How to Avoid Going to Court When Sued for Debt: Attorney Tips for Settlement

Getting served with debt collection papers can feel like the end of the world, but here's something most people don't realize: being sued might actually be your best opportunity to negotiate a favorable debt settlement. While your first instinct might be panic, experienced debt defense attorney John Skiba reveals that lawsuits often create the perfect conditions for settlement negotiations.

"I often say when you get sued is actually can be a time to actually get the case settled and get it settled pretty quickly," explains John, who has helped over ten thousand families navigate debt issues through his Arizona Consumer Law Group and popular YouTube channel Consumer Warrior.

The key is understanding that both sides—you and the creditor—have strong incentives to avoid the uncertainty, expense, and time commitment of going to trial.

You can negotiate debt settlements after being sued

One of the biggest misconceptions about debt collection lawsuits is that filing ends all possibility of settlement. In reality, the opposite is often true. Getting sued can actually make settlement negotiations easier because you finally have direct access to decision-makers.

"Sometimes kind of a silver lining of being sued is you actually usually know who to talk to because the lawyer's contact information is going to be on the complaint and the summons that you received," Skiba explains.

Before a lawsuit, you might spend hours on hold with customer service representatives who have no authority to negotiate. Once legal action begins, you can contact the attorney directly—someone who has the power to make deals and wants to resolve cases efficiently.

Settlement negotiations can happen at any stage of a lawsuit:

• Immediately after being served
• During the Answer period (typically 20-30 days)
• Before trial dates
• Even after default judgments in some cases

The earlier you engage in settlement discussions, the more leverage you'll have and the better deal you're likely to secure.

Filing an Answer gives you time and leverage to negotiate

Your first priority after being sued should be filing an Answer document to prevent a default judgment. This legal response doesn't make the lawsuit disappear, but it accomplishes something crucial: it keeps you in the game. John explains:

"Filing the answer is just step one. It just means that there's a dispute. By filing an answer, that's all you're doing if you're starting this process."

However, that first step is critical because it:

• Prevents automatic default judgment against you
• Gives you time to evaluate your financial situation
• Puts you in a stronger negotiating position
• Shows the creditor you're serious about resolving the matter

Many people mistakenly believe filing an Answer means they're committing to fight the case in court. Instead, think of it as buying yourself time and leverage to negotiate the best possible settlement.

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Once you've filed your Answer, you can approach the creditor's attorney with a settlement proposal. Having already demonstrated you're willing to defend yourself, creditors often become more motivated to reach reasonable agreements rather than pursue lengthy litigation.

Understanding the difference between original creditors and debt buyers affects your strategy

Not all debt collection lawsuits are created equal, and your settlement strategy should depend on who's suing you. The two main categories are original creditors and debt buyers, each with different strengths and weaknesses.

Original creditors (like American Express, Bank of America, or Capital One) typically have:

• Complete documentation of your account
• Records of all payments and charges
• Strong legal standing to pursue collection
• Less willingness to accept deeply discounted settlements

Debt buyers (like Midland Funding, Portfolio Recovery Associates, or LVNV Funding) often have:

• Incomplete or questionable documentation
• Purchased your debt for pennies on the dollar
• More motivation to settle quickly
• Greater willingness to accept reduced payments

"If you're getting sued by a junk debt buyer like a Midland Funding or Portfolio Recovery, there's usually a dispute between do they own the debt? How did they come up with a balance that's owed? Did they properly apply all of your payments?" John notes.

These documentation gaps can create powerful leverage in settlement negotiations. Debt buyers may prefer settling for 30-50% of the balance rather than risk losing in court due to insufficient evidence.

Early settlement negotiations typically yield better results

Timing plays a crucial role in debt settlement success. The further a case progresses through the legal system, the less leverage you have and the more expensive resolution becomes.

"The earlier you can get in front of it, the better deal you're going to get," John emphasizes. Once creditors have invested significant resources in litigation, they become less willing to accept discounted settlements.

Here's why early action matters:

• Before default judgment: You maintain maximum negotiating power
• After default judgment: Settlement is still possible, but creditors have less incentive to negotiate
• During wage garnishment: You have minimal leverage and may pay the full amount plus fees

Consider this example: Maria received a lawsuit from Midland Funding for a $7,500 credit card debt. Instead of ignoring the papers, she filed an Answer using Solo's service within the 21-day deadline. She then contacted the attorney and offered to settle for $2,250 (30% of the balance) as a lump sum payment. After some negotiation, Midland accepted $3,000 (40% of the balance), saving Maria $4,500 and avoiding the uncertainty of trial.

Settle your debt for less with SoloSettle.

You should always make specific settlement offers, not ask what creditors will accept

When you're ready to negotiate, approach creditors with a concrete proposal rather than asking what they'll accept. This strategic difference can save you thousands of dollars.

"If you go to a creditor at any stage and say, 'Hey, what will you take?' They're going to say, 'we'll take all of it,'" John warns. "You need to go to them with a specific proposal knowing that they're going to counter you no matter what you offer."

Before making an offer, honestly evaluate your financial situation:

• How much can you realistically afford as a lump sum?
• What monthly payment could you sustain over 12-24 months?
• Do you have access to funds from family, tax refunds, or other sources?

Start with an offer lower than your maximum budget, leaving room for negotiation. Most creditors will counter-offer, so don't propose your absolute highest amount initially.

You can also strengthen your position by explaining any financial hardships: job loss, medical expenses, divorce, or other circumstances that led to your debt problems. While you shouldn't share detailed financial information like bank account numbers or employment details, painting a picture of your situation can sometimes lead to more favorable settlement terms.

Beware of summary judgment motions that can end your case quickly

While settlement negotiations continue, stay alert for legal motions that could end your case abruptly. One of the most dangerous is a motion for summary judgment, which creditors often file against self-represented defendants.

"Very few of these cases make it to a true trial, particularly if you're self-represented. One thing that the collection attorneys know is that they can usually get a judgment by filing a motion for summary judgment," Skiba explains.

A summary judgment motion essentially asks the judge to rule in the creditor's favor without a trial, claiming there are no disputed facts in the case. If you don't respond adequately, courts often grant these motions, ending your ability to negotiate and exposing you to wage garnishment.

If you receive a summary judgment motion:

• Take it very seriously and respond promptly
• Point out any factual disputes about the debt
• Question whether the creditor properly owns the debt
• Challenge calculations or payment applications
• Consider hiring an attorney for this specific response

The key is demonstrating to the judge that legitimate factual disputes exist, which should prevent summary judgment and keep settlement options open.

Settlement remains possible even after default judgments

If you've already lost your case through default judgment—either by not responding to the lawsuit or failing to appear in court—don't assume settlement is impossible. While your negotiating position is weaker, creditors may still prefer settlement to the collection process.

"You can even settle when a judgment is entered. The fact that a judgment is entered means that the judge has said you're liable on it, but it doesn't mean money in their pocket yet," John says.

Even with a judgment against you, creditors still face:

• Time and expense of wage garnishment procedures
• Uncertainty about your ability to pay
• Administrative costs of ongoing collection efforts
• Risk that you might file bankruptcy

This creates opportunities for settlement, though typically at less favorable terms than pre-judgment negotiations. You might settle for 60-80% of the judgment amount rather than the 30-50% possible earlier in the process.

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However, don't wait too long after judgment. Once wage garnishment begins, you lose almost all leverage since creditors are already collecting money automatically from your paychecks.

Know when professional help makes sense for complex cases

While many debt settlement negotiations can be handled directly, certain situations benefit from professional legal assistance:

• Cases involving large amounts of money (over $10,000)
• Complex legal issues like identity theft or statute of limitations defenses
• Multiple creditors with conflicting claims
• Situations where you're unsure about the debt's validity
• Summary judgment motions or other legal procedures

An experienced debt defense attorney can evaluate your case, identify potential defenses, and negotiate from a position of legal knowledge that creditors respect.

For those in Arizona, Skiba's Arizona Consumer Law Group provides personalized assistance. For consumers nationwide, his Consumer Warrior YouTube channel offers over 800 educational videos covering debt-related topics.

Remember that being sued for debt doesn't mean you're powerless. With the right strategy and timing, you can often resolve these cases through settlement, avoiding the stress and uncertainty of trial while saving significant money on the final resolution.

For the complete conversation about debt lawsuit settlement strategies, including more listener questions and detailed explanations of negotiation tactics, you can listen to the full episode on The Debt Hotline.

Transcript

George (01:35):
I already folks, I'm George, one of the founders of Solo app with me, John Skiba. Hi John.

John (01:41):
How's it going? It's good to be here again.

George (01:44):
Thanks for coming on the show again. Always happy to have you here. Can you go ahead and tell us a little bit about what you do?

John (01:50):

Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, like I said, it's good to be here. Again, my name is John Skiba. I'm an attorney in the state of Arizona and I primarily represent people. Everybody's dealing with significant debt issues, but I do a lot of consumer bankruptcy, chapter sevens, chapter thirteens, and then I also do a lot of what I call debt defense, defending consumers who have been sued by a creditor, junk debt buyers, those kind of things. We even deal with people who have old judgments. I can't tell you, it's almost daily. I run into people who have these old judgments more than a decade old, weren't even aware that they were there and then they go to refinance their house or something and these things appear. So we help consumers who are dealing with serious debt issues like that, wage garnishments and then how we met. I do a YouTube channel as well where we, it's called Consumer Warrior where we talk about these types of debt issues and try to give some ideas and some resources to people who are dealing with some things that are pretty stressful.

George (02:54):

Okay, fantastic. Well, we're going to be talking today about what to do if you've been sued for debt as a consumer and how you can avoid going to court. A quick disclaimer as we get into things just to deal with some of the regulations in our space, we aren't providing legal advice here. I'm not a lawyer. Solo suit or solo is not a lawyer or not a law firm. We're engaging with you in an attorney-client privilege relationship here. John is a lawyer, he's only licensed in Arizona and we aren't providing you legal advice. Alright, so with that, let's go ahead and jump in. John, if I've been sued, can I settle a debt without going to court?

John (03:40):

Absolutely, and usually surprisingly for a lot of people I often say when you get sued is actually can be a time to actually get the case settled, to get it settled pretty quickly. I know a common thing I hear from people is when they're reaching out to the creditor directly or a collection agency, sometimes you're not sure exactly who's dealing with it. Sometimes it's hard to break through the customer service levels of all the different credit cards out there, so sometimes kind of a silver lining of being sued is you actually usually know who to talk to because the lawyer's contact information is going to be on the complaint and the summons that you received and that's when you can reach out and try to get something done in every jurisdiction you have some time to respond from the time they drop off the lawsuit, that's a good time to reach out and at least see what it is that maybe something can be negotiated.

I know here in Arizona where I practice, if I have a client who's like, look, I just want to get this thing settled, they may even have strong defenses, but they understand that it's expensive and it can be a lengthy process to go through the litigation and they tell me, look, let's just get it settled before we have to go through all that process. It's even possible to often reach out to the attorney and say, look, can we agree on an extension of the defile, the answer so that we have some more time to negotiate? And then I always say, don't be afraid of settlement in almost every jurisdiction. The rules of evidence don't allow the other side to use any attempts of you trying to settle the debt. They can't use that against you in court, so I don't see a real downside to reaching out, trying to get something in place so that you don't actually have to go through the whole process of filing an answer heading to trial, those kinds of things.

George (05:27):
So you're saying so in summary, yes. If there's a hearing coming up, settling is definitely an option and maybe it's even a really great time to settle so that everyone can avoid going to court.

John (05:42):

Yeah, settlement's always an option. I always say they want money. If you're offering money, there's got to be some kind of deal that can be reached and so that's the way to view it.

George (05:52):

Yeah, that's great. Sometimes I talk to consumers who are confused about what is the ultimate event in their trial in their case, so somebody might have a range of proceedings on the schedule for their case. They might have pre-trial conference, they might have something called a hearing, they might have a trial, they might have a jury trial. What all of those terms mean in your experience and how does somebody know if they show up at court, the judge is going to make an ultimate decision on the case?

John (06:29):

Yeah, it's a good question and it could be confusing to navigate that and on top of that, each court, each state is different. Like in Arizona, again, where I practice, there's two different courts. There's courts for anything under 10,000 in our justice court system and then anything over 10,000 in the superior court system and they each have different procedures that they follow, but typically your normal timeline is you're filing your answer. Some courts will very quickly set a pretrial conference and usually that's just more of an administrative type of thing where they're going to lay out some deadlines and dates may even give you a trial date, but there's not any final determination that's going to be made. Usually where we see there's some kind of final determination is mediation. Some courts require the parties to go through mediation or they appoint an independent third party to try to negotiate a settlement. (07:21):

That's usually where some kind of decision's going to be made and then usually it's trials where we see the other one. Very few of these cases make it to a true trial, particularly if you're self-represented. One thing that the collection attorneys know is that they can usually get a judgment by filing a motion for summary judgment, summary judgment motion. That is something where they can enter a final judgment against you. If you receive something like that, you need to take it very seriously because if you don't respond to it adequately, the court will likely grant it and they know that for self-represented people, that's probably one of the bigger hurdles to get over is responding to that motion for summary judgment. So typically a final judgment's not going to be entered unless it's a trial mediation or they filed a motion for summary judgment. My one little asterisk to that is like a pretrial conference. In some jurisdictions if you don't show up or if you're really late to it, the court will enter a default, and so it's important to be on time and participating if you're involved in the process, otherwise you run the risk of a default being entered.

George (08:30):

In your experience, what is the bar for a summary judgment to be achieved? In my mind, if there's any dispute of parties say that there's a dispute, then a summary judgment shouldn't be granted. Is that the case in practice? What kind of a bar do judges usually look at?

John (08:52):

Yeah, I mean, so with a motion for summary judgment, I mean the easiest way to describe it is this is the creditor saying, Hey judge, we don't need a trial. Just look at all of our evidence and tell us if we win kind of thing. And usually the standard that the court's supposed to look at it is they're supposed to say, look, if there's any factual disputes between the parties, then summary judgment should be denied. If it's something where the parties all agree on the underlying facts and the judge just needs to apply the law, that's when summary judgment is appropriate. Again, the biggest issue I see is that people just don't respond to it and then the court takes that as an interpretation that you're consenting to it almost. But if you're responding to summary judgment, it's important to really point out any factual disputes between the parties.

If you're getting sued by a junk debt buyer like a Midland funding portfolio recovery, there's usually a dispute between do they own the debt? How did they come up with a balance that's owed? Did they properly apply all of your payments? Those are the types of things that when I file a response to summary judgment, I really like to point out to the judge to say, look, there are disputes here that are legitimate, and the law typically says in most jurisdictions that the judge is essentially supposed to give you as the defendant the benefit of the doubt at this stage, and so if it could be interpreted two different ways, they're going to say, okay, we're going to err on the side of not granting it, but it's important to point those different disputes out. Otherwise, the court's going to say, look, if you don't respond or if you just agree to everything, then we'll apply the law and you're probably going to lose on that.

George (10:28):

Okay, we got one from Nicholas. I really made a mistake by procrastinating dragging my feet and not responding to being sued for debt in civil court. Feel free, Nicholas, we've all been there to some degree. I think I am in default. What should I do? Should I contact the lawyer who filed or should I do something else?

John (10:51):

Yes, I would reach out and depending on how far in default you are, if the default judgment's already been entered, it's going to be pretty tough to get that unwound if it is just because there you didn't do it. If you're procrastinated, it's going to be hard to get that unwounded. Again, like I said, you can settle at any state. You can even settle when a judgment is entered. The fact that a judgment is entered means that the judge has said you're liable on it, but it doesn't mean money in their pocket yet. However, the further you let it go along in the process, the less leverage you have to get a better deal. As far as settlement goes, sometimes I have people coming through me in my office and they have a wage garnishment and they say, Hey, I want to set up a payment plan.

It's way past that. They have a payment plan, it's garnishing your wages every two weeks kind of thing, and so the earlier you can get in front of it, the better deal you're going to get because also they've already taken all the steps, they've filed the lawsuit, they have the judgment, and before they get to the garnishment stage, it's a good time to reach and see if there is some type of middle ground that can be reached. I usually say you should go to them with an offer though. If you go to a creditor at any stage and say, Hey, what will you take? They're going to say, we'll take all of it. You need to go to them with a specific proposal knowing that they're going to counter no matter what you offer, but really evaluate your situation. Look at your budget, look at your ability either to do a lump sum or a monthly payment plan. What is it that you can realistically do, and I point that out, you don't want to set yourself up to fail on this. What's realistic? What can you do? And then go to them and try to get that done. Even at this stage, if a default been entered, again, they don't have any money yet, and so you're offering something that'll make it a little easier and you should get a bit of a discount for that. Maybe not a lot, but at least some type of discount.

George (12:42):

Great. Taking the next one here, Gabriel. I went through solo, so for a response to a summons and now I have a pretrial scheduled, but I thought a response would avoid going to court. Is that right or wrong to assume

John (13:01):

Filing the answer is just step one and then that's what, yeah, sometimes I think maybe there's some misunderstanding there. Hey, if I file an answer, it doesn't mean it just goes away. It just means that there's a dispute. The way to look at the complaint or the petition is they're saying, Hey, here's what we're alleging the creditor, and then you're filing an answer and saying, well, here's what my response is to that, so basically the court knows is there a dispute here that we need to resolve? So by filing an answer, that's all you're doing is you're starting this process. It's an important step and it's a step where even if you're going to settle the case just by filing that answer, it's going to allow you some time to put together a proposal and get probably a better deal overall. I've seen a lot of people they'll go ahead and file an answer just because they know it will. It'll extend out some time for maybe they're putting some money together, maybe they're waiting on a tax refund that they can use to fund a settlement, something like that. It helps you to avoid the default, but it doesn't unfortunately help you avoid the lawsuit in total.

George (14:03):

Right. Yeah. Gabriel, we have some language throughout our product and flow that explain that. Filing an answer is just the first step, usually what we refer to it as. If you have any suggestions on how to make that more clear, happy to hear 'em. Feel free to email us@supportatsolicit.com. Yeah, so filing answer avoids a default judgment. That's what it definitely avoids. Filing answer avoids the default judgments, you'll get to progress to the next stage. Most of our customers file an answer to use that to then leverage a settlement so you can go from there. That gives you more time and more of a better position to get a settlement on the case. You can also file additional documents and continue. If you don't have the debt, you can go along that path as well. Question from Will, if you send notice via a certified mail that you are represented by a licensed attorney, must the collector cease direct contact?

John (15:04):

Yes. Yeah, well, once you're represented by an attorney at any stage they should be contacting the attorney directly. It doesn't even need to be certified mail, and truthfully, in my experience, most collection law firms and debt collectors are pretty vigilant in regards to this. Sometimes almost too vigilant where it makes it kind of difficult to communicate, but so if you've got someone who's going rogue, yeah, I mean that's something definitely to call them out on and if you have an attorney, have your attorney deal with it. Depending on who the other side is, there may be some fair debt collection practices. It's F-D-C-P-A law, there might just be some violations going on there, and it also might be a sign of you're really dealing with a rogue debt collector who could cause you some other grief as well. If that's a pretty basic rule under the F-D-C-P-A that if they're represented by counsel, you go through the attorney, so I definitely make your attorney aware of that. That kind of communication is still going on. Sometimes it's a kind of an innocent thing where if you correct them then it stops, but definitely needs to be addressed.

George (16:13):

Yep, yep, definitely will bring that up with your attorney. Got a question from Amart with some money saved to negotiate down my debt. What advice can you give as to timing to contact the creditors? So when should I contact the creditors to settle? If I have a bunch of money saved up for a down payment or a lump sum.

John (16:34):

Immediately, I would reach out sooner than later. Time is generally not your friend, unless we're talking statute of limitations type thing, but if this is a debt that's, I think there are a few pressure points along the way where sometimes you can get better settlements early on, sometimes right before charge off. I've seen creditors who've offered somewhat better deals, particularly if they sell their debt to junk debt buyers, they might take somewhat more of a discount early on, but I also wouldn't overthink it too much if you've got a lump sum, I think that it's worth whoever has the account at this point reaching out. Again, don't offer every penny you have because they'll always counter, and I always say too, I don't share, I tell clients I wouldn't share financial information right now, I wouldn't share where you work or where you bank or anything like that, but I think it's okay to help them know if you're going through a hardship that there's been some medical issues, family issues, if you've had job loss, something that really helps paint a picture of what the whole thing going on here is, you may get a better deal and if there's extreme hardship.

I've seen creditors, I literally had a case two weeks ago where we were able to come in and say, look, there's a lot going on here, and they ended up just dropping a lawsuit, so I think that there's never a bad time really to reach out. The earlier you do it, generally the better deal you're going to get if you let it go too far, you get into litigation. Sometimes there's attorney's fees in that and then they don't want to sell for a lower amount. So I don't think, again, I don't think there's any harm in reaching out and at least proposing something. It's just be careful to, you're not required to provide all your financial information right now, and I wouldn't or dearly stages especially.

George (18:26):

Nice question from Bill. I have an LVNV original credit one as a file, a motion for me to pay for arbitration, so looks like he's saying, just kind of translating that a little bit. He's saying he has original debt with Credit one and LVMV has filed a motion requesting that he pays for arbitration. It sounds like If we're talking about private arbitration, I mean, I dunno if that's clear, if they'd pushed it out of court, probably private arbitration I would guess.

John (18:56):

Yeah, I always say go back to the terms and conditions of the credit card agreement. I mean that's what gives the authority for it to be an arbitration in the first place and it usually we'll state in there who's going to cover what, so you may want to go back and take a look at that. As far as responding to it, I have had a case where I took it through aaa through the American Arbitration Association and they actually, they prevailed at arbitration. The creditor did and they tried that. They tried to come in and say, Hey, we want the defendant to pay all of our arbitration costs and attorney's fees and the terms and conditions of that particular credit card agreement didn't allow for it and AAA even disregarded relevant state law on and said that this isn't a state court proceeding. We were going to look to the agreement that brought you here essentially. So I would go back and look at that really closely. Maybe get an attorney to read over it with you if you have some questions on that. If they filed a formal motion, you need to respond to it. Again, it always runs into this thing. Failing to take action is where a lot of the really bad stuff happens because failing to respond is often interpreted as consent to the motion that's being filed and that can cause you some problems, but yeah, I'd revisit that credit card agreement.

George (20:26):

And now's probably a good time to settle as well, right? If you owe the debt, you're going to have to continue prosecuting on arbitration. You're going to have to continue going with arbitration. If you filed a motion to compel arbitration, you have to go forward with that. Otherwise, the plaintiff will probably, if they're picking up on this case, they'll probably file for a reversion on the arbitration. If you aren't moving forward with it and if you get in front of an arbiter, the arbiter is going to behave somewhat like a judge and if you owe the debt, you're probably going to have to end up paying that debt through the arbitration, but you're probably end up in, you could very well likely end up in a better spot if you settle now rather than going down that path.

John (21:09):

Yeah. If these are original creditor cases, and by that I always put these into two groups. If you're being sued by a junk debt buyer, again, the portfolio recoveries, the Midland fundings the L VBS of the world. I deal with those a lot differently than I do. If Credit one is suing you individually or Capital One or Bank of America, American Express, if you take those to trial or to an arbitration hearing, unless you have an identity theft defense or a statute of limitations, you're going to lose, and so settlement early on in those types of cases is really advisable. They're going to have the documents, the evidence, unless you have one of these kind of real bulletproof defenses like a statute of limitations, like an identity theft. It's highly advisable, at least in my opinion, to try to get that settled early on.

George (22:00):

For sure. Next question from Marvin. I've received a civil lawsuit letter from Midland, but there was no court date for me to appear and it was dated a month after I received it. What should I do next?

Yeah, I get this question a lot. This is confusing because you received a complaint in the summons and the date is always a lot earlier. Either the stamped on there is from when you got it. In most states, the way that it works is they filed a complaint and the summons with the court and then the creditor has a certain amount of time to serve you where they bring it by and drop it off. It could be 90 days, 120 days, whatever it is in your state. That's how much time they have to bring it by, so that's what you're seeing there. You got it and see that it was filed 60 days ago. It took 'em some time to get you served.

If you look at the summons, the summons will usually tell you whether there's an actual court date that's set or if there's just a specific time period for you to file a written response. Some states require that you actually go to a hearing and it's set pretty quickly, 14, 30 days out, something like that. A lot of other states require you just to file a written answer, so read the summons. There's a lot of, usually it's kind of fine print legalese, but go through there and see exactly what it is they're wanting you to do. If it's just filing a written response or if you actually need to show up and appear at a hearing.

Okay. Marvin is saying that the answer or the complaint was dated a month after he received it. I'm familiar with the situation where it's dated like a month before they receive it, which I think is certainly something that happens. Have you ever seen it being dated after, so it sounds like he's saying he served, he might've misspoke, but it sounds, you're saying it was served in like September, but the complaint's dated for October.

John (23:50):

I have seen it where, I'm trying to think of what state it's different from what that we deal with here in Arizona. There are some states where they will actually send you the complaint and then if you don't respond to it or a settlement's not reached, they will turn around and actually file it with the court. I have seen that. I don't have a lot of familiarity with it, but I have seen that where there's this process where they don't have to file it first. They can just mail it to the defendant. If the defendant doesn't respond, then they turn around and file the complaint with the court, so it may be something like that.

George (24:25):

Interesting. I think either way, the best move is to file an answer question from fr. I have a debt with Amex. I tried to negotiate the debt directly with Amex and they offered me 75%. I didn't settle. Laura now is getting involved to sue me. I answered the lawsuit with solo. Okay, that's good. 75% settlement is pretty good. If it's pretty lawsuit, a good deal is usually going to be more like 45%. 75 percent's a good deal if you're self-represented while a lawsuit's happening. A question from will t, what if I refuse to pay the third party and say I only pay the original creditor will. That wouldn't really make sense. It might sound like it makes sense, but it's not a good move. The third party in this situation has bought the debt from the original creditor, so you can't pay the original creditor.

Now you can only pay the third party. Question from Tom. A debt collector got a judgment against me without notifying me. How can I get that judgment dismissed? I have attempted to settle, so you want to file a motion to set aside judgment and say that you were never served properly and with that file and answer document and then try to get it settled. Another question from Lee. We sent a phone to Apple, but T-Mobile is on his credit report. Not quite sure what's going on there. If you have T-Mobile on your credit report, you aren't being sued for it. Maybe you can send them an FCRA dispute letter to the bureau to get that removed. You could also probably try contacting T-Mobile. If there's a debt that you need to pay, go ahead and pay that, and that will be, that's probably the best way to resolve it.

Look, it'll show as paid on the credit report. Question from Cardo one, there's a trial set for January. Can I expect to hear from them about discovery or will they just show up at a trial and win? I did file an answer using solo. I don't have any money to settle. You'll probably hear about them regarding discovery before the actual trial. You'll probably want to try to settle before that if you feel like you have the debt. John, do you have anything to weigh in there about discovery? Is discovery always filed before trial? I believe that, yeah.

John (26:41):

Yeah. I mean there's usually at least disclosure. Usually there's what's called an initial disclosure statement that's got to be submitted well in advance of trial, and if something is not disclosed to you prior to trial, if you show up to trial and all of a sudden they pull out two inch thick of monthly statements that you've never seen before that they haven't disclosed, you can object to those being admitted. I've had that happen numerous times where there's documents that had never been disclosed that show up at trial for the first time. So yeah, I mean, you should get some kind of disclosure. Well, in advance of trial, like in Arizona, it's due 30 days after the answer's filed, so even if your trial's already scheduled and it's coming up, you may have a defense there to get those thrown out.

George (27:30):

Yeah. Okay. That's all we have time for, folks. As always, we are here to help you out. We are connecting consumers with collectors, making it easy for all the parties to settle. John, thanks so much for coming on. Where can people find out more about you?

John (27:45):

Yeah, you can look me up on YouTube Consumer Warrior, particularly if you're in Arizona. I'm happy to help people out and I can talk to them specifically about their case. If not over at my Consumer Warrior YouTube channel, we have over 800 videos that talk about a stuff all day long, so those are good places.

George (28:01):

Yep, they're great videos. Check those out. That's it for the debt hotline. Take care.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this podcast is intended strictly for general informational purposes and should not be construed as legal, financial, or investment advice. Solo and its hosts are not licensed attorneys, financial advisors, or other certified professionals. While select guests may hold active professional licenses, their contributions are purely for educational thematic discussion. They're not delivering professional or personalized advice. Solo is not a law firm, does not offer legal representation and must not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel. It is also not engaged in debt, settlement, credit repair, or financial counseling services. Solo provides self-directed software tools designed to support users in navigating their own legal and financial situations. Participation in this podcast is not establish an attorney-client relationship. Listeners are encouraged to consult with attorneys or licensed professionals for guidance specific to their circumstances. The opinions expressed by podcast participants are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or official positions of SoloSuit Inc. Doing business as Solo or any affiliated organizations.

How to Answer a Summons for debt collection in all 50 states

Here's a list of guides on how to respond to a debt collection lawsuit in each state:

The Ultimate 50 State Guide

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont; Vermont (Small Claims court)
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Guides on how to resolve debt with every debt collector

Are you being sued by a debt collector? We’re making guides on how to resolve debt with each one.

• 11 Charter Communications
• AAA Collections
• Aargon Agency Inc
• Absolute Resolutions Investments LLC
• ACEI Collections
• Account Services
• Accredited Collection Services
• Accredited Collection Services
• Advanced Recovery Systems
• AES NCT
• AFNI Collections
• Alco Capital Group LLC
• Aldous and Associates
• Alliance Collections
• Alliance One
• Alliant Capital Management
• Alpha Recovery Corp
• Alltran Financial
• Alltran Health
• Alorica Inc.
• Amcol Clmbia in Court
• American Coradius International
• American Profit Recovery
• American Recovery Service
• Americollect
• AmSher Collection Services
• Apelles LLC
• AR Resources
• ARC Collections
• ARM Solutions
• Arrow Financial Services
• ARS National Services
• ARSC Debt Collectors
• ARS National Services
• ARstrat
• AscensionPoint Recovery Services
• Asset Acceptance LLC
• Asset Recovery Solutions
• Associated Credit Services
• Atlantic Credit and Finance
• Atradius Collections
• Automated Collection Services, Inc.
• Autovest LLC
• Avante USA
• Avantus
• AWA Collections
• Balekian Hayes
• Bay Area Receivables
• BCA Financial Services
• BC Services
• Benuck and Rainey
• Berlin-Wheeler
• Bluebonnet Financial LLC
• Bonneville Collections
• Bull City Financial
• Bureaus Investment Group
• Cach LLC
• Caine and Weiner
• Capio Partners
• Capital Accounts
• Capital Collections
• Capital Management Services
• CardWorks
• Carmel Financial/New Coast Direct
• Cavalry SPV I LLC
• CBCInnovis
• CBCS Collections
• CBE Group
• CBV Collections
• CCB Credit Services
• CCS Collections
• CCS Offices
• Central Mediation Services
• Central Portfolio Control
• Cerastes LLC
• Choice Recovery
• Choice Recovery Inc
• CKS Financial
• CKMS Financial
• Client Services
• CMRE Financial Services
• COAF
• Coast Professional
• Comenity Bank Debt Collection
• Commonwealth Financial
• ConServe Debt Collection
• Consumer Collection Management
• Contract Callers Inc
• Convergent Healthcare Recoveries
• Convergent Outsourcing
• Couch Conville & Blitt
• Covington Credit
• CRDT First
• Credco in Court
• Credence Resource Management
• Credit Bureau Systems
• Credit Control Corporation
• Credit Management Company
• Credit Management LP
• Credit Systems
• Credit Systems
• CSIEZPay
• CTC Debt Collector
• CVCS Debt Collection
• Cypress Financial Recoveries
• D&A Services
• Daniels, Norelli, Cecere & Tavel P.C.
• DCM Services
• Debt Recovery Solutions
• Delanor Kemper & Associates
• Department Stores National Bank
• Direct Recovery Associates
• Discover Collections
• Diversified Adjustment
• Diversified Consultants
• Diversified Recovery Bureau
• DNF Associates, LLC
• Dodeka LLC
• DRS Credit
• Dynamic Collectors
• Eagle Loan
• Eagle Accounts Group, Inc.
• Eastern Account System
• EduCap
• Ellington and Associates Collections
• Encore Capital Group
• Enerson Law
• Enerson Law LLC
• Enhanced Recovery Company
• EOS CCA
• ERC Collections
• ERSolutions
• Estate Information Services
• Equable Ascent Financial
• Everest Business Funding
• Executive Credit Management
• Faber and Brand
• Factual Data
• Falls Collection Service
• FBCS
• FCO Collections and Outsourcing
• FIA Card Services
• fin rec svc (Financial Recovery Services)
• First Federal Credit Credit Control
• First Financial Bank
• First Portfolio Ventures LLC
• First Progress
• FirstPoint Collection Resources
• Firstsource Advantage
• FMA Alliance
• FNB Omaha
• Forster & Garbus
• Franklin Collection Services
• Freedom Plus
• Freshview Solutions
• Frontline Asset
• Frost Arnett
• Fulton Friedman & Gullace LLP
• Galaxy International Purchasing, LLC
• GC Debt Collection
• GC Services
• General Revenue Corporation
• GLA Collections
• Glass Mountain Capital
• Glasser and Glasser
• Global Credit Collection Corp
• Global Trust Management
• GMAC Financing
• Golden 1 Credit Union
• Grant and Weber
• Grant Mercantile Agency
• Gulf Coast Collection Bureau
• Gurstel
• Halsted Financial Services
• Harris and Harris
• Harvard Collection
• Harvest Credit Management
• Helvey and Associates
• Hollis Cobb
• Holloway Moxley
• Hosto Buchan
• Howard Lee Schiff
• H&R Accounts
• HRRG
• Hudson & Keyse LLC?
• Hunter Warfield
• IC System
• Impact Receivables Management
• Innovative Recovery
• Integras Capital Recovery LLC
• Javitch Block
• JHPDE Finance 1 LLC
• JP Receivables Management Partners
• JPMCB card
• Kenneth Eisen and Associates
• KeyBank student loans
• Kinum
• Kirschenbaum, Phillips & Levy P.C.
• KLS Financial Services
• Kramer & Frank
• Lakeside Collection
• Lending Club
• Lincoln and Morgan Kabbage
• Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP
• Lockhart Collection Agency
• LJ Ross Associates
• LTD Collections
• Malcolm S. Gerald and Associates
• Malen & Associates
• Mandarich Law Group
• Mannbracken
• Marcam Associates
• MARS Inc. Collections
• MBA Law
• MCA Management Company
• McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff
• Meade & Associates
• Medicredit
• Mercantile Adjustment Bureau
• Merchants Credit Association
• MGM Collections
• Michael J Adams PC
• Midland Funding LLC
• Mid-South Adjustment
• Monarch Recovery
• Monterey Financial
• Moss Law Firm
• Mountain Land Collections
• MRS Associates
• MRS BPO
• MSW Capital LLC
• Mullooly, Jeffrey, Rooney & Flynn
• Nathan and Nathan PC
• National Collegiate Trust
• National Credit Adjusters
• National Credit Care
• National Credit Systems
• National Enterprise Systems
• National Recovery Agency
• National Recovery Solutions
• Nationstar
• Nationwide Credit
• Nationwide Recovery Services
• Nationwide Recovery Systems
• NCEP LLC
• NCO Financial Systems Incorporated
• North American Recovery
• Northland Group
• Northstar Capital Acquisition
• Northstar Location Services
• NPAS
• NRC Collection Agency
• Oliver Adjustment Company
• Oliphant Financial, LLC
• Oportun
• P&B Capital Group
• PCB Collections Agency
• Palisades Collection LLC
• Pallida LLC
• Paragon Contracting Services
• Paragon Revenue Group
• Payday Loan Debt Collectors
• Pendrick Capital Partners
• Penn Credit
• Perdue Brandon
• Persolve LLC
• Phillips & Cohen Associates
• Phoenix Financial Services
• Pioneer Credit Recovery
• PMAB LLC
• PRA Group, Inc.
• Pressler, Felt & Warshaw LLP
• Prestige Services, Inc.
• Prince Parker and Associates
• ProCollect
• Professional Finance Company
• Progressive Management Systems
• Provest Law
• PYOD LLC
• Quaternary Collection Agency
• RAB Collection Agency
• Rash Curtis and Associates
• Radius Global SOL
• Radius Global Solutions
• Rawlings Company
• Razor Capital
• Real Time Resolutions
• Receivables Performance Management
• Regents and Associates
• Reliant Capital Solutions
• RentGrow
• Resurgent
• Resurgent Capital Services and LVNV Funding
• Revco Solutions
• Revenue Enterprises LLC
• Revenue Group
• RGS Financial, Inc.
• RMP LLC in Court
• RMP Services
• RS Clark and Associates
• RSIEH
• RSIEH
• RTR Financial Services
• Rubin & Rothman
• Salander Enterprises LLC
• Samara Portfolio Management
• SCA Collections
• Scott Parnell and Associates
• Second Round Collections
• Second Round Sub LLC
• Selip & Stylianou LLP
• Sequium Asset Solutions
• Sessoms and Rogers
• Sherman Acquisition
• Sherman Financial Group
• SIMM Associates
• Source Receivables Management
• Southern Management Systems
• Southwest Credit Group
• Spire Recovery Solutions
• SRS Company
• Stark Collection Agency
• State Collection Service
• Stenger and Stenger
• Stillman Law Office
• Summit Account Resolution
• Sunrise Credit Services
• Superlative RM Debt Collector
• Suttell and Hammer
• Synergetic Communication
• Synerprise Consulting
• The Law Office of Michael J Scott
• Trellis Company
• Troy Capital
• TRS Recovery Services
• TrueAccord
• Tulsa Teachers Credit Union
• UCB Collection
• UHG 1, LLC
• Unifin
• Unifin Debt Collector
• Unifund
• Universal Credit Services
• US Bank Collections
• USAA collections
• USCB America
• Valentine and Kebartas
• Valley Servicing
• Vance & Huffman LLC
• Van Ru Credit Corporation
• Velo Law Office
• Velocity Investments
• Viking Client Services
• Wakefield and Associates
• Waypoint Resource Group
• WCTCB
• Weinberg and Associates
• Weltman, Weinberg & Reis
• Westwood Funding
• Williams and Fudge
• Wilshire Consumer Credit
• Wolpoff & Abramson
• Worldwide Asset Purchasing
• www.AutomotiveCredit.com
• Zarzaur & Schwartz
• Zwicker & Associates

Resolve your debt with your creditor

Some creditors, banks, and lenders have an internal collections department. If they come after you for a debt, Solosuit can still help you respond and resolve the debt. Here’s a list of guides on how to resolve debt with different creditors.

• American Express; American Express – Debt Collection
• Bank of America
• Barclay
• Best Buy Credit Card
• Capital One
• Chase
• Credit One Bank
• Old Navy Credit Card
• PayPal Synchrony Card
• Regional Finance
• Retailers National Bank
• Reunion Student Loan Finance Corporation
• SYNCB/PPEXTR
• Synchrony Bank
• Synchrony Walmart Card
• Target National Bank
• Webbank
• Wells Fargo
• Can I Pay My Original Creditor Instead of a Debt Collection Agency?
• Can I Settle a Debt with the Original Creditor?

Settle your medical debt

Having a health challenge is stressful, but dealing medical debt on top of it is overwhelming. Here are some resources on how to manage medical debt.

• Am I Responsible for My Spouse's Medical Debt?
• Do I Need a Lawyer for Medical Bills?
• Do I Need a Lawyer to Fight Medical Bill Debt?
• Does Bankruptcy Clear Medical Debt?
• How Much Do Collection Agencies Pay for Medical Debt?
• How to Find Medical Debt Forgiveness Programs
• Is There a Statute of Limitations on Medical Bills?
• Medical Debt Statute of Limitations by State
• Summoned to Court for Medical Bills — What Do I Do?
• Summoned to Court for Medical Bills? What to Do Next

Guides on arbitration

If the thought of going to court stresses you out, you’re not alone. Many Americans who are sued for credit card debt utilize a Motion to Compel Arbitration to push their case out of court and into arbitration.

Below are some resources on how to use an arbitration clause to your advantage and win a debt lawsuit.

• How Arbitration Works
• How to Find an Arbitration Clause in Your Credit Agreement
• How to Make a Motion to Compel Arbitration
• How to Make a Motion to Compel Arbitration in Florida
• How to Make a Motion to Compel Arbitration Without an Attorney
• How Credit Card Arbitration Works
• Motion to Compel Arbitration in California
• Sample Motion to Compel Arbitration

Stop calls from debt collectors

Do you keep getting calls from an unknown number, only to realize that it’s a debt collector on the other line? If you’ve been called by any of the following numbers, chances are you have collectors coming after you, and we’ll tell you how to stop them.

• 1-800-390-7584
• 800-289-8004
• 800-955-6600
• 8009556600
• 877-366-0169
• 877-591-0747
• 800-278-2420
• 800-604-0064
• 800-846-6406
• 877-317-0948
• 888-899-4332
• 888-912-7925
• 202-367-9070
• 502-267-7522

Federal debt collection laws can protect you

Knowing your rights makes it easier to stand up for your rights. Below, we’ve compiled all our articles on federal debt collection laws that protect you from unfair practices.

• 15 USC 1692 Explained
• Does the Fair Credit Reporting Act Work in Florida?
• FDCPA Violations List
• How to File an FDCPA Complaint Against Your Debt Collector (Ultimate Guide)
• How to Make a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Demand Letter
• How to Submit a Transunion Dispute
• How to Submit an Equifax Dispute
• How to Submit an Experian Dispute
• What Debt Collectors Cannot Do — FDCPA Explained
• What Does Account Information Disputed by Consumer Meets FCRA Requirements Mean?
• What does “meets FCRA requirements” mean?
• What does FCRA stand for?
• What is the Consumer Credit Protection Act