In debt? You're better off getting sued
Consumers facing serious credit card debt are, in some ways, better off getting sued rather than dealing with collections. Here are several reasons why.
First, when you are getting collection letters and phone calls from a collections agency, you are dealing with someone who doesn’t usually have a lot of authority to settle your case. Imagine what that job is like.
I know of one collection law firm that moved its offices to a warehouse with approximately 20 lawyers in the front-facing offices and a cube farm in the rear. Picture endless cubicles of people on the phone trying to collect money.
It’s got to be a miserable job. Somebody pops a stack of files on your desk and says, “Collect $100,000 by Friday, or you’re fired.” The person you’re dealing with is just calling you, taking your phone call, and trying to see whatever kind of money they can get from you.
Part of the reason they’re operating this way is because it seems—at least to me—that at this stage of the collection game, your account with the collection agency is of indeterminate, or maybe we can say “floating,” value. Let’s say you owe $10,000. The collection agency or collection law firm is trying to get whatever they can out of that account. Sure, they may take less than $10,000, but they are under no pressure or incentive to take an offer that they don’t like.
The next time they call you, or the next time you call them, maybe they will get more money than you offered. Or, maybe they’ll get less money. It’s random at this point. Therefore, the collectors don’t really have to make any difficult decisions. They just keep dialing and hoping they get you on a day when you’re feeling soft or a day when you come into some money. Their whole job is to just keep dialing and pestering you any time between 8:01 a.m. to 8:59 p.m. on a daily basis. As long as they follow the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, they can keep on calling.
Stop the phone harassment, contact an attorney
Once a lawsuit is filed, ultimately, if the case is unsettled, a trial date is going to be set by the court. That means that the creditor is finally going to be forced to make a decision.