Judson E. Crump, PC

Cavalry SPV I, LLC Collection Lawsuit Defeated- Alabama Collection Defense Attorney Judson E Crump

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Our client was sued twice by Cavalry SPV I, LLC for $2598.80 on a credit card he once had with HSBC.  The card had, allegedly, been transferred to Capital One Bank, N.A. at some point, and then to Cavalry SPV I, LLC.  Cavalry SPV I, LLC then sued my client.  He answered the complaint pro se (after having read my book) and then hired me to come to trial for him.  I notified the collection attorneys of my appearance in the case and requested copies of their evidence.  We were able to convince the judge to exclude their evidence from the record and rule in our favor.

Our client was sued by Cavalry SPV I, LLC for an HSBC credit card. We won.
Our client was sued by Cavalry SPV I, LLC for an HSBC credit card. We won.

 

The case was heard in the District Court of Mobile County, Alabama.  The debt, if it ever existed, must now be permanently removed from my client’s credit reports.  Another victory for Alabama working folks!

Who is Ferry & Nicholas? Why you should not hire them. – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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If you have received a letter from a “firm” called “Ferry & Nicholas,” it means that you have been sued by a credit card company or debt collector.  Ferry & Nicholas runs a clever little scheme.  See, they’re not lawyers, which means that they don’t have to comply with the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct.  Why does this matter?  Because the Alabama Rules of Professional Conduct forbid lawyers from sending people letters until 7 days have passed since you were served with the lawsuit.

Now, I know full well that most bankruptcy lawyers don’t bother to comply with this rule – they just print the list of lawsuits from the court in their county and have their secretaries blast letters to every lawsuit debtor.  And these letters tell you how great and easy and cheap and perfect-for-every-situation bankruptcy is, and that if you don’t file bankruptcy, you’re pretty much doomed to a life of decrepitude.  Of course, that’s total bullshit, but that’s another issue for another day.

Ferry & Nicholas is a company that preys on people who don't know the legal system. You can hire a real lawyer to get you a better deal for less money.
Ferry & Nicholas is a company that preys on people who don’t know the legal system. You can hire a real lawyer to get you a better deal for less money.

Ferry & Nicholas, however, doesn’t even have to pretend to comply.  So all of these people — who have no idea they’ve even been sued, and that they’re about to enter a precarious situation where it is very important to protect their legal rights, and who really need access to real legal advice about their situation — these people get introduced to the legal debt collection system by someone who is utterly unqualified to represent debtors and their interests.

Now, some may say “what’s the harm?”  At least you’re getting an advance warning that the lawsuit is coming, right?  Well, to the extent that some debtors are sophisticated people who understand how the court system works and know the risks of hiring a debt settlement factory to do a lawyer’s job, yes, there is no harm.  But unfortunately, most people don’t know the legal system.  And most people don’t know that Ferry & Nicholas cannot do a thing to stop Midland Funding or Portfolio Recovery Associates or LVNV Funding or whoever it is from taking a judgment against you.

So they don’t know that when they hire Ferry & Nicholas, the clock is still ticking on the deadline to answer the lawsuit.  And in District or Small Claims Court, that deadline is only 14 days.  In Circuit Court, the deadline is 30 days.  And what happens if the deadline passes while Ferry & Nicholas is negotiating, or, as they call it, “mediating” your debt?

A default is entered against you.  Which means that you’ve lost your lawsuit, which means that the creditor has utterly no motivation to settle with you.  By contrast, you could spend the same amount of money hiring a real attorney, and either settle for a deep discount or beat the lawsuit completely.

I had a client who hired Ferry & Nicholas and they “successfully” settles a collection case for her.  But unfortunately, Ferry & Nicholas didn’t do anything to make sure the collector stuck to the deal.  And here’s the craziest part: they didn’t even get the deal in writing!  Their ‘mediation’ was a telephone call they made with the collection lawyer – and the deal they struck?  A 0% discount!  They agreed to a judgment of the FULL AMOUNT OF THE LAWSUIT.  YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT WITHOUT HIRING ANYONE.  With a decent lawyer, you can do wayyy better than that.

So if you get a letter from Ferry & Nicholas, throw it in the trash and get some real help.

Who’s suing you, Part IV: Who is Cavalry SPV I, LLC? – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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Cavalry SPV I, LLC is a fairly standard debt buyer.  They purchase old accounts that have been charged off to loss by the original creditor.  I have fought Cavalry SPV I, LLC in court before.  On August 27, 2013, I tried the case “Cavalry SPV I, LLC v. Andry” in the District Court of Mobile County, Alabama, and won a judgment for the defendant.  That lawsuit was brought on an account allegedly owed to CitiFinancial for about $3,000.  Now it is gone forever.

I have defeated or dismissed several cases Cavalry SPV I has brought against Alabama citizens since then, so I can assure you: with the right lawyer on your side, you do have a fighting chance!

If you have received a summons from Cavalry SPV I, LLC, be sure to answer the lawsuit.  Cavalry SPV I often doesn’t send collection letters or make phone calls before suing you, so some people assume that the summons is bogus or a scam.  Whatever else they might be, Cavalry SPV I, LLC is not a scam!  If you read my articles, you know that I will tell you if an outfit is a scam or not, and Cavalry SPV I is not.  They are a real debt buyer and if you get a summons from them, it is a real lawsuit and if you don’t answer, they will get a default judgment against you and that will enable them to place liens on your property and garnish your wages and bank accounts.  Trust me: you don’t want a default judgment against you.

Fortunately, Cavalry SPV I, LLC is not hard to beat in court if you have the right lawyer on your side.

Beat Midland Funding (Again) – $2,000 collection lawsuit in Baldwin County – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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Another trial against Midland Funding. Another victory for the consumer.
Another trial against Midland Funding. Another victory for the consumer.

On Friday, May 30th, I tried another collection lawsuit against Midland Funding – this time in Baldwin County, at the Fairhope Courthouse.  For those who aren’t familiar with Alabama’s largest county, Baldwin County actually has three separate courthouses.  The main one in Bay Minette is at the northern end of the County, and for people who live down at the beach, the county seat is over 60 miles away.  That’s a 1.5 hour trip for people living in Fort Morgan.  So a few years back, the county opened a satellite courthouse in Foley for the beach folks, and a satellite courthouse in Fairhope for those who live in the more heavily populated Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay.

This case was about an old computer purchase.  They claimed that my client bought a Dell computer from a company called WebBank, who was at the time in charge of financing options for Dell computer sales.  Dell Financial Services was the “servicer” of the loans.  And WebBank at some point sold the account to Asset Acceptance, who sold it to Midland Funding, who then sued my client for $1900 plus court costs.

Midland actually took the case seriously: about a month before trial, they subpoena’d my client to appear in court.  This is something they don’t do unless there’s an attorney involved.  If you answer pro se, they’ll expect you to appear on your own.  Some lawyers instruct their clients to answer pro se and then the lawyer appears on the day of court to ‘ambush’ the collector, and that’s fine, as long as no “ghostwriter” pleadings are involved, but I’ve found that isn’t even necessary.   Now, sometimes a client really does call me the day before a trial and I’ll appear for them, but I prefer to let the collector know that I’m coming from a long way away.  It usually doesn’t affect the end result.

When they send you a subpoena, it just means that you have to show up and testify.  The idea is to try to get you to prove a) that you owe money and b) that their statements and assignment documents are true and admissible as evidence.  So in this case, my client had to show up for trial and Midland’s lawyer called her up to testify.  It didn’t matter though, because I convinced the judge to exclude their other evidence and without it, there wasn’t enough to prove their case.  So we won.

Credit Card Aggression Ratings 2014: Which Credit Cards are the Most Aggressive when you miss payments? Which are the most lenient? – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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How you can expect to be treated if you fall behind on a credit card bill varies widely depending on what company you’re dealing with.  I cannot claim to have dealt professionally with every company out there, but I have encountered enough to know what to expect with most of them.  Here they are, organized in ascending aggression (meaning that the nicest ones are at the top, meanest ones are at the bottom).

 

1.  Capital One.  Aggression Rating: 10 out of 10.  

Capital One Bank sues the hell out of its customers.
“What’s in your wallet?” Not a dime if your misfortunes ever put you behind with Cap One.

I have literally seen Capital One sue a customer who had paid them religiously for years exactly three months after she fell behind on her payments.  Not only did they sue her right out of the gate, but they hit her with lengthy discovery requests and basically boxed her in and left her no choice but garnishment or bankruptcy.  If you aren’t rich enough to be immune to, say, an accident that leaves you hurt for 6 months of no income, you may want to avoid them.

 

2.  Discover Bank, Issuer of Discover Card.  9 out of 10.

Discover is the only credit card company I have personally seen file an appeal when they lost a collection lawsuit.  They almost never refer their accounts to debt collectors.  They are definitely of the “sue first, ask questions later” mindset; so much so that they make personal injury attorneys look like timid lambs.  That isn’t to say that you can’t work out a deal after you’ve been sued – if you’re uncollectable, then their collection lawyer may be able to settle with you.  But don’t expect any kindness at the outset.

"IT PAYS TO DISCOVER" that you may as well file bankruptcy if you can't pay them off.
“IT PAYS TO DISCOVER” that you may as well file bankruptcy if you can’t pay them off.

 

 

3.  American Express.  7 out of 10.

Amex is also of the “sue first, ask questions later” mindset, but they seem to be a bit less attached to their lower-value accounts.  For some reason, I don’t see many small claims suits from them, possibly because they work to make payment arrangements with people.  Honestly haven’t had many chances to tangle with them in court as of yet.

 

Next Page: The more lenient credit card companies.

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How to Handle an FDCPA Validation Request – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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So you’ve sent your FDCPA Validation Request…Now what?

Normally, you’ll get a letter with some basic information that says what the collector already told you: that you owed $15,000 to HSBC and they were assigned the account from HSBC and therefore you owe them money.  They may have other information like “Charge Off Date,” “Last Payment Date,” “Account Opening Date,” etc.  The dates are important – very important for you if they are more than 4 years old – but you should never take anything a debt collector says to be true unless it 100% agrees with your own recollection of reality.  They often get flawed information from the original creditor and just parrot the bad info when they report to credit bureaus and when they seek collection from you.  But if their own documentation shows the last payment or charge-off date to be more than 3 years old, then you can potentially use that document against them in court if they sue you.  The statute of limitations that applies depends very much on the way they draft their lawsuit, so talk to a consumer credit lawyer before trying to beat them with a statute of limitations argument.

What if they don’t respond?  Well, if you sent them the validation request within 30 days of their first contacting you about the debt, then they MUST send you the validation, otherwise they’ve violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and you can hire a guy like me to sue them for you.

If it has been more than 30 days since you first heard from them, then they are not legally obligated to send you the validation.  However, it is something you should make note of if you ever have to hire a lawyer to deal with them on your behalf.

Now, about those credit reports…

If your validation request also contained a notice of dispute under 15 U.S.C. 1692e(8), then the debt collector is not allowed to report the debt as owed without also noting that it is disputed by the consumer.  If you check your credit report a month after you’ve sent the dispute/validation request, then the report should say something like “consumer disputes liability on this account.”  This doesn’t really affect your credit score much, but it does put potential lenders and other interested parties on notice that the reported debt is possibly not actually owed.

This sort of claim isn’t going to amount to much if your goal is to sue the collector or credit bureau for damages to your credit, but if they don’t follow the law and report the account as disputed, then that does give you a potential counterclaim against them for the legal violation, and it may encourage them to take a reasonable settlement offer or just delete the account from your credit report altogether.

 

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How to Request Validation of a Debt via the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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One of the many rights that most people don’t know they have against debt collectors is the right to request validation of the debt. Once a collector starts coming after you for money, they are required to notify you of your right to request proof that you owe them the money. Think about it this way:

Imagine that you borrowed money from your friend Luke a few years ago. You made payments as you could, but eventually fell behind and Luke got tired of asking you for the money because he didn’t want to be a jerk and had better things to do than hound you all day for payment.

So you live your life for a while, until a guy named Porkins comes up to you on the street one day and says “You owe me $500.” What? You ask. “You owe Luke $500, and Luke told me I can come get it from you, so you owe me $500. Pay up.” Do you give Porkins your money? Of course not! At least, not without proof.

Change the names from Luke and Porkins to HSBC and Portfolio Recovery Associates, and you have the same situation that tons of people face today. The law doesn’t require you to pay Portfolio Recovery Associates unless they can prove that you rightfully owe them. You have the right to request proof that the debt is owed – it’s common sense! But the law is a bit deeper than that. If you request “validation” of the debt within 30 days of first hearing from the debt collector, then THEY ARE REQUIRED to send you proof that you owed the money to HSBC and that they were rightfully assigned the debt from HSBC.

So how do you assert this right? It is easy. Just write a letter. You don’t have to quote the statute, but you should just to make it clear that they know exactly what you want. The language can be as short as this:

“I received your recent communication stating that you were collecting an alleged debt owed to HSBC. I do not believe that I owe you or HSBC for this account.

Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. §1692g, I hereby request validation of this debt. Please mail it to the address below.”
Be sure to tell them your name, address, and the account number if you have it. If you don’t know the account number, give them the last 4 digits of your social security number.

If you don’t trust yourself to do it, here is an example that I’ve written myself:

FDCPA Validation Request

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Who is Calling Me, part 3: Who is Admin Recovery LLC? – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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Admin Recovery LLC is a debt buyer based in Valhalla, New York.  They are a 4 on the 10 point scale of debt collector shadiness.  They may not give you their business address or send you anything in writing, even upon demand.  But they do exist and they do report their accounts to the major credit reporting agencies.  That was how I found them and verified their address.  They do have a website: www.adminrecovery.com.

Admin Recovery’s correspondence address is

Admin Recovery

45 Earhart Dr, Ste 102

Williamsville, NY 14221

 

If Admin Recovery is calling you, it may be about an old Rooms-to-Go furniture bill.  They may try to convince you to sign a reaffirmation agreement if you file bankruptcy, but I have never seen them provide proof of a valid security interest in any furniture.  I have sued Admin Recovery LLC.  If they are bothering you, give me a call.

Who is calling me, Part 2: Who is Hunter Warfield? – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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Hunter Warfield is a collection agency based in Tampa, Florida.  They are an 2 on the 10 point scale of debt collector shadiness – they have an actual website and don’t try to hide their business address.

The only time I have encountered them they were collecting on an old apartment lease.  Their business location is:

Hunter Warfield

4620 Woodland Corporate Blvd

Tampa, FL 33614

 

I have represented clients against Hunter Warfield before, though I cannot divulge the details due to client confidentiality concerns.  They are not a scam outfit and they seem to make a decent effort at verifying their account info.

Another Victory: Beat a $13,000 lawsuit by Midland Funding today. – Alabama Consumer Credit Attorney Judson E Crump

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Our continuing efforts to save the families of South Alabama from credit card debt have born another ripe fruit today. In Mobile County Circuit Court Case No. CV-13-901687, I appeared in court today to defend my client from a lawsuit demanding $12,967.43 + $260 Court Costs for an alleged Sears Mastercard account. The Plaintiff, Midland Funding, was represented by Holloway & Moxley of Montgomery, Alabama and they did an unexpectedly good job of proving their case. Midland sent in a witness from St. Cloud, Minnesota to testify as to the accuracy of Midland’s records.

After a 1 1/2 hour trial, we won a judgment for the defendant.

Here’s a copy of the order:

Beat Midland Funding at Trial

The South Alabama debt relief stimulus package continues…

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