Distinguishing between consumer rights versus consumer debt defense
Distinguishing between consumer rights versus consumer debt defense
Welcome to “Defense by Davis.” As you may have read on the About page, I defend people who are being sued for consumer debts—unpaid debts from credit cards or online loans, and sometimes student loans or automobile installment loans.
Sometimes people get confused between a consumer rights lawyer and a collection defense lawyer. Consumer rights, or consumer protection, is the field of law that advocates for people who have been subjected to illegal and unscrupulous collection practices such as contacting your employer about your debt, receiving harassing phone calls, or sending false or misleading information to you about your debt. Consumer rights lawyers file lawsuits against law firms and collection agencies that violate laws such as the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).
That’s not debt collection defense. Even if you manage to get some kind of compensation from the law firm that was harassing you, that doesn’t get rid of the underlying debt. The company trying to collect from you will just hire another (presumably legit) law firm to continue trying to collect that money.
I, on the other hand, defend people who are being sued for the underlying debt.
Collection cases fall into two broad categories. The first kind is the original creditor case. This is a lawsuit where the company that originally issued your credit card is now suing you. Some companies, such as American Express or Discover Bank, rarely sell their accounts. They hire law firms to collect directly for them.
More commonly, the original creditor sells your account to a third party. These third parties are called debt buyers. Some of the major debt buyers in Cook County (including Chicago) are Portfolio Recovery Associates, Cavalry SPV I, LVNV Funding, Midland Funding, Velocity Investments, plus many other smaller players. A lot of these debt buyers are active nationally. In your area, there may be others like them.
In upcoming posts, you’ll find out how these companies and their lawyers go about trying to collect from you, and how you and your lawyer should fight back. In my professional opinion, it’s worth it not to cave in.
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