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Understand Debt Collection Attorneys to Eliminate Credit Card Debt

“No attorney has reviewed this claim.”  That is the language that is usually included in the first communication you receive for a debt collection law firm for a credit card debt.  It is there because attorneys are officers of the court.  An attempt to collect a credit card debt coming from them could be construed as a threat of legal action.  The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act specifically prohibits debt collectors from making threats including threats of legal action.  When attorneys acting as debt collectors contact consumer account holders, they are considered debt collectors first and attorneys second.  Hence they are subject to Fair Debt Collection Practices Act regulations AND fines.

What this language also tells you is that you are one of many to be receiving the same communication.  If the firm is a national firm, you are one of thousands.  If the firm is a local firm you are one of dozens at least.  While they are using their legal letterhead to scare you into submission, these initial communications are simply notices that require you to deny, dispute and request validation to eliminate credit card debt; the more detail you ask for the better. (See my Debt Validation letter in Chapter 6.) They are fishing expeditions probing for weakness and opportunity.

There are national, regional and local collection law firms.  These national attorney networks are a service to the credit card companies and junk debt buyers who by using a national firm that has one, do not have to seek out an attorney in a consumer’s local court district.

The good news is collection attorneys play the numbers game.  They are used to filing in court and getting default judgments where the consumer account holder does not answer the summons to the court action.  They get a percentage for processing the paper work and filing the judgment.  Should they encounter resistance in court, they’ll have to spend more time and make less money.  It means they will have to go back up the chain through the national network to the bank or junk debt buyer for original documents to support their case in court.  Whether they will actually get those documents, or move onto a weaker debtor, depends on how your respond to them.

You can find out how to cause collection attorneys to spend their time with other consumers in arrears with the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide.