Letter to New Visitors

As you look at this site, you will probably notice that I spend a lot of time trying to persuade people that they can defend themselves from debt collection law suits, that debt law is not all that difficult to understand, and that with some basic help you will have the big advantage in defending your lawsuit. Here is a recent letter I wrote trying to make that point: They Laughed When I Stood Up. I wrote it because I believe a lot of people are afraid that if they stand up and defend themselves someone (and maybe a lot of people) will laugh. Well, they might--at first. But I guarantee you they won't be laughing pretty soon. No one will. Because with the help from this site you will be able to defend yourself competently. Enough to make them take notice. Enough to cost them money. And, often, more than enough to make them go away and leave you alone or to win outright.

If you want a sense of what it feels like to do this - a picture of what I think a lot of people really do go through as they go to court and stand up for themselves (which is way out of most people's comfort zones), and they way you start with worry but end up feeling really powerful, take a look at this letter.

It may be that all you need to know is "just the facts." If that's the kind of person you are, then the message here should be enough. 

Just the Facts

These are the plain facts as far as I know them. 

No one really knows exactly how many debt lawsuits are filed each year. The numbers are not kept in any central location. My guess is that the number is close to a million cases filed per year. 

No one really knows exactly how many of these suits are won by default, or even how many actually get served on the defendants. And of those that do get served and defended, no one actually knows how many are won by defendants. The number that lawyers who defend many of these cases usually use is that between 80 and 90 percent of the cases that get served are won by the debt collectors by default. I would estimate from my own experience and observation that around 95 percent of the cases are disposed of without a defense --i.e., that defendants either default or settle on the day of court by agreeing to pay everything claimed in the lawsuit.

Of the lawsuits that are defended, no one really knows how many are won by the defendants or the debt collectors, or what the terms of any settlements actually are (nationally).

What I have observed is that:

Of the lawsuits that are served and defended by lawyers specializing in debt defense, the defendant almost always wins --the debt collector almost always dismisses the case and goes away without collecting anything. If you can afford it, and if there is a lawyer who specializes in debt defense around, this seems to be the best way to go in terms of just winning the case.

Of the lawsuits defended by lawyers who do not specialize in debt defense, the defendant almost always pays something to the debt collector, usually about the same as if the defendant had agreed to settle (give up) the first day of court. Better than default, in other words, but not much.

Of the lawsuits defended pro se by users of YourLegalLegUp, most result in dismissal without payment, and the rest result in settlement for what you might call a "token amount," - - on far better terms than is typically accomplished by lawyers who do not specialize in debt defense, in other words. As far as I know, every customer of YourLegalLegUp materials has saved a lot of money.

A Caution: Not every customer has told me the outcome of his or her case.

Why It Works This Way

I believe the reason it works this way is that debt collectors generally do not have the materials they need to win their lawsuit when they file suit against you. Because they win most of their cases without a fight, it wouldn't be worth the expense of getting them before they need them, and the people who sold them the debt do not want to be troubled by it any more. The original creditors actually resist giving the debt collectors the documents they would need to beat you and sometimes destroy the records or make the debt collector promise not to seek them. 

Lawyers who specialize in debt defense know that debt collectors do not have the materials they need to win and have to spend money to get them. These lawyers know how to expose the weaknesses of the debt collectors' cases and force the debt collectors to spend money trying to get the evidence they need and defending against counterclaims and motions. The debt collectors know these lawyers and what they can do and choose not to fight most of the time.

Lawyers who do not specialize in debt defense do not know what debt collectors have or need and find it expensive to try to defend the cases. They often tell their clients that it will cost more to defend than is in dispute in the case. And the debt collectors know these lawyers are not familiar with the debt collection business and take advantage of them.

Pro se defendants who get YourLegalLegUp materials know what the lawyers who specialize know, but they are inexperienced in the courtroom and have to get used to the way courts work. The lawyers for the debt collectors do not know what the pro se defendants know (at first) and (at first) do not expect or believe that the pro se defendants will continue to fight. As they do continue to fight, however, the pro se defendants become more experienced and comfortable in the courtroom, and the debt collectors become more aware of what the defendants know. They become willing to settle on much better terms because they can see that continuing to litigate will lose them money. As far as I can tell, the longer the pro se defendant is willing to keep fighting, the better the terms get, and often the debt collectors drop the case because they do not want to lose money.