How do I avoid a judgement being placed on me in Texas?

Question

A law firm that is a collections agency is trying to place a judgement on me. How do I avoid this and what are the steps involved? A friend who owns a collections agency stated that sometimes these firms falsely present information stating that they own the note. Where as they have only purchased it for pennies on the dollar or they may not have purchased it at all. They just have access to the info. What do I do?

Answer 1

Do you legitimately owe this? If so pay it, don't fight it.

If its false or fraud, then prove its false.

Answer 2

If its a very old debt just ignore it.  Completely ignore it, don't respond, don't explain, don't do anything at all.  Once you contact them they can go to court. Then the clock starts ticking again.

What your friend is referring to is the practice of reviving debt that has been written off.  They do this and then try to get you to pay them instead of the original debtor.

If its not a very old debt, like seven or so years old, then you do need to work out a payment plan with them.

Answer 3

Yes, collection agencies often bid and buy debts from businesses that have no luck on collecting payment (and of course businesses work with collection agencies as well). They do often buy them for pennies on the dollar, the original business writes it off on their taxes.

They (coll-agency) try to get payment, if they don't, they may sell that debt to another agency for even less... that is why people often see many negative notes on their credit report from numerous agencies over a single unpaid debt. So be careful, that 1 debt could turn into 3, 4, 5 negative comments on your report, causing 3,4,5, times the damage.

(source: myfico.com)

As for the judgement, yes they can sue you. Your best bet is to settle and make payments or pay it off in full.

correct, they only have access to the debt, no other info. But it is still a debt. still your responsibility to pay. you can still contact the original business to confirm the debt and get more info regarding the collections agency if you find something faulty about the bill they're sending you.

good luck!

Answer 4

The collecting SOL in Texas for both open and written is 4 years that starts from the last payment or charge on the account.

Government and state debts, child support, etc., have no collecting SOL. (so the rest of my answer is based on your debt "not" being one of those 'no SOL' type of debt)

You did not mention what type of debt it is, how long ago it was when you defaulted or if the collection agency had already filed suit or not.

If they filed suit while you were still within the collecting SOL, the SOL would stop running. If they filed suit past the collecting SOL then you would have an affirmative defense of SOL.

If you are past the collecting SOL, you are no longer legally liable for it (as long as they did not file before the SOL had passed).

Texas has their own version of the FTC's FDCPA which is called the Texas Finance Code (TFC). The TFC is much stronger than the FDCPA.

Under the TFC, if you request validation/verification, even if it is past the first 30 days from their first contact, they "must" cease all collections until it is provided.

Without knowing more, I can only suggest that you read the TFC and the FDCPA and go from there. (I have a link to the FDCPA in my profile on here and your friend could probably give you the site address to the TFC)

If you are past the collecting SOL and they had filed suit, include an Affirmative Defense of SOL in with your answer.

Answer 5

i dont understand.do you owe someone something.if so why dont you settle it.