You had better pay this debt you deadbeat! We’re gonna garnish your wages… We’ll press fraud charges against you for failing to pay this debt!

These are some of the more common threats that we see in the credit card cases lawsuits that we defend.  ALL of these threats are illegal. There is a federal law known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA for short) that makes these sorts of threats illegal. The FDCPA sets forth that these threats, and others just like them, are against the law AND it also gives you the right to sue the debt collector! Each threat or violation is a possible $1000 fine that you can recover from the collection agency AND you also can obtain your reasonable attorney fees in prosecuting the claim.

In that regard, our firm does not charge an up-front retainer when we take on FDCPA violation cases. We simply handle the case, we have the collection agency pay your claim, and we have them pay our fees as well. 

If a collection agency or debt collector makes any sort of threat to you that sounds illegal, or just plain wrong, then it probably is.  Contact our office for a free, no obligation review of your potential case.

Have you been sued by Attorney Apothaker and Associates?  Join the club.  I deal with Attorney Apothaker’s lawsuits on a daily basis, whether its filing a response or simply reviewing the lawsuit to give a potential client some advice.  For the most part, the lawsuits filed by this office are defective.  They are simple, cookie cutter forms that lack the proper information that is required by a Pennsylvania court to move forward.  Our typical response to these lawsuits is to file what are called “Preliminary Objections” which are, in a nutshell, an objection to the numerous legal defects contained in the lawsuit. 

Without fail, the courts will agree with us as to our allegation of defects in these lawsuits.  The courts generally will give Attorney Apothaker the opportunity to “cure” the defects in the lawsuit, but in my experience, his office generally has difficulty in curing the problems.  To be fair, it is not necessarily his office that has the problem, its the clients that he often represents.  These collection agencies, or junk debt buyers, simply do not have enough information to prevail against you in a court of law in most cases.

If you have been sued by Apothaker and Associates, you need to have a knowledgeable consumer attorney review the lawsuit, whether its my office or another consumer attorney.  Again, these lawsuits are generally defective, and there is a very strong possibility that they can be thrown out of court without you having to pay anything other than a small attorney fee.

The collection agency calls and says that you better pay up.  If you don’t pay, then we’ll garnish your wages.  Believe it or not, that can be a great phone call to receive if you live in Pennsylvania.

This is a common threat that is issued by the collecton agencies.  It works very well for them because nobody wants their wages to be garnished.  Unfortunately, it is also an illegal threat. 

Pennsylvania is one of the few states that do not allow creditors to  garnish wages.  There is no exception to that law, at least not when a collection agency or credit card company is involved.  Wage garnishment for credit card debt cannot occur in Pennsylvania, period. 

Regarding the threat, as I said above, it is illegal.  There is a federal law known as the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA for short) that protect consumers.  One of the main components of this law is that a debt collector cannot make a threat that it cannot follow through on, or it can’t make a threat that is illegal.  Since wage garnishment is not permissible, by law, in Pennsylvania, making such a threat is illegal. 

The FDCPA gives you the right to file a lawsuit against a debt collector that makes this sort of illegal threat.  There is a statutory $1000 damage penalty, along with an imposition of reasonable attorney fees.  In that regard, your attorney is free.

Call our office if you have been threatened with wage garnishment in Pennsylvania.

An individual sent me an email today asking whether they should still respond to a lawsuit filed by a collection agency.  The individual explained that they had reached an agreement with the collection agency on a payment plan.

My first response was to  tell the individual that they had made a huge mistake in agreeing to pay the collection agency anything.  Typically, as you will see from any of myother posts, a collection agency has a difficult time in proving a  case against you in a court of law in Pennsylvania. 

My second response was that if they are going to continue on with the proposed settlement, making their mistake even larger, then they should absolutely file a written response to the lawsuit.  An agreement with a collection agency is pretty meaningless unless you have it spelled out specifically inwriting.  I would never trust an oral agreement with a collection agency, ever.  If you fail to file your response to the lawsuit, the agency most likely will simply enter a default judgment against you for the full amount of the alleged debt, often with an inclusion of their attorney fees.  If you do “strike a deal” with a collection agency, (which again is a huge mistake) then at least get it in writing.

I get  many inquiries from potential clients who want me to assist them with debt negotiation.  I will only negotiate a debt under very limited circumstances. 

The first circumstance where I will negotiate a debt is when the Plaintiff (the company that is suing you) is an original creditor.  An original creditor is the finance company that you established your credit account with.  Capital One files alot of their own lawsuits in Pennsylvania, so most times  I am open to negotiation for a client on a Capital One case. 

Negotiation really works best when you have a lump sum of money to offer as a settlement.  For instance, if you owe an alleged $10,000 debt, if you can offer $5000 or $6000 as a lump sum, then you have a shot at obtaining a settlement.  On the other hand, if you can only afford to pay $100 per month, a negotiation is not going to get much of a reduction for you, if any.

I also would consider negotiating with a collection agency on a very small case, perhaps under $1,000.  While my steadfast rule is to never negotiate with collection agencies, there is a reason that I would negotiate on this small amount.  Quite frankly, its more cost effective for the client to pay me an hour’s worth of fees to negotiate a settlement on a small case rather than to hire me to defend it in court for several hours of time.  

On larger claims, let’s say $1000 and up, I would almost never negotiate with a collection agency in Pennsylvania.  Hire me to defend the lawsuit, or, hire another attorney if that’s your choosing, but it would be money well spent.  A knowledgeable consumer attorney can defeat a collecton agency about 85% of the time, perhaps better, so you really should take your chances in court.

If you have any questions about debt negotiation, credit card accounts, collection agencies, or any other consumer matter, please contact my office at 412-823-8003 or 1-888-536-6644 for a free,  no obligation consultation.

I get asked this question alot and the truth of the matter is Yes, a collection agency can buy a delinquent account from a credit card company.  An account, of any sort, is a “legal interest” in something.  Any legal interest can be sold at any time, for any price.

It’s actually a good thing when your account is sold to a junk debt buyer.  Generally, the only things that the debt buyer acquires are your name, phone number, account number and the amount that is alleged due and owing.  That’s it!  How can they prove a case against you in a Pennsylvania court of law when they don’t have the documentation to back it up?  Most times, they can’t (as long as you file the proper response to the lawsuit and have the right legal representation). 

In further discussing the purchase of an account, there is a burden on the collection agency to prove that they actually purchased your specific account.  This purchase is often called an assignment.  Without this proof, the collecton agency does not have standing to move forward with a lawsuit.  Standing is generally defined as the legal right to sue someone. 

These agencies often have difficulty in establishing standing in these matters because they purchase so many accounts at one time.  I have never seen a collection agency purchase an individual creditor’s account one at a time.  Instead, they purchase these account in bulk, by blocks of money.  For example, maybe they purchase $2,000,000 of delinquent accounts for $40,000.  There could be 10,000 accounts in that sale, and its not feasible for the collection agency to include that list in every lawsuit that it files.  Our argument, which has been successful, is that they cannot prove standing without providing that list. 

If you would like a free, no obligation consultation on a credit card or collection agency matter, please call my office at 412-823-8003 or 1-888-536-6644.

Atlantic Credit and Finance is one of the largest Junk Debt Buyers that operate in Pennsylvania.  A junk debt buyer is a company, often a collection agency, that purchases allegedly delinquent accounts from banks, credit card companies, and other institutions that extend credit.  They purchase these accounts in bulk, often for mere pennies on the dollar.  Our estimation is that they average around 3 cents per dollar on a purchase. 

Atlantic Credit, in my estimation, files about 50 or so lawsuits per week across PA.  Although they use other law firms, for the most part they use David Apothaker and Associates, a New Jersey law firm, to handle their PA collection matters.  In my experience, Attorney Apothaker’s office has been very cordial to deal with. 

Atlantic Credit typically makes oral or written attempts to collect on these cases before filing a lawsuit.  If you receive a phone call or letter from Atlantic Credit or their attorney, please contact my office right away for a free consultation.  I can explain the process to you and guide you along the way.  I would almost never recommend a negotiation on the claim at this point as it is definitely NOT in your best interests.

Eventually, a lawsuit will come.  Believe it or not, you actually want Atlantic to sue you.  The lawsuits generally are easily defended (though we don’t win every case, we do have an extremely high success rate) and will allow you to move forward with the restoration of your credit. 

Call our office at 412-823-8003 or 1-888-536-6644 for a free, no obligation consultation on your Atlantic Credit matter.

Midland Funding is a collection agency, otherwise known as a “junk debt buyer”.  For the most part, Midland Funding buys blocks of accounts that are allegedly delinquent (in default status) from major financial institutions.  Midland then tries to collect on these accounts and if collection fails, they file lawsuits on these accounts.  As noted elsewhere on this site, these lawsuits are generally very easy to defend for an experienced consumer attorney.

The sale of delinquent accounts by financial institutions to junk debt buyers is perfectly legal in Pennsylvania, in fact, it happens on a daily basis.  Midland Funding is one of many junk debt buyers who buy accounts in Pennsylvania, and they are actually one of the larger firms doing so. 

Midland is often represented (but not always) by the law firm Mann Bracken.  Mann Bracken has a presence across PA, with offices in the eastern part of the state and in the western part as well (in Pittsburgh).

Our firm has dealt with Midland Funding and Mann Bracken on dozens of lawsuits in the last year, so we are very familiar with their cases and strategies.  If you are being pursued by Midland Funding, please give our office a call at 412-823-8003 or 1-888-536-6644 for a free consultation.

The phone rings and its a debt collection agency on the phone.  They are demanding that you pay off your Chase credit account from 4 years ago.  What to do?  Honestly, the answer is often that you should do nothing other than encourage them to sue you. 

In this day and age, there are 2 types of collection agencies.  The first is the agency that is working directly for the original creditor.  This type of agency is, in my opinion, a little more credible than the other type of collection agency.  The other type of collection agency what is called a “junk debt buyer”.  (LVNV, Atlantic Credit, Midland Funding, Asset Acceptance and the like are junk debt buyers).  You should almost never pay this type of agency.  The reason is that they are very easily beaten in court, at least with our office representing you. 

The only time that I consider recommending that a client pay one of these agencies is where the claim amount doesnt warrant the hiring of an attorney.  For instance, if you are being pursued for $700, it may be more cost effective to negotiate with the Collection Agency at that point than to hire an attorney for several hundred dollars on a defense.

Can a collection agency garnish my wages?  In a word, NO!  Only under very limited circumstances does Pennsylvania law permit the garnishment of wages, and a debt owed to a collection agency is not one of them. 

Garnishment of wages is a seizure of wages while they are still in the control of the employer, and have not yet been paid out to the employee. An employee’s wages, salaries and commissions may be taken from an employer through appropriate legal procedures to satisfy five kinds of debts:

• judgments for child or spousal support
• PHEAA student loans
• room and board for four weeks or less
• back rent on a residential lease
• obligations relating to final divorce distribution

Your wages cannot be garnished for any other purpose, including debt owed to a credit card company/collection agency. Garnishment of wages can only be accomplished only by a court order directed to the employer and no such court order can be issued without fair notice to the debtor/wage earner. Other than the kinds of debt listed above, no other debt or legal obligation can give rise to wage attachment in Pennsylvania. Federal laws such as IRS garnishment procedures may be used to garnish wages of Pennsylvania residents, but only through the federal court system