Why does no one here hire an attorney?

So CA's are whining about getting nailed for every violation? If I were in congress I'd say, "Well, stop violating and you have nothing to worry about." Sheesh....if they were to start acting on the up and up and stop all this abusive crap, they wouldn't get nailed for violations. They still seem to think that validating and such is such a horrible thing, but I bet my last dollar that if they got a call at home from some unknown demanding thousands of dollars -right now- and threatening jail time they would be running for their files to look at the DV they got at work that day and copy it and send it off. :D

Hi all

I have heard that when you are represented by an attorney, collectors can not try to contact you. If they do, then it would be fdcpa violation. So, is it true that having an attorney saves you from helluva harassments?

Bethany

bethany: It sounds more like you are talking about when bankruptcy has been filed. But, if indeed you have an attorney, direct all calls to him/her.

SAM GLOVER=== YOU ROCK !!!!!!!!! thanks for educated opinions and help you have offered on this site!!!! :) :) :) :)

And please Sam - stay in the forum. We need FACT from someone who knows and practices LAW !

bethany_hlms: Once you have retained an attorney to represent you in connection with a debt and you notify the debt collector that you have done so, it is a violation of the fdcpa for the debt collector to contact you. They must deal with your attorney.

Sam Glover: I am a pro se litigant and as such I have won several cases against unscrupulous Collection Attorney's who have attempted to collect on non-collectible accounts. I have also hired an Attorney to file a Federal Lawsuit against one of those Attorney's which was settled out of court for 3500.00. Now my problem with hiring an attorney is that I received $1,000 and for the $350 that he spent in filing the lawsuit and writing a letter he made $2,100. Not all the crooks are collection agencies or their Attorney's.

i am a member of prepaid legal, i have never had to use them, but even thought i know i owe, and just cannot pay right now, capital collections, harrasses me constantly, is that something i could talk to an attorney about?

You could try prepaid legal, but I am not sure how helpful they will be. In Minnesota, for example, I am pretty sure I know all the consumer lawyers with any focus on debt collection defense and fdcpa, and none of them work for Prepaid Legal, as far as I know.

mrscoolh: You say "I know I owe." Who do you owe? The debt collector? Did you ever get a loan from the debt collector? Has the original creditor told you directly to pay the debt collector? If not, how do you know the debt collector owns and is entitled to collect this debt?

Do you actually know you owe this debt? Have you seen statements and compared the account number to your account?

Don't assume that you owe the debt just because your recognize the name of the original creditor. I have seen plenty of people on this forum pay off a debt only to be contacted by another debt collector about the same debt a couple of months later.

Make them prove it before you pay.

GOF: You should make an account here and tell us all about taking the CAs to court pro se, I would really love to hear about it and I bet many others would too!

Sam!! I didnt realize you were here in the Twin Cities!! Waving to you....I am out by the Mall of America!

Isn't there a Sam Glover in Texas who is a consumer advocate/attorney as well? I seem to remember texaslawyer mentioning the name.

LawStudent: There may be, but he and I have no relation to one another, just for the record.

SOAPLADY: Good to know. Yesterday I released a set of forms for answering debt buyer lawsuits in Minnesota. Spread the word! Here are the links:

http://sjglover.com/blog/index.php/2007/10/23/forms-answer-discovery-requests-in-a-debt-buyer-lawsuit/
http://sjglover.com/legalinfo.php#2

I have a rather convoluted matter involving a CA and a Law Firm that were attempting to collect on the same debt. I touched base with an attorney whom I located on naca.net and discussed the matter with him. By his own admission, I knew more about my rights and the laws governing debt collections than he did. I'm not suggesting he isn't a capable attorney, but it didn't give me a warm fuzzy glow to know more than he did. To answer your question specifically, it appears to me that this type of law isn't being practiced much because it isn't as lucrative as others. Perhaps I'm off base with my assumption but in my opinion you only need to hire an attorney if a law suit is filed against you. Frankly the only reason I'd do that is because I don't know the rules of the court or court room procedure. If I knew the aforementioned, I'd defend myself more vigorously than the attorney could ever do.

Has anyone on the Forum filed for violations and won or settled out of court? (Besides the atty) ?

Sam Glover:

I hope you and yours are doing fine and in the best of health. I have a question, if you may. Are you familar with Wells Fargo Auto Finance? I have been tring for over a year to get them to correct their errors on my credit report by sending letters (cert/rr) to their credit department to no avail. I live in IL. I also have contacted all three credit reporting agencies. They changed my account number back in Nov.06 and left the old account number active. So, both numbers are reported, one as a charge off, and the other one not reported since Nov.06. I have had this loan/car since July 2003 and never missed a payment and it is due to be paid off July 2008, but it seems every time I make a payment, the term of the loan gets longer. Just wondering if you have had any dealings with this company? Thank you.

Lose the pleasantries. It makes me feel funny to be talked to like that.

You need to get in touch with a consumer lawyer. You have a lot more going on than I can address, and more than I want to on a public forum.

I did not mean to make you feel funny. I was just asking for help. Thank you for the advise.

Before I came to this site I looked into hiring an attorney, but the case was so confusing and spread over such a large area of pdl's no one would help me.
After coming here and listening and learning I got several of those illegal companies to leave me alone.
So as i see it before we go running to an attorney should we not do as much of the footwork, faxing and yelling as possible. Then when you have all of your information gathered and enough to go on call in the attorneys.
I have nothing against lawyers please understand that, but if as a citizen I can show these illegal companies that I wont stand to be pushed around and will take whatever steps are required.
(Sorry if that was confusing statement..I know what i mean lol)

I need to find an attorney for clear cut cases of fdcpa violations. 8 phone calls in 3 minutes from 1 collector of a lousy $150 that i have in dispute. Other calls that consistently call and hang up. Where do I find such attorney?

Hey Sam I appreciated a lot of the advice you have given. I too generally live paycheck to paycheck and don't have the funds up front. I've talked to a few attorneys and they do charge a hefty fee or they bounce me around from attorney to attorney. At least one did that I found on NACA. So it gets frustrating. With me, if I get served papers then I'll contact an attorney. In the meantime, I feel like dealing with it myself at the preliminary level with letters asking for proof and the likes. It seems to be working most times. I've only had one judgement against me but that was my fault for not following through and just feeling discouraged enough to not care or what's the use attitude. You definitely make a good point though.