Do you need an attorney to settle a credit card debt?

If you’re not sure whether you should settle your overdue account or file for bankruptcy, you’ll want to consult with a professional. A bankruptcy attorney can assess your financial situation and determine whether you’d benefit from a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, or debt negotiation.

How does a credit card company obtain a judgment?

In order to obtain a judgment, the credit card company must first file a lawsuit against you in a civil court. The creditor’s attorney will file a document called a complaint and deliver the complaint to you.

What happens if you owe$ 7, 000 on a credit card?

Suppose you owe $7,000 on a credit card you haven’t paid in several months. Your creditor has reported your delinquency to the credit bureaus, and your late payments now appear on your credit report and negatively impact your credit score. However, your creditor is willing to settle the debt and agrees to a lump-sum settlement of $5,000.

Why is incurring credit card debt not a criminal act?

Because incurring debt is not considered a criminal act. Of course, this is assuming that you just simply failed to pay your credit card debts for whatever reason.

Why are there so many credit card lawsuits?

Many people think debt buyers prefer to avoid lawsuits to collect old credit card debts because it requires them to pay lawyers and incur costs of litigation. If this were true, however, credit card lawsuits would be far less common than is the case. In fact, there were nearly 200,000 credit card collection lawsuits filed in New York in 2011 alone.

What’s the affirmative defense to a credit card lawsuit?

With an affirmative defense, you argue that even if everything the credit card company alleges against you is true, it should still lose the lawsuit. Here are some common affirmative defenses to credit card lawsuits: Statute of limitations—the debt is too old for a lawsuit.