Settlement Offer on lawsuite against junk debt buyer

I live in IL. 1st Nat'l sent a CL that falsely stated a judgment had been awarded against me on an old debt. A consumer rights attorney filed a lawsuit on my behalf and here is the 1st settlement offer from 1st Nat'l:

- They will pay my attorney fees.
- They will cease collections and will clear my credit report of this debt & another debt they claim to own.

First of all - we already went to court on the "other" debt and I won. My attorney was surprised & requested the court docs. In a nutshell: They filed suit, I appeared & in my answer 1) denied owing the debt, 2) requested debt validation & 3) requested the case be dismissed with prejudice. They did not have proof, but continued the case anyway, before finally telling the judge to dismiss with prejudice as I had requested.

Secondly - since they are in the wrong aren't they obligated to clear my credit report? My attorney indicated their offer was a very good thing - but it seems to me that they would have to do this anyway.

Lastly - this means no money for me. I'm not greedy, but I do expect to be awarded $ out of this. Especially after learning how these junk debt buyers operate & even more so after considering the trouble that this particular junk debt buyer has caused me. I had a sick feeling in my stomach for days as I stressed over the "judgment". I worried my wages could be garnished. I used a 1/2 vacation day in order to spend hours on the phone trying to determine if the judgment existed and where - something I could not confidentially do at work. As for the "other" debt - I spent hours educating myself on how to defend myself in court as I could not afford an attorney - I missed work 3 times to appear in court - & I had to pay $68 to file my answer - all for a debt that they could not even validate in the first place.

So, it is common for the 1st settlement offer to offer so little? Should I insist on the money or not? Thanks for reading & sharing your opinion.

You should be entitled to at least restitution for the work you missed due to court.

hiya munchkin--

I agree with you, to be honest. First, if they lied about the judgment, then that violates the fdcpa in at least two ways. That alone is worth $1000 in your pocket. Second, you took them to court on another debt earlier, you won, and they still didnt remove it from your credit report. That is a FCRA violation because at that trial it became known that they cannot validate the debt. The FCRA prohibits a CA from reporting anything on your credit files if it cannot be positively identified as yours. They are responsible for that.

Third, on this debt, how old is the debt?Depending on the age of the debt, they may have been unlawfully reporting on it anyways. And they could very well have been trying to sue you over debts that were outside the SOL.

here's a question--what attorney is representing these idiots in all these lawsuits? I would reject this offer, at the same time I would consider writing a letter to the bar association in your state....I would provide them with the attorney's name and details of these two cases and complain that this lawyer seems to like filing frivolous lawsuits. That is something that they frown upon at the bar association...

As for attorney's fees, it is pretty much a given that when you sue someone and you lose, you are going to have to pay those anyways. Their action of suing you left you no choice but to incur those costs, so it isnt like they are giving you very much there. Honestly, I am wondering whose side your attorney is on at this point. A lawyer is bound to act in the best interests of his client, regardless. And to me it seems that this one isnt doing that for you. This is a clear-cut violation of federal laws we're talking about here.

how long ago did you win the last case against them?

I would reject this offer in a heartbeat. I think that you are being jacked around. believe this--they are NOT doing you any favors by stopping collection on a debt that they cannot even prove they have the right to collect on in the first place. The law requires them to prove that when you request validation. They dont deserve to get out of that courtroom cheaply when this is how they have treated you.

I would reject it as well. They need to pay all costs of the action, including any attornies fees. $1000 minimum in your pocket at the minimum!!

I was actually thinking higher than $1000 in your pocket.

The FCRA violation carries a penalty of $1000 plus attorneys fees and court costs. That is when they continued to report the old debt even after you went to court and got their case dismissed.

The fdcpa violation occurred when they notified you of a judgment against you that was false. That is also worth $1000 in your pocket.

This settlement is a real slap in the face. The fact that they are now trying to bargain with you by offering to do what the law required them to do already is a sick joke. If we dig deeper we would probably find another violation or two somewhere along the way as well. I would give them a counter-offer...

1--$1,000 fine paid to you for the FCRA violation of continued reporting a debt after they lost the case in court.

2--the same action also violates the FDCPA because they continued to report a debt without honoring a demand for validation. Tell them you'll be nice and waive that $1000 fine...lol

3--$1000 fine paid to you for falsely stating that they have obtained a judgment against you on the second debt.

4--They pay attorney's fees and court costs.

5--They immediately remove all entries from your three major credit bureau files that reference these two debts.

6--They cease all collection efforts against you on the second debt. It is already illegal for them to try to collect on the first one.

Tell them that if they agree to pay you this $2000 plus attorney fees and court costs and do the above things, you will settle. But you wont settle for a dime less because you are already saving them $1000 that you would positively be getting. If they say no to this then tell them that you wont settle at all, that you will take it to the court and let the judge slap them down harder instead.

At least, that's what I would do. Please keep us informed.

oh, one more thing I forgot--tell them that if they agree to this offer and they take any further collection activity in the future on these two debts, or if they report either of these two debts back on your credit files, you will sue them again for the violations that doing so would constitute. Just so there are no attempts on their side to try to take away your rights to protect yourself in the future.

I wouldn't take that lame-ass offer. They're just trying to weasel out of something where they know they're liable. You know, the same thing they're always accuasing us of. All legal fees paid, $$$ for your time missed at work, and some jingle in your pocket. Otherwise, let the judge puzzle it out. You might also point out that by settling on your terms, they'll save themselves the hassle and expense of going to court, the embarrassment of having a judgement entered against them, etc. Feel free to improvise...

Once again - great advice! Thanks.

I'm writing a letter to my attorney telling them I will only accept an offer that includes the monetary damages I deserve.

I'm also telling her as of now there appears to be multiple violoations, and I should expect $1,000 for each violcation.

I'll keep you posted on what 1st Nat'l's response is to my answer on their lame settlement offer. To be continued.....

By all means, keep us informed on how it goes, And best of luck to you!

skydivr7673, you are awesome!

Seems like you got some good advice..but I want to give you:

A slap on the back and applause! You took the initiative and didn't let this fool company bully you into paying an unvalidated debt, then you took it further and took their butts to court over the violation!

GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!!

Damn skippy! Good job, enjoy your winnings.

At first I would have settled for a $500 award, but when 1st Nat'l sent the first very insulting settlement offer I became angry.

I wrote my attorney a long letter letting her just what this junk debt buyer put me through over 2 debts they cannot even validate.

We rejected 1st Nat'ls offer & countered with $3,000 for me, all atorney fees & my CR cleaned up of their error. My attorney & I knew they would counter-offer for much less.

Much to our surprise they offered $2,500 to me, all attoney fees & a cleaned up CR.

Once again, let me say that if I hadn't found this site I might just have worked out some kind of payment plan with this junk debt buyer.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE GOOD ADVICE!

VERY COOL....good deal!

Glad it worked out for you!

Next time we can help you, please feel free to drop in--OR, if you like, you can join up and help others too! It doesnt cost anything and there are a ton of really good people here, and you never know who your experience will help! Case in point, you came along and we helped you get what you deserve!

(psst---where's our cut??)

Munchkin130 - When you went to court on the one debt, was it actually a debt you owed, or was it someone elses debt?

Well, considering that a collection agency AND an attorney decided to bring a frivolous lawsuit by suing someone while knowing that they couldnt satisfy the burden of proof, its possible that he doesnt even know. Thats what validation is for--to prove the debt. Only an idiot would spend the time and money to take someone to court without even having any proof of their allegations. Its really sad how many CA's actually get away with it too.