Before court, I searched reddit using google to find some info on what to expect. I came across a post that linked a NPR episode on this subject. (Transcript available here.) It talks about how "when credit card companies sell these IOUs to debt collection companies, they usually don't give them any documentation. Usually, they just give them a spreadsheet with a long list of people who owe money on their credit cards, and their addresses, and their last payment, and how much they owe, and not a lot more than that. So when these companies take you and me to court, what they're betting on is we won't show up."
My friend was taken to small claims court for credit card debt of ~$8,500. When the collection agency's lawyer brought her into the hallway to discuss the case before seeing the judge, she told him she wanted to see the original signed contracts and other evidence. The lawyer said that when you sign up for a credit card you don't sign a contract or something to that effect. So he asked if we wanted to fight it and she said yes.
At that point we had to pay an appearance fee and a date was set up to go to trial. Shortly before the trial date, she received a letter in the mail which contained a motion from the debt collector to dismiss the case without prejudice. Even though this means that they could file again in the future, we were happy and a little surprised that fighting it actually worked.
When my friend showed up to the motion hearing, which was a few hours before the scheduled trial, the judge granted it, told my friend, "You won.", and cancelled the trial.
Edit: Removed tl:dr.
Submitted January 18, 2017 at 01:39PM by WhiteCh0c0late http://ift.tt/2iJSkiV
