What is a Debt Buyer?
Debt buyers are companies who purchase charged off or written off debt from the original creditors. When they do this they only pay pennies on the dollar for the debt. Example: original debt was $1,000 they may only pay $10 for the debt or even less depending on how old the debt is.
Eventually these debt buyers will send out letter which they are required to do to allow the debtor to pay the debt or make arrangements.
Most people don’t respond to the the debt letter request and they know it. But you may not know that it allows them to place the information on your credit reports.
They will do that to put pressure on the debtor to call or pay up because it will hurt their credit scores.
The next steps a debt collector might take is to sue in court. They usually partner up with a local debt collection attorney to do it.
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW TO DEFEND AGAINST A DEBT COLLECTOR IN COURT
How to Defend against Debt Buyers – Debt Collector Lawsuits
Challenge all the paperwork in their claim.
- Check contract they are claiming that allows them to come after you because you’ve never signed a direct contract with them.
- Request all documents that the original creditor must maintain such as: balances, charges, interest rates charges and disclosures, signatures, etc.
- Review to make sure nothing that was transferred by the original creditor pertaining to your account was inaccurate, incomplete, etc.
- Request all documents pertaining to the purchase of the debt. You’ll want all the information from the entire portfolio. They cannot change any of the documents, they can redact certain parts. But they must show your complete name, complete account number and balances.
- Request how much they purchased the entire debt portfolio. They may not give it to you but this is an excellent way to make them decide if they want to move forward.
- Check to make sure none of the statutes of limitations pertaining to your debt has ran out.
- Request documents allowing them and any other persons or companies to view and have access to your personal data.
- Chain of Custody – are they the only debt collector or was this transferred, assigned, purchase, etc. by other collectors.
- Request proof the original creditor has not filed a 1099-c cancellation of debt to the IRS.
- Make sure the original creditor hasn’t filed for bankruptcy. Such as: sears or any other company that has closed down.
CLICK HERE TO SEE HOW TO DEFEND AGAINST A DEBT COLLECTOR IN COURT