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How to Answer a Debt Collection Lawsuit (2020 Update) - YouTube
Channel: Consumer Warrior
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have you been sued by one of your debt
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collectors have you recently received a
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summons and complaint related to a debt
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collection lawsuit you're probably
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asking yourself what do I do now well in
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this video I'm going to provide you with
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instruction on how to draft an answer to
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a debt collection lawsuit in three easy
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steps now I know when you receive the
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complaint in the summons the process
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server comes by your house or the
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constable or the sheriff depending on
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which jurisdiction you live in you
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immediately become panicked you don't
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know what to do you don't know how this
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is gonna play out and you don't know the
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next step as far as what you need to do
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well in most jurisdictions you're
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required to file a written response to
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the allegations contained within the
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complaint and the summons and in this
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video I'm going to provide you in three
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easy steps
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how to draft the answer and I'm gonna
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give you one specific thing that you
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should not do so let's go ahead and jump
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into how to draft an answer to a debt
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collection lawsuit in three easy steps
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okay so what you're looking at here on
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the screen is your run-of-the-mill
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generic complaint this is the document
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that initiates a lawsuit that the debt
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collector has filed against you you can
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see in this case that the plaintiff is
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Midland Funding LLC they're one of the
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largest debt buyers in the United States
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and they file hundreds of thousands of
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lawsuits throughout the country and so I
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thought we would use their complaint
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here as one of the templates now as you
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look at the complaint and in granted
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this is a very bare-bones one that this
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law firm uses that only has four
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specific allegations are in the
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paragraph so you can see the four
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numbered paragraphs there but I want to
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walk you through what's in the document
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because that will help you as you draft
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your own response to this as far as
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knowing who the different parties are
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and what the different parts of the
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complaint are now if we look in the
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upper left-hand corner of the complaint
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this is where you're going to find the
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information for the attorney that's
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representing the debt collector the
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creditor whoever the plaintiff is these
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are the attorneys that they have hired
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to represent them now this becomes a
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point of confusion for a lot of people
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because some people will believe that
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the attorneys are the ones who actually
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are claiming ownership of the debt and
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that they're the ones who are saying
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that they're entitled to payment
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typically that's not the case so for
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instance in this case Midland Funding we
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can see is the plaintiff in the case
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however they're represented by this law
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firm called BER scene associates this is
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a law firm that does collection lawsuits
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and they represent creditors down in
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Tucson Arizona so the reason why this is
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important is because one now you know
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who is representing the plaintiff and
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two you also know who you need to
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provide copies of anything that you file
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with the court need to be sent to that
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lawyer's office down below that you'll
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see we have the title of the court or
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the name of the court where the action
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is being heard so this particular case
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was in Maricopa County Justice Court in
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what we call our white white tank
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justice courts this will very obviously
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with the names and what's required most
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jurisdictions don't require addresses
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like this this is specific to Arizona's
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justice court system then in the caption
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itself we'll see we have the plaintiff
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here Midland Funding LLC their label is
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the plaintiff they're the ones who are
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alleging that they are owed money
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they're claiming that they own the
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account they're the ones that are suing
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you and they're doing it through their
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attorneys versing associates then below
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this you'll see you will have a
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defendant listed I've obviously blurred
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out the names on this one because this
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is an actual complaint that was filed
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with the court but this is where if
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you're being sued this is where you and
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maybe your spouse's name would be listed
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as the defendants in the action over on
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the right side of the caption we have
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the case number which is in this case
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it's handwritten by the clerk but you
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will need to include this case number on
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your answer when you draft it so that
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the clerk of the court knows which case
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to assign it to and then we see the
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title of the document in this case it's
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a complaint your document will be called
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an answer so you would write answer here
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so the first thing you need to do is
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just get to the caption right this is a
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step one if getting the caption right
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anything that you use in this lawsuit as
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far as documentation going forward you
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need to make sure you have this caption
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you need to have your name in the upper
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left hand corner so when you start to
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draft your answer you're gonna have
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something that looks like this and by
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the way I can tell you this in most
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jurisdictions they don't care if it's on
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this numbered pleading paper most
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jurisdictions aren't even to care if
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your handwriting it or type
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get out if you have a computer if you
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use the Microsoft Word they actually
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have a legal pleading template in there
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so you could use that that you can put
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something like this together pretty
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easily but in the upper left hand corner
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when you're drafting the answer it's
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your name your address your phone number
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if your jurisdiction requires that
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you're going to provide your email you
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have to put your information there
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essentially stating you're the party
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who's drafting this and so that the law
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firm that's representing the plaintiff
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they know where to send things back your
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way when they have documentation so it's
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important to give a good address because
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most courts operate through the mail
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once the initial service of the
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complaint and summons has taken place
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then you need to create which court it
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is have the parties make sure you
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include the case number and instead of
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complaint
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you're gonna write answer because that's
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what's gonna be called and in some
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jurisdictions the complaint is called
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the petition you could still call what
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you're filing an answer or a response
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but in most jurisdictions is called an
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answer the next thing you need to do
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step two is that you need to respond to
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specific allegations in the complaint so
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this is a very simple complaint it only
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has four numbered paragraphs and so if
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I'm responding to this I'm going to look
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at each of these numbered paragraphs and
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I'm gonna look at the allegations that
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are contained within them and I'm gonna
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state whether I admit or deny the
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allegations in the complaint and if we
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if there's part of the let's say like
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with paragraph number four here it
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states debt defendants are in default
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under the terms of the debt the present
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to mount owed under the terms of the
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debt afterall set-offs
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is four thousand nine hundred and eighty
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four dollars unless you know
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specifically how they calculated that
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amount or they provided you with
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evidence on how they calculated that
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amount you can honestly deny that that's
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the specific dollar amount dough because
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it hasn't been proven and you don't know
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you can even provide a third answer
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which is that you lack sufficient
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information at this point and so right
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now you're going to deny it so again the
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best three answers are admit deny or I
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don't know you're saying I lack
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sufficient information at this point
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so I'm going to deny it if any part of
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the paragraph
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responding to is not accurate you can
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deny it now it's important to realize
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when you're filing documents with the
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court you need to be accurate you need
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to be truthful in your responses to this
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so if they're alleging that you had an
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American Express account and you did and
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they provide you with this specific
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account number and it matches the one
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that you had you need to admit that
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however if there's something like this
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where they're providing you with just a
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number that you're not sure how they
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came up with that balance maybe it seems
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much higher than anything you can
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remember you can state that you deny it
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or that you lack sufficient information
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right now now it's important that you go
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through each individual numbered
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paragraph and state whether you admit
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deny or you lack sufficient information
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to be able to respond it at this point
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after you've done that that's all you
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really need to do then you need to sign
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it and then you need to third part the
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third step is you need to submit it to
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the court now you will file the original
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with the court however you're going to
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have to provide a copy to the law firm
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that's representing the deck the debt
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collector like in this case Midland
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Funding you need to mail them a copy
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most jurisdictions the court is not
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going to mail that for you I've seen
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clients who are representing themselves
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where they filed the answer at the court
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but they never mail a copy to the
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attorney's office who's representing the
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debt collector and then just the wires
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get crossed and it gets a little bit
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confusing for the court and for the
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parties so after you've drafted the
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answer after you got the caption done
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correctly after you've responded stating
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you either admit deny or you lack
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sufficient information to be able to
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admit so you deny each of the numbered
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paragraphs you sign it date it make two
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copies of it take the original to the
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court file it with the clerk of the
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court they're probably gonna charge you
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a filing fee so you want to call ahead
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see exactly how much that is and then
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you want to mail a copy of the time
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stamp copy that the clerk has given you
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to the opposing counsel to the attorneys
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representing the debt collector and then
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keep a copy for your records so those
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are really the three steps that you need
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to do draft a caption respond to the
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allegations and then file a copy with
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the court the answer is probably the
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simplest document that you're going to
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deal with and if you're
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yourself in a debt-collection lawsuit
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now I promised you I would tell you the
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number one thing you should not do in
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filing an answer with the court here it
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is I see this one happen all the time
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instead of just responding to the direct
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allegations in the number of paragraphs
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of the complaint I see many people will
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come in and try to explain their
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situation or explain why they fell
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behind on the on the underlying debt
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they may come in and say there was a
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they had a loss of a job or a medical
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issue or they may say that you know I've
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been trying to settle this for years
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with this particular creditor and they
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won't accept my settlement you don't
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need to put any of that in there right
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now frankly the court doesn't care about
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any of that right now was a court is
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wanting to know is do we have an actual
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dispute between the parties you know the
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plaintiff has put forth allegations they
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want to know defendant do you admit or
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deny those allegations that are
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contained within that complaint all that
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information may be relevant down the
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road but right now it can actually harm
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your case because essentially if you go
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in and you're admitting to something
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that maybe you didn't mean to admit to
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because you don't have the full
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information as far as what the
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underlying account is it could actually
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damage your case down the road so just
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really stick to admitting denying or if
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you don't know it's fine to say you
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don't know at this stage you can deal
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with that later but don't go into any
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kind of backstory it's not relevant not
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needed at this point it can actually
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harm your case so I hope you found that
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helpful on how to draft an answer to a
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debt collection lawsuit if you want to
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get some more information and tips
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subscribe to this YouTube channel I have
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over a hundred videos on how to deal
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with these types of cases particularly
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cases of dealing with junk debt buyers
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like Midland Funding portfolio recovery
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there's a lot of videos here subscribe
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and you'll get those right as they come
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out I appreciate you watching today
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