jobs and temp agencies. I had three cards from Chase bank that I did not qualify for but because my [profession was REaltor (in the state I moved from) they thought that insured that I made lots of money. I consolidated the cards to one, because I had a hard time keeping track ..big mistake. bigger payment. and then I got sucked into the insurance ie: payment protection plan. Trouble was that when Unemployed and covered ( I had to be without work for 30 days and get proof that I was applying for jobs), they paid the min payment. But that barely covered the cost of the insurance and did not cover any late fees or over limit charges. A couple years later and two states later and lots of hassels with creditors, I filed bankruptsy once I had a job and could afford it.
I felt so relieved. I waited a long time to get more credit cards, but first I cleared up a few things on my report. However Chase had filed a judgement, and it will not go away til the 10 years is over.
This past year, Chase will not approve a credit card for me even when I opened checking accounts with them. I ended up closing my accounts….as a bank the customer service is great, the policies absolutly stink. I think they should be closed down…… I will only do banking with a credit union from now on.
Richard,
Looking forward to fighting back without hiring a lawyer!
I will stay tuned.
Most people do not fight back because they do not have the knowledge or the confidence to do so, or because they believe to do so will cost them money they do not have. The majority of people in debt are there through no real fault of their own, they have lost jobs,they or a family member have an illness that is costing them large amounts of dollar each month for treatment. These are the people that should know about your course so that they know that even thought they are in debt they have rights.
I just ignored a complaint and i ended being garnished on my wages. Its about 8 months now. Is it too late to appeal or undo this!
Garnishment is nasty depending upon the state you are in. Some states have means tests, some do not. I don’t see how you can get the money back they’ve already taken. Best to avoid this happening again though.
warmly
–Richard
Dear Richard,
congratulations for all you are doing on behave of the uninformed consumer. Surely, the biggest tragedy that this country is undergoing, is the abuses by the big banks and credit card companies.
Thank you!
Sándor
Line of credit (Chase Bank) hounding us. Left a message on the after hours phone at City Hall! Have a first and a line of credit on this rental. It’s not smart business to keep paying on this rental because we owe $225,000 but only worth $100,000 maybe. They can come after us for the line of credit. We are hoping they will take a settlement for alot less, but the phone calls are hard to take. It has been 3 months of not paying the line only. We have some assests. I need help!
My husband and I have been sued by one credit card company of which I did not fully understand the terms on the paper and thought we had more time to decide and did nothing in time so now there is a judgement. We recently received two individual lawsuits for individual cards from Chase. I went to the courthouse to see how much it would cost just to respond and they wanted $300 each just to respond; no lawyer. Fortunately or unfortunately we do not have the money to do so therefore it will become a judgement also. We do not really have any assests as our house is underwater mortgage wise so they can’t go after that. We are self-employed with a business account so they
can’t levy our paycheck. We have not been able to pay our mortgage for a year now and have received a default notice months back but nothing offical since. Bankruptcy seems inevitable for us eventually; currently we dont’ even have money to do that.
I am interested in protecting whatever money (bank accounts) in the future we do earn.
Thank you for your help in these difficult times.
Richard;
Thank you for continuing to fight the good fight and for sharing your invaluable tips and tactics for all of us who desperately need to take control of our financial lives. Beating the banksters is NOT an easy task, but with your help some of us just might be able to win our own small battle and gain our financial freedom at last. Thanks Richard!
Hello Richard,
Thanks for the informative article above. I read it with great interest. I wish I had read it BEFORE I was sued and of course,I did not show up. I am curious to know your technique about how to beat them.
Looking forward to more information and product releases from you.
Moe
I was “sewer serviced”! How do these liars get away with this scam?
You absolutely CAN beat credit card companies in court. The key the process is to respond to the ORIGINAL mail you get from the company who sends it with a certified letter telling them you don’t remember the debt and ask for a copy of the original signed agreement. 90% of them never respond. Most original signed agreements were shreded within 6-12 months after you started. It’s simple. No signed valid contract, no evidence of a valid debt. I don’t know about these other credit repair processes but, that works.
Does your course cover a situation where the credit card company cancelled your card even thoug you were making extra payments on time?
Does your course cover banks that would not negotiate with you and then sold your debt to a collection service that threatens local law actions?
Am being sued by American Express now so hopefully your course will be out soon.
same thing happened to us…in fact they even attempted to garnish my wages at a company I no longer worked at….it was close…left the company just in time because I had another company to go to…so far haven’t heard or seen a thing from AMEX…It might be because that we are now out of state and its too expensive to track me….I am hoping that I just missed this by living under the radar and that AMEX does’nt want to spend any further money investigating this account….
Richard,
The company I worked for went out of business in 2008. I have tried to find work, but everyone is only hiring for part-time positions. This has impacted my finances in a negative way. I get constant phone calls from my creditors wanting a payment. Its all I can do to put food on the table and to make things worse, my wife was laidoff. I dont know what to do anymore.
In the future, and Free for now–Google Voice – forward your phones to it and capture the phone numbers of the guys you don’t want to talk to- then auto send them specifically to a separate vmail. You don’t get bothered and frustrated. You take control of the situation and focus on getting out of the situation and take care of yourself.
Ps. don’t use your name in the voice mail-use the phone number if you’d like or just say “I’m not available at the moment to answer your call -please leave a message.”
been in hospital….just owe them 800.00 the cost was 30.000 ….my co pay was one thousand and they are killing me….about the rest…Im paying them fifty a month…they want to take me to court….bull crap…at least I wont have to pay for my meds….they wont let go and let me get better…what can I do….?
Hello Richard:
If a debt is settled for less than the amount owed, can the creditor file a 1099 to report to the IRS that difference was “income” to me? I know a lot of the amount the balance owed to the creditor they are willing to reduce is comprised of finance charges, legal fees, late fees and penalties. This certainly is not income.
I was sued by Capital One I cannot make any payment lost job , please hurry with course so I would know how to deal with them.
Thank you
credit union would not offer any reduced pmt transanction offers
discover would not offer a logical settlement
irs garnished my cash flow source
I have a judgement against me from a check cashing place. I got served papers from a Sherif at work, which was very embarassing, regarding garnishment of wages. I filed paperwork to dismiss & now have a court date on July 5th. I am clueless as to what ro do? Any help would be much appreciated.
Jim P
Hi Richard,
Just this week, I sent a response back to the court and attorney for the lawsuit the creditor has filed. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. is suing me for a balance of $11,000. My response stated that I have been unemployed in the real estate industry for the past six years and cannot obtain work in any field, due to the critical situation our economy is in. I have stated that my home is in the foreclosure process, as well. Although my husband’s name is NOT on the debt, I stated that he was facing a similar situation with debt, and that his income is the only income we have. I also stated that we were having difficulty making ends meet for the necessary living expenses such as food, gas, utilities, etc. I then asked the court to dismiss the case.
Please tell me how to proceed from here. Like I said, I just mailed my response this week. What can I expect to happen next?
Thanks for any help you can give. It is much appreciated.
Great information. I am being sued by Citibank for a HELOC and I showed up to the court house. This seems to have stopped them for now. It’s been two month’s and I’ve been waiting for them to come back at me. I don’t think they were expecting me to show up, but I’m glad I did.
I have old credit card debts that is from year 2000, which I do not remember the amount anymore. The only thing I know is that I receive phone calls and leters from law firm offer me 80% of an amount that I am not sure about it. There is a counsellors at law called Pressler and Pressler that are the worst with law suit and liens bihind a property.
I would like to fight back for the amount that was $2,000.00 dollars and became $6,000.00 dollars now. I did try to settle with Pressler and Pressler, but they said know because I have a house and they have a lien bihind my property. In another words, they said that they will get paid some day. Please, advise ?
Ilda
they want to get paid not “someday” but “today.” They all work on commission of some kind and commission is money in the bank TODAY.
So this “we know you have a house so we will wait it out” is nonsense and a pure negotiating tactic.
It is always easy to settle these things if you can take the emotion out and know what they can and cannot do.
warmly
–Richard
I have two separate lawsuits from Capital One. They are very difficult to settle with. I have a Lawyer working on the two lawsuits as I do not know the first thing about writing a reply in the form the court will accept. I think Chase is next.
Sounds good but a lot of work. But I think if I were to get sued I would try it.
something that i never heard of … interesting ….
We have gotten behind on credit cards due to unemployment, health issues, and business downturn. Creditors harass us daily even though I continue to make payments (just not big enough for them).They are threatening.
Send the creditors a cease and desist calling letter. REMEMBER always send any correspondance to collection agencies via USPS Certified Mail Return Receipt Requested. Any collection notice mailed to you should include a copy of the collection notice and a form letter you can obtain online from numerous sources at no cost that essentially by law requires the collection agency to prove you owe the money.
AJ
Lost two jobs in one month. Broke and the unemployment is running out. Have been looking for work in earnest. Have had a couple short gigs.
So many bills, vehicle reposessed, etc, etc.
Great start. I learned more from your short outline than I have from a bunch of attorneys that I have used in the past. Keep it coming. Remember, most of us who are being sued don’t have any money. We need some type of deffered payment. God Bless. Doyle Glass
I have run into a situation where I was sued and never seen any summons to appear. I was surprised to find that; 1. I was in dept to my scalp, and 2. I had a judgment against me for the dept, plus interest and late fees, all thanks to my ex-wife.
I contacted my pursuing agency and demanded to get a copy of proof of service to the hearing. I was turned over to their legal department. They didn’t want to talk to me as a judgment had been rendered. I insisted they just send me proof of service which they could not provide. I also mentioned my pending divorce and they would be receiving a court order to remove any derogatory history from my credit history.
Next thing I know they reversed their hard nose attitude and vacated the judgment. I was in the clear with clean credit.
Richard
I thought the subject was very interesting this is happening more and more today and I would like more Info.
Sincerely
Dick Rowbotham
I really appreciate the information.
Ray
My wife and I were served for a note (not on the DOT). The preocess server said he was an ubvestor tgere to make an offer on our property (in foreclosure). We later opened the “offers” and realized we were being served. Several days later we filed a CH.13 (actually 3 times over a six month period). Our home is scheduled for auction again in a couple of months.
We are now preparing to file a CH. 7, but are not sure if the lawsuit ever got off the ground, or if they got a default judgement would follow us. Also, if we bought a new home in the name of a revocable trust (the bank said we could do that) do we need to have a 3rd party beneficiary in order to protect the property that is owned by the trust?
I owe more than $100k on credit cards, and have had to stop paying on most of it because of an open heart surgery that curtailed my ability to work. Creditors call me persistently but I don’t take their calls as I am trying to hold out until the statue of limitations expires.
Richard, I believe you’ve found the “keys to the kingdom” as far as internet marketing is concerned, as there appears to be an unending stream of people who are in trouble and desparately need your advice. I’ve already purchased your Credit Card Relief materials, and they are great. Keep up the good work!!
Hi Richard,
Wells Fargo is suing me for the HELOC loan I took about 4 years ago
For $100,000. I tried to short sale the house. The first mortgage with
Wells Fargo accepted the short sale offer and was giving the 2nd $6,000
To settle. The second said no and sued me. Should I file
Bankruptcy?
Jaclyn
You can’t, the credit card comnpay determines which part of the debt gets paid off first, and guess what, they always choose the low interest portion.
Richard,
I liked your stuff when I first read how to settle debts for dimes on the dollar. This new course is the obvious next step: how to avoid becoming a default judgment.
One question I’ve long wondered:
How is a general denial different from a specific denial? Obviously no one wants to commit perjury.
Make the lawyers work so hard they choose to just move on.
All the best,
Steve
Dear Richard,
Congratulations for all you are doing on behave of all consumers. Surely, the biggest rip-off this country is witnessing is the abuses by the big banks and credit card companies.
Thank you!
Any info on dealing with the IRS ?
I had a service company blatantly lie to get exception to serve papers in person. They said I had a sign on my front door that said Witchcraft specialist! I protested and requested they take it off record, but even with neighbors and the postman signing letters for me, the judge and the state regulatory agency sided with the service company. What scum bags!
But my question is how to beat the original credit card company rather than a debt collector. Even when I pressed for the lawyers to show authority to be there on behalf of the creditor, my petition was ignored. The judges themselves are corrupt and side with the creditors. We even caught them making a deal in the restroom. I think there have been significant violations of law in the courtroom.
I am interested in your new course and live webinar. Your doing a great and much needed service. I am in a lawsuit with Midland Funding, court date is in 3 days. I have been fortunate to be working with a very helpful person on line via email. I do owe the debt and it is only 1 1/2 years old. I have asked for validation and I am now in the process of suing them. We all have the right to make sure that the debt is validated and legally owned by the 3rd parties involved.
I have been through every step of the process from hiring a debt settlement company, BIG MISTAKE, to negotiating at 16% on $22,000.00. Now I am fighting a law suit on my own because I can not afford an attorney, nor are their any willing to go through the litigation in NJ. They do not want to help, it’s their bread and butter. Shame on Lawyers and the banking system, they treat you like a second class citizen, as if you choose to default on your payments. People first then money. God will be the final judge!
Getting sued in America is part of life. Get Ready —It will happen to everyone at sometime. this article is interesting.
My question is: What to do about settling (or not) with collection agencies? I feel quite OK about settling with the original creditor, however, the collection companies are trying to collect hundreds of times what they paid for the paper. They offer these “great deals” to settle for half the original debt, etc. What a deal (for them)!!!
Validate that they own the debt. They have insufficient documentation to show a legal chain of custody.
I wrote a paragraph atating this, bottom of replies….
Behind on mortgage and lots of credit card debt ran out of resources don’t know what to do.
I am being sued by Citi Bank for 16k. I thought card was paid off. I hadn’t used card in years. Court date coming up not sure what to do.
Richard , thanks for giving us hope.
We just got sued over a credit card. Filed the general denial. Now the court sent notice of some sort of hearing. We can’t believe it’s proceeding this far…
Would love to know what to do to make this stop in its tracks. We don’t have the money. Period. Not sure what makes them think that we do have any…
I appreciate the material you have. I am interested in Asset protection and for having a solid LLC into which to deposit large funds expected within the next four weeks. I also have debts I would like to see retired and am curious if you have a process such as Acceptance For Value(A4V)to retire debts legally and using an effective administrative remedy to access the “strawman” account to clear the debts?
I went to court and I lost simply because the judge didn’t want to hear my story. She dismissed my case and awarded my appliances to to the defendant.Do you have any suggestions?
I just started to read some information on your web. Now when threaten with a law suit I will say “Bring it on”
Does the IRS use the bankruptcy rules for insolvency in regard to the credit card companies 1099 income issue for forgiven debt, in regard to fraudulent transfers? How likely is the IRS to investigate transfers of assets and FMV of assets in regard to the 1099 issue via an audit or otherwise? Also, need some advise on settling with collection agencies. I was surprise that 3 or 4 of the credit card companies have already given debt to collection agency after only two months to three months of default!
Hi Richard,
Currently in an arbitration case with major credit card. Have been able to delay any action against me, but my day in court coming up again. Have not filed official response–$145 fee and believe judgment against me is forthcoming. BK is looking like best option as other creditors are lurking in the shadows waiting to take action against me as well. Looking forward to your material on this subject as everything else you have published or discussed via webinar has been incredibly useful.
Thank you.
Richard,
I am currently working on shortsaling a vacation home….way backwards and need to know what to do when the back comes after me.
Regards
Richard I was sued and judge did not allow my request for information from bank can I reopen this ?
Received a summons and complaint on a short sale that was already settled. From the 2nd mortgage holder who got paid at settlement. Paid in part, as is usual with short sales. Now Citibank is suing for the entire amount.
I guess this will lead to a judgement and lien on me personally and my house. I was advised by a lawyer to declare bankruptcy if the judgeent and lien is placed.
Mr Geller,
I’m very interesting in your credit card relief program. What i need to do to subscribe and get your guidance concerned to my high debt ratio.
best regards, Pablo
Hi Richard,
My business hit the wall with the credit crisis. Have refocused with Real Estate (initially lost EMD on a Comercial REO and now trying Residential wholesaling so as to get some cashflow).
Made the mistake of not being organized correctly and separating expenses, business from personal. Have much owing with which I have been in default now for 10-11 months. I risk action and need to rectify. I need your help on what appears to be a number of fronts where you have the expertise.
Appreciate and need to be involved.
I was sued by my former employer for money he said I owed him from law suits filed against his company. I was just an employee not an equity owner. He served me with a summons which I responed to which was rejected by the court. He followed up with a judgement against me. How do I avoid having to pay this judgement since I do not have the money and have a limited income?
Thank you.
Al Davino
Richard’s advice has been dead on. I’ve managed to deal with these guys on a leveled playing field or, even more, on a playing field where I have the edge and have come out the winner every time. You don’t have to be afraid of the credit card debt you have. You can beat them at their own game.
Don
Are commercial credit cards treated differently from personal cards by the banks?
Hello,
This new program you are putting together for the consumer about being sued is very interesting,this subject concerns alot of people in todays crazy economy.
Looking forward when it come out
thank you,
Jeffrey
It is about time that the public has this type of information because the banks, collection agencies, and their attorneys have always had the upper hand due to lack of knowledge of consumers in how to defend ourselves in a legal way. Banks, corporations, even nations like Greece now are getting bailed out no matter what they have done (good or bad), why not us? After all, many of us have gotten indebted because of general financial crisis and not necessarily because of a lavish lifestyle. Look at our country even being indebted to the trillions of dollars because of mismanagement of budget, supporting wars that should not exist. Well, that is another topic altogether.
For now I just want to be prepared in case I get another lawsuit from a credit card that has been charged off by original company which was bought probably by the collection agency now.
The first one I ended up in paying what they demanded even though I got a consumer attorney’s help. It was my experience that all this attorney did was to have me accept the amount demanded and for him to happily collect his fee which put me in more debt.
I was sued by Capital One and filed an answer to the court. Generally denied all charges. One charge said I signed a written agreement which I never did. All the application was done over the phone before. I got a notice from the court to appear on July 26 for trial date. What can I do for that day ? I heard the judge will set the trial date and render the
Capital One a judgement. I’d want to postpone the trail date and file for
Chapter 7.
Thanks
Fantastic info to protect oneself from a litigious society
I am about to stop payments on my mortgage and home equity loan. Just wanting to know what to expect and how to protect what I have left?
What you write is very exciting. If your book is as good as you say, it will take the fear out of being sued!
Good information is the best way to win most anything.
The credit card companies keep harassing me and maybe I will get sued, so I want to know now the actions I need to take.
I’ve tried to get a reasonable settlement, but they refuse. I am ready to take them on and need the info you provide!!!
Well I used to sue people that didn’t pay their bills and was a cotelclor so I have a little knowledge about consolidation. It is good you don’t want to go through CCC because they take about .75 cents of every dollar you give them. If you own your home you could try refinancing to get some money out or a home equity loan as it will have lower interest than your CC’s. Depending on how good your credit it a consolidation loan could be a good option, ask your bank or try a credit union to get the best rates. You can also call your credit card companies. Most will work with you if you let them know before you go delinquent. I had an MBNA card that I let get too high and couldn’t pay anything but the minimum, I was 18, first card. They gave me 0% interest as long as I made my monthly payments but they closed the card. They also bumped up my monthly payment to $30. I ended up paying it off with a little help from taxes but I didn’t have to pay interest. Your best bet would be call your CC companies and see if they will lower your interest. If you want one payment then try for a loan.
Thanks for your help. I stopped paying on all my six properties , because a fraudulent company two years ago had coned me into stopping payment with the hope that the bank will reduce my principal when confronted with thier illegal accounting malpractices. It did not happen that way.Now I am in foreclosure with one property and the biggest of my properties( $1.8 million) has a receiver appointed to collect my rent by court order. On the rest I am waiting to see what the bank is going to do, even though I have no plan against any of thier actions. Most attorneys I have hired in the past have been incompetent in this regard and only take my money without doing much to help. How will your course help me. My credit is also in ruins.
Ezekiel
I used to work for a company selling contract “collection services” for after 30 days late. They got paid a percentage for what they collected.
Called outsourcing.
They said “Not responding to a “bill” within 30 days” validated the bill.
Later in life -
A mortgage loan company told me not to respond to “old debt” collection letters – they ones that say “50% off” if paid now type.
That will renew the Statute of Limitations for collection.
Most of the “50%” off bills are old debt sold to FDIC (to write down the loss and look good on paper) that anyone can
buy for Five Cents on the dollar and can hire a company to call or send collection letters for. They will bill you for full amount, plus interest and fees that they can “wave” if you pay now! – Anything over Five Cents is a profit to them.
I signed up for a business program at a seminar(a company from Utah) that said they could finance anyone. Cost was $5,000. Had 3 days to cancel. I cancelled the contract in 3 days. Never recieved any materials from them. They persued “collection” for the $5K. I got nowhere telling them I cancelled.
After 3 months of ignoring them – they transferred the debt to “their” collection agency (which they owned”). After a few more months the debt was sold to another company (found out they owned that too). Been 15 years, still on my credit report. They keep tossing it around. The company was intervied on TV by NBC (because of fraud complaints)- they were “creating paper” out of thin air and bundling it for collection.
This info is perfect timing, since the 2nd mortgage (credit union) has been very persistent. After being stressed on what to do to respond, checking w/an attorney for filing bk, we had been trying to find other options apart from doing a bk, so we were given some advice on how to submit an answer. They responded, and since we didn’t know how to respond to their response after that, they had just requested judgment for 90K+their attorney’s fees. The value of the house is only 86-87K and we’re still awaiting loan mod from the 1st mortgage that’s in foreclosure status. It’s because of the 2nd that’s being sticklers; otherwise, the 1st would be working with us. Also, Guglielmo & Assoc. for a credit card that’s been building interest since 2007 has surfaced with a lawsuit at the judgement stage too. It seems timing has to be done correctly. So, if there’s still a way to settle these without a bk to stop the madness, that would be great. Also, should someone setup a trust, would it be setup first or after a bk or simultaneously?
I lost 100.000 when I sold my house ( not this one , before this one)nowI cannot pay my credit card and I receive a lot of phone calls, I do not answer I put myphone aon vibrate but …. What can I do
Thanks for the free tid-bits. I look foward to seeing this implementation, however, I’m skeptical if your program will work if UNCLE SAM sues you.
I have 60k in credit card debt that I have stopped paying. 2 creditiors are at 6 months and the other 4 are at 3 months. The first two have turned them over to collection agencies. I have your credit course but have not had a chance to go over all of it. Not sure what to do next
Im being sued for credit card debt by Discover and am going to court tommorrow. Went to court once already with discover where the Judge gives you til your next court date to figure something out. Well I have never contacted them. I do not work nor do I have the money to pay my debt however they want to put a judgement against me that’s why I replyed I own a condo and I don’t want a judgement against me. Help what do I do.Linda I think your website is very informenative and need help.
it’s actually my brother’s situation. He has signed up for debt settlement company to settle his 3 credit cards. One of them they were able to settle at huge discount and 2 credit card companies he already received summon and getting sued. He tried to settle directly with the banks and willing to settle but they want him to come up with the full amount right away. Please advise
Thank you!
I found out that I have a judgment against me but I don’t recognize the creditor. How do I get this removed?
Can I lose personal assets with an LLC if sued?
I have about $80k debt. Capital One filed a complaint, but dropped it because I had moved to another state before that. I am unemployed and do not have the money to pay. I think bankruptcy is a good option.
I ask for verification of the debt when I hear from collection agencies. I ask them for proof that they have a legitimate claim. They may not have a right to collect, depending on the circumstances.
I am sorry that I got into debt.
I think the credit card companies have done a great disservice and not acted ethically. I ask God for peace in the storm, and He provides. I pray for peace and God-approved answers for all of you, and me, too.
I have learned a lesson. I have resolved to never participate in credit card debt again, and will be leery of other kinds of debt as well.
They cannot get us trapped in their games if we refuse to participate.
My goal is to resolve this as soon as possible, and then live debt free.
I love the information. This contents will empower me to do more deals because the Fear is Gone! Thank you sooo much for being transparent with these golden nuggets of asset protection.
The credit card co. may be wliilng to settle for a lesser amount depending on how much you are wliilng to give them and WHEN (up front, or by making payments?) This will make a difference, as they would highly prefer a lump sum up front and will be more wliilng to negotiate with you. Also, it WILL effect your credit rating UNLESS you are wise UP FRONT and tell them your offer is ONLY good under the condition that they do not record a negative comment on your credit report. Negative comments include: charge-off / re-opened , settled. A good comment, and the one you should insist upon is paid as agreed. If you cannot get the exact language then it will effect your credit rating. Tell them your only other option is to declare bankruptcy if they will not agree to the terms. Since a negative comment on your credit report lasts approx. 7 years (depends on your state), this threat may make more sense to them since there’s not much difference between 7 10 for you, the consumer. Bankruptcy for you means you’re total clear after 10 years, but they get zero money. They will probably want to negotiate based on this premise. Still, you must be prepared to make a reasonable offer when making these demands.
Richard,
I’m from Canada, will this work… over here?
Anyway, it’s high time creditors(like me), get a fighting chance; with info from your course! This is like a “breath of fresh air”…
Thanks and hoping I’ll get a copy, when it comes out soon!
i didnt see how to order your info can you please let me know how to get the info on how to fight back in court and also assett protection and credit card info thanks.
jak again,talked with my credit union and stated id like to give them a home back by way of deed in lieu of foreclosure.i explained i had to go to the hospital for life threatening blood clots and may not be able to make the payments also explaining my income had been affected by this bad economy.i offered to give them extra free and clear property so they would have more than enough property to make up for the one i wanted to give back.their responce was they would get a deficiency judgement against me as well as come after the other 2 properties i was paying on with their bank.(i had never been late with them and they all were current)can they do that?and how can one reason with them?credit unions are BAD NEWS!worse than mortgage companies in my opinion.
This is great info that all need to know…
Very informative, but if it is a Bank who sued for credit and take you to court what are the questions or things you could ask them to produce to prove your liability?
Recently, I contracted to buy a property but found out that the title of many of these short sales are defective in many ways. Sixty minutes had a show on some of this.
When I tried to get my down payment back, there lawyer refused.
Any suggestions for something I can do without hiring a lawyer spending thousands and ending up with a phyrric victory.
The short awsner is YES, MAYBE .Yes it can be done but if he has a chase card and you have a chase card, then the awsner is NO ..And it is not just chase .I think that all of the credit cards have a stipulation that the transfer cannot come from another one of THEIR products (they already have ya at better terms so why should the bother allowing you to transfer and screw them out of the higher interest rate that they had tied you into)Check on that as my only real evidence of this is the three transfers that i have done so I do admit that my knowledge on the subject is limited.I am concerned however that you were talking about transfers for a couple of years .The longest that I have seen the 0% rate is for ONE year ..if you are late or if you miss a payment, that interest rate defaults immediately to 22% or something equally vile.*************I get it that this is your brother but could you have him sign something for you in case he gets amnesia after the transfer.(you can tell him your credit card company requires it you might not need it but it would be better to have it than to not have it) This kind of foresight will make sure that the two of you stay close ..also, this will be pointless to bail him out’ unless he (your brother) cuts up the offending card (or gives it to you) so that you arent doing this kind of favor for the rest of your life.Read on here how many people take out HELOC (home equity loans) to clean up their credit only to find a way to charge up the same cards all over again!Further, make sure that you have at least one months expenses (preferably from him) for YOUR card set aside each month so that even if he is late paying YOU, you can still make that payment on time.Lastly, I am not sure how much debt he has thus there is no way to speculate how this will effect your credit BUTIf your limit on this card is (lets say) 10k and you transfer 8k. Your credit rating will go down slightly (or maybe quite a bit depending on your other debts)Not a major deal unless YOU have a major purchase (house car) in the near future.This transfer might lessen the amount that you could qualify for.But again to awsner your question YES you can do this!(I hope your brother knows how lucky he is to have you ..when I first graduated from college, I needed a cosigner for my car .my mom agreed to do it and the guy at the dealership tried to warn her NOT to do this he told her that he would NOT even cosign for HIS own mother)I guess I knew how serious cosigning was but HE really drove it home for me. I was not the case that he was trying to get me to pay a higher interest rate if I did not have her I was NOT getting the car at all.I say that because what you are doing is BIGGER than that.IF I had defaulted on that car loan my mother could have ducked and dodged the bill (maybe filed bankruptcy or whatever ..YOU WONT BE ABLE TO DO THIS because once you transfer it this debt becomes YOURS exclusively)
I was sued and sewer served by Hunt and Henriques in San Jose. One of the slimiest of the slimiest law firms (debt collectors) out there. What would an example of affirmative defenses be and I would like to see the so called debt that I owe. I hate Citi Bank
Anything will help.
I currently have two creditors, banks, and I think I have legitimate defenses against them. Can you reccomend an attorney who is familiar with bank regulations, etc.?
Great Ebook idea. I have negotiated two of my credit cards at 6 cts on the dollar so I am a believer…
Richard,
Having spent the last 2 years dealing with California lawyers and paying thru the nose, I’m anxious to review your new course on dealing with lawsuits.
I’ve just lost my house to the bank and have a number of stories I could share regarding my failures and triumphs when dealing with the lender and their agents.
Additionally, I would love to share some ideas for future articles that would likely have great value to many of your subscribers.
I was in the building and development industry, need I say more. I have settle several debts but Capital One does not want to work with me. I was a DBA so the debt was in the business and my name. What shouldI do
Looking forward for the book. Haven’t been able to sell my house from the past couple of years. It has no equity and I owe more than the property is worth. Haven’t been able to make payments from last few months on the first mortgage as well as heloc. Currently trying to negotiate DIL with the bank. Any guidance on how to come out of this mess?
Richard,
I’m following your credit card relief formula with credit cards and 2nd mortgages. So far so good but I would like to get this course so I’m not stressed if someone sues me.
Thanks!
Marty
Will this info help someone in the UK ?
I was sent a summons last year from north star capital and their lawyer, who is in Washington stae. I filed my “Answer” in court in the required timeframe; I denied everything and asked them to prove all of their allegations and they never did. North star (zenith) has hired a new law firm in California to handle the case and they are harassing me to pay. They received a copy of the Answer but never responded to provide proof. Is this legal? What can I do to defend myself?
Been collecting your emails for quite awhile…this particular topic is quite timely as I am being harrassed for missed Home Owners Association Dues..My rental property went into foreclosure after a long/hard attempt at an unsuccessful short sale. Lender was being difficult with my real estate agent and the numbers didn’t work for anyone…the lender, the agent and any potential buyers…so I as the investor owner of the property was forced to go through foreclosure…..wish it wasn’t so…But now the HOA legal representatives are going after me for missed HOA dues…so it is what it is….can you help ?
not interested in using a lawyer, if I can help it!
Hi Richard, My post had to be removed by your office due to a technical difficulty, they said they would forward it to you. I am posting this because I still want to be eligible for the drawing! Thanks!
back log of challenges to long for here. count me in.
Really appreciate your info and look forward to all assistance you can give.
I fought back in a recent law suit, where a landlord was trying to kick us out of a property after they had failed many property inspections under section 8, I would not give up the property. They hired an attorney, and the attorney filed the lawsuit in the wrong persons name and still tried to fight me with the wrong party. We were on section 8 but they got us kicked out of the program because she the owner kept failing the inspection. After challenging them for not being the proper party in interest under rule 17a, I still did not know the magnitude of how right I was on that topic. I never had a copy of the rental lease nor was it attached to the complaint like the law required, after fighting them for several months and filing an appeal against a VOID judgement of the lower court, on appeal there were a something conference held, that is where I asked the arbitrator for a copy of the lease, which I never seen, because it was with my astrained husband, for he was the only one that signed the lease with our children.
After receiving a copy of the lease, I realized that the owner of the property was not names on the lease, nor did she ever signed the lease as the owner, her management company did, and they said that they were the owners of the property. Now, I had even more sufficient grounds to fight them under. They and their lawyers was trying to get the Judge to throw me out of the court case because they claimed that I had not authority to be there, that my husband was the only proper party to the suit, even though they labeled the suit in his name and ALL OTHER OCCUPANTS. The judge was trying to sprout that “Bull” too, then I said to him, if you are trying to tell me that I have no rights to be here, then They have no rights to be here and you have to throw them and their complain out because they are not the proper parties to the lease either. None, of their names are on the lease as proven by Plaintiff Exhibit “A”. The Judge got so mad, he started shouting at me and claiming that he was so upset with me because I did not do anything right in the case. I said, no matter what I didn’t do right it was because this so called attorney had done everything wrong himself and did nothing right, but yet you get an attitude with me and tell me what I don’t know how to do, this attorney needs to go back or be sent back to law school for his dumb inability to do legal process right.
Then, when I’d RECUSED him for being bias and prejudicial the judge got us off the record and then tried to advised them to call DHS on me to have them remove my children, because I am not keeping them in a safe house, after the ill repairs was proven to be the slum landlord fault.
What do you think I should do next? Mind you, that when he tried to set the next hearing for September 18th, 2011, the attorney jumped up and asked the court for him to withdraw the case and have the case in the lower court overturned. I still want to appeal it because there is some issues of law that I think the higher court should hear about. Just give an opinion, I am not asking you for legal advice.
Make sure you Validate the debt. They need to own the debt legally, not just Validate that you owe it. These 3rd party junk debt buyers do not have proper documentation to show legally that they own these debts. Also the debt collectors need to collect monies on behalf of the original creditor, not for their own entitlement or profit.
Which they oviously are not. The debt is sold but with insufficient documentation, lacking a legal chain of custody.
Read all that you can, all these debts need to be addressed by the original creditor and stay in house. They should not be collected by theives and ruthless people.
Susan
I received a phone call today that said I will be served. They will attempt 3 times. I have no idea what it is for but the address they have for me is no longer my residence. I am grateful for finding your information on line today. I look forward to learning more and getting out of this financial mess.
have business debt and line of credit which in no way am able to pay off.
This would be much appreciated information, not only for myself, but also my clients.
Please send me info on this course and others.
Darcey
[...] out more about Debt relief #1, then visit Richard Geller’s site on how to choose the best Credit card companies #2 for your [...]
Hi Richard,
how i can get your “course that shows you how to fight law suits and win”. I have been sued by creditor bank which gave me line of credit on my home.
i want to know my options and less time left to reply
[...] out more about Debt relief #1, then visit Richard Geller’s site on how to choose the best Credit card companies #2 for your [...]
Richard, Great Work you are doing. My question: I have lot of loans from each kind, credit card , mortgage, HELOC, business loan. My father is foreigner and never entered into USA. He does not have SSN. If he creates a Trust with me as beneficiary and Trust and transfers his money into this trust. Trust can buy a home and give me on rent to live. I can pay rent every month to Trust. Is it possible by setting up Trust with your course?
Also, how the bank transaction works without SSN. How the trust will open an account with bank ?
I think that is among the most important info for myself. And im satisfied reading your article. But wanna remark on few special things.