How to Beat Choice Recovery

Sarah Edwards | October 19, 2022

Legal Expert
Sarah Edwards, BS

Sarah Edwards is a professional researcher and writer specializing in legal content. An Emerson College alumna, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from the prestigious Boston institution.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

When you beat Choice Recovery in court ^^

Summary: Is Choice Recovery suing you for a debt? SoloSuit can help you take a stand and win in court.

It starts slowly—first, you'll probably receive a letter in the mail notifying you that you owe a debt. This letter will come from a debt collection agency that you have likely never heard of, such as Choice Recovery.

The letter may provide you with information on the original lender and the amount of the debt that you may owe. They'll also tell you that you can dispute the debt within 30 days of receiving the notice if you do so in writing.

If you don't believe that you owe the debt, don't recognize it, or the statute of limitations has passed for the agency to collect on it, send a Debt Validation Letter as soon as possible. This forces the debt collection agency (in this case, Choice Recovery), to prove that you do in fact owe money. They will also be unable to contact you until they provide the proper verification.

What is Choice Recovery?

Choice Recovery is a debt collection agency that focuses on consumer debt. It commonly collects on behalf of government, healthcare, higher education, or industrial clients. Thus, if you owe unpaid taxes or unpaid medical debt, you may receive a collection notice from Choice Recovery.

If you have received notice that Choice Recovery intends to begin the collections process with you, be aware that you have certain rights. The Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) protects consumers from unscrupulous debt collectors. Choice Recovery has received 87 complaints with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) in the past three years for potentially unfair debt collection practices, including pursuing debts that were unverified. Choice Recovery has also received 284 complaints through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Let's take a look at an example.

Example: A consumer—let's call her Jane—noticed her credit score dropped dramatically when Choice Recovery reported a past-due debt to the credit bureaus. Jane investigated the debt with the original creditor and found out that it was never sent to collections. She never received any notice of the debt from Choice Recovery before it showed up on her credit report. She sent a receipt of the debt payment to the original creditor and Choice Recovery, but the negative credit report still wasn't removed. It wasn't until Jane submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau that she was able to get in contact with someone from Choice Recovery who still tried to claim the debt was valid. After several communications, Choice Recovery finally did some investigating and closed the account.

The FDCPA protects you from unfair debt collection practices

An unfair debt collection practice may be abusive or perceived as harassment by the person who is being pursued. Though many tactics used by debt collectors may violate the FDCPA, these are a few common ones to look out for:

Repeatedly calling you throughout the day.
Calling outside of designated hours, such as before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m.
Using poor or threatening language, such as profanity.
Telling you that you're a criminal for not paying your debt.
Threatening to destroy your reputation or your credit if you don't repay the debt.

If any debt collector uses the above tactics, they are not complying with the FDCPA. If you have experienced these tactics, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau or BBB. This should stop the harassment.

What should I do if Choice Recovery is suing me for debt?

If you receive notice that you are being sued by Choice Recovery in an attempt to collect a debt, you need to respond to the Summons and Complaint within the deadline. If you ignore the lawsuit, the court may set a default judgment against you for the amount that you owe.

A judgment allows the debt collector to pursue additional actions against you, including freezing your bank account, garnishing your wages, or even placing a lien on your property. In addition, a judgment can do serious damage to your credit report.

To avoid a judgment, you can either respond to the debt collector via an Answer or pay the outstanding debt. Filing an Answer puts the burden of proof back on the debt collector. When you file an Answer, it should require the debt collector (Chase Recovery) to provide verification of the following:

You are responsible for paying the debt owed.
Chase Recovery has the authorization and right to sue you for the debt owed.
You owe the exact amount indicated in the Complaint.

In many cases, debt collectors don't have all of the required documentation to prove the debts of the consumers they target. They may purchase thousands of aged accounts from creditors for very small amounts and with little paperwork.

Following the purchase of overdue debts, debt collectors attempt to collect each one with the information they were provided by the lender. Some consumers will willingly pay the balance due, while others may find that the amount owed is incorrect, that they are the victim of identity fraud, or that their account has been mixed up with someone else's. These debts can be legitimately disputed.

A debt collector will often cease collection efforts if the consumer consistently battles the debt and the collector isn't able to provide the required details to substantiate it.

Follow these steps to respond to a debt lawsuit against Choice Recovery

You can beat Choice Recovery in court when you respond to the Summons and Complaint. Follow these three steps as you prepare your written Answer to the lawsuit:

Respond to each claim listed in the Complaint: The first section of your Answer should be a bullet list of individual responses to each claim listed in the Complaint document that you should have received from Choice Recovery. You can respond to each claim and admit, deny, or deny due to lack of knowledge. Most attorneys recommend that you deny as many claims as possible, because if you admitted everything, you would have no case. The judge would automatically favor Choice Recovery, and you will probably lose. If you deny a claim, Choice Recovery has to prove that it's true. Without the proper documentation to prove its claims, Choice Recovery will most likely drop the case.
Assert your affirmative defenses: The second section of your Answer should include a list of affirmative defenses. These are any legal reasons that Choice Recovery should not win the case. A common affirmative defense used in debt lawsuits is the statute of limitations. This is the time period that a debt collector has to sue someone for a debt. If the statute of limitations has passed, the case is invalid, and it will be dismissed. The statute of limitations varies by state, so make sure to check your state's laws before making any payments to a debt collector.
File the Answer with the court, and send a copy to Choice Recovery: After you've drafted your Answer with the responses and affirmative defenses, it's ready for filing. File your Answer with the court, and send a copy to Choice Recovery's lawyers at the address listed on the Summons document. Make sure to send the Answer via USPS certified mail, and request a return receipt for proof that it was delivered properly.

SoloSuit can help you draft and file an Answer in all 50 states.

Watch this video to learn more about these three steps to responding to a debt lawsuit:

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to fight debt collectors.

You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

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