In Illinois a plaintiff is required to attach a copy of the contract to a collection lawsuit. Usually debt collectors do not have the media necessary to meet the burden of proof in a credit card collection lawsuit. The collector may have the name, address, account number and amount of debt, but rarely does a collector have the original contract or the transaction slips or the payment records. I believe this information is necessary to win a trial, and in practice, I find collectors dismiss the lawsuit when challenged to present this information.
My colleague, consumer lawyer Pamela Stewart, laid out three rules for credit card use in her blog, Three Basic Rules For Credit Cards. The credit card industry is projected to mail out over 5 billion offers of credit in 2007. Unfortunately many people will not be able to live within these three rules. If you are sued, find an experienced credit card defense lawyer to help you with your case.
No related posts.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }
You must log in to post a comment.