I have a 4 year old credit card debt that will be going to court in one month.
I attended a pre-trial conference a few days ago with no compromise. I had previsously attempted to settle the debt for less than what I owed prior to the pre-trial conference, which only seemed to validate to the collectors that I did not dispute the debt (which I don't, I certainly owe the money, but the amount due is what is in question).
The plaintiff is Capital One, however, Capital One has assigned or sold my account to a collection agency and is no longer dealing with my past due account. My question is: can the law firm who is taking me to court, do so on behalf of Capital One, when my credit card account has already gone to collection?
I am in the process of validating my debt with the law firm (debt collectors) and was curious if they even had a case with Capital One listed as the plaintiff on the court summons.

Collection agencies will use law firms to obtain a judgment against you. You say that you're disputing the amount owed; have you factored in late fees, interest, penalties..

You have already validated the debt because you tried to make a settlement offer. Yes, they do have a case because Capital One is who you officially owe the debt to. The collection agency is doing just that: collecting. Capital One is still involved but they're letting someone else handle it.

Are you sure the statute of limitations hasn't run out on this debt? Many states are 4 years... this could make your case uncollectable whether you owe it.

Regardless, show up in court! Otherwise they get an automatic judgement. A lot of times the collection agency doesn't even bother showing up and sends a lawyer which is grounds for case dismissal. No plaintiff no case!

I went to trial last summer over a disputed amount debt and it was dismissed because the plaintiff didn't even show . They couldn't prove anything. Check my previous posts and you can see what happened!

Hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by atlmiss

Are you sure the statute of limitations hasn't run out on this debt? Many states are 4 years...this could make your case uncollectable whether or not you owe it.

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You're right in regards to the SOL; however, they wouldn't have a case if it was out of SOL. I turned an account over to collections and they told me that because it was out of SOL, they wouldn't touch it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by atlmiss

Regardless, show up in court! Otherwise they get an automatic judgement. Alot of times the collection agency doesn't even bother showing up and sends a lawyer which is grounds for case dismissal. No plaintiff no case!

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Absolutely; they do need to show up! And you're right about the plaintiff not showing up; they need to if they want to back their case. However, if the lawyer is representing the collection agency, then that is not grounds for dismissal.

So I guess the bottom line is, he needs to show.