How to beat IC System in court

Chloe Meltzer | October 19, 2022

Legal Expert
Chloe Meltzer, MA

Chloe Meltzer is an experienced content writer specializing in legal content creation. She holds a degree in English Literature from Arizona State University, complemented by a Master’s in Marketing from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.

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.

Summary: Is IC System, Inc. suing you for a debt? Beat them with SoloSuit's help.

Paying bills is a necessary evil of life. If you happen to get behind on your bills, due to job loss or another setback, it can greatly impact your pay schedule. After a certain number of missed payments, you may have debt collectors coming after you. One of those debt collectors might be IC System Inc.

Who is I.C. System, Inc?

At first glance, you might think that I.C. System, Inc is a scam. However, this company is a family-run debt collection agency based out of St. Paul, Minnesota and founded in 1938. Often hired to collect on many different types of debt, I.C Systems most commonly collects on medical, utility bills, and government debts.

As an authorized debt collection agency. I.C. System, Inc purchases debt from other businesses and attempts to collect the debt from consumers. Typically IC Systems purchases the debt for much less than the original value, which is why they often lack the legal paperwork required to collect the debt. As such, it is important that you learn your rights so you can protect yourself against IC Systems.

Having received many complaints over the years, I.C. System is known to violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). Consumers have accused IC System of making false statements or representations in order to pursue debt collection. Other examples of these violations include:

Attempting to collect a debt not owed
Threatening to contact an employer and sharing information improperly
Improper communication tactics

What is the FDCPA?

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, or FDCPA, is a law that governs third-party debt collectors. It protects consumers from unethical or abusive debt collections strategies. Enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, the FDCPA prohibits debt collectors from:

Calling you before 8 am or after 9 pm
Claiming that you owe an amount that is not legally owed or within the original creditor agreement
Swearing, raising their voice, calling you names
Saying that you can be arrested or sent to jail for not paying your debts
Making threats that they cannot legally carry out or have no intention of carrying out
Discussing your debt with anyone other than you, your spouse, or your attorney

Violations of the FDCPA are common even though they are illegal. Because of this, debt collectors continue to use them because consumers end up paying. Many consumers would rather pay than deal with harassment and abuse.

How to fight IC System

If you owe a valid debt to IC System and you fail to pay it off, you may find yourself sued in court. You have 14-30 days to respond to the debt Summons and Complaint, depending on which state you're sued in. If you fail to respond in time, then the court will order a default judgment against you. Default judgments declare the amount owed, and eventually allow IC System to collect on that amount by garnishing your wages.f.

According to the FDCPA, IC System cannot threaten to garnish your wages until an order has been made by the court. To prevent receiving a default judgment in a lawsuit against IC System, you should focus on responding to the lawsuit and fighting them in court.

Steps to respond to a debt collection lawsuit

Responding to a debt lawsuit can be intimidating, and finding a lawyer can be costly and challenging. You can represent yourself in court by following these 3 steps:

Step 1: Respond

The most important part of winning a debt collection lawsuit is to respond. Around 90% of people sued for debt automatically lose their case because they don't know how to respond to the Summons and Complaint. The Complaint lists all the specific allegations against you, and you should respond to each of them with one of the following pleas:

Admit: Admit you owe the debt.
Deny: This is like saying, “prove it.”
Deny due to lack of knowledge: This is like saying, “I don't know.”

SoloSuit makes responding in court easy and simple. You can draft your legal Answer with SoloSuit, for free, in minutes.

Step 2: Assert affirmative defenses

Asserting your affirmative defenses is basically like stating your side of the case. Affirmative defenses are facts claimed by a defendant (in this case, you) that, if proven, defeat the collector's claims. You must list your affirmative defenses in your Answer to the lawsuit, or else they cannot be brought up later in the lawsuit.

Use SoloSuit to make the right affirmative defense and win in court.

Step 3: File the Answer

After you've prepared your Answer with responses and affirmative defenses, you need to file it with the court and send a copy to the opposing attorney. Here are some tips on proper filing: Print two copies of your Answer
Mail one copy to the court (certified mail)
Mail the other copy to the plaintiff's attorney (certified mail)

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

Check out this flowchart that outlines all the possible routes a debt lawsuit can take:

Debt Collection Lawsuit Flowchart

IC System's violations of the FDCPA

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has received more than 2,500 consumer complaints against IC System as of 2018. These complaints involve IC System's practice of the following tactics:

Harassment using the telephone
Calling or leaving voicemail messages without identifying the caller as a debt collector seeking to collect a debt
Falsely representing the character and status of the debt
Using false and deceptive means to collect a debt
Misrepresenting the name of the company

Take action

If you get a call from IC System or another debt collector attempting to collect a debt from you, take action. If you insist that the debt does not belong to you and IC Systems keeps calling, then you may be entitled to a countersuit as per the FDCPA. You can win $1,000 per FDCPA violation, plus court costs, attorney fees, and any damages you may have suffered. This often means that the case will be dropped as well. Explore your options with SoloSuit and beat IC Systems today.

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

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to respond to a debt collection lawsuit.

How it works: SoloSuit is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your answer. Upon completion, you can either print the completed forms and mail in the hard copies to the courts or you can pay SoloSuit to file it for you and to have an attorney review the document.

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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