Credit Card Cases

- I defend people against credit card and debt purchaser lawsuits. I have successfully defended over 100 of these cases. I have never lost a credit card debt purchaser case.

- I have defended people around the state but my focus is on Central Texas. If your case is outside Central Texas, I can try to refer you to another qualified Texas attorney in your area.

- I take on alleged purchasers of credit card debt, like AIS Services, Arrow Financial Services, Asset Acceptance, LLC, Commonwealth Financial Systems, CACH, LLC, Credigy, Dodeka, LLC, Equable Ascent Financial, LLC, Harvest Credit Management, Hilco Receivables, LVNV Funding, LLC, Midland Funding, Pharia, LLC, Portfolio Recovery Associates, Samara Portfolio, Unifund and many others. The names are constantly changing, but it is usually the same players.

- The debt collection lawyers I have taken on include Michael J. Scott; Rausch Strum, Israel, Enerson & Hornick; Jody Jenkins, Dan Young, Jenkins, Wagnon & Young; Kris Balekian Hayes; Johnetta Lang; Fulton, Friedman & Gullace, Zwicker & Associates, and many others.

- My goal is to get these debt collector cases dismissed without my clients paying anything to these plaintiffs.

- I also defend people in credit card cases brought directly by original creditors, such as American Express, Bank of America, Discover, Capital One, Citibank, FIA Card Services, HSBC, State Farm Bank and Target National Bank. Some of these cases are easy, some of them are tough, but I take them just the same.

- Even if you recognize the underlying debt and think you owe it, that does not necessarily mean you owe it to the debt purchasers. I have yet to see a single alleged debt purchaser actually prove with admissible evidence that it was the rightful owner of the debt. If they can't prove they own it, the case should be dismissed.

- Sometimes we win these based on the statute of limitations. If the lawsuit was filed past the statute of limitations, this is a complete defense and is also the basis of a counterclaim for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

- Quite often, we win because the debt collectors can't prove their case. Very often, when the lawsuit is allegedly brought by a debt purchaser, they don't have the necessary admissible evidence to prove they are the rightful owner of the debt. Defendants can and should obtain a dismissal in those cases.

- Other times, we win because the client has a valid dispute over the amount of the debt or because the debt collector can't prove the amount of the debt or the terms of the credit card contract.

- Many people don't think they can fight back or don't think they can afford an attorney. But you can fight back and you probably can afford an attorney. If you are thinking of hiring me, I don't charge for the consultation.

- If warranted by the facts and law, defendants who hire an attorney can recover attorney fees and damages for the debt collector's violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), in addition to getting the lawsuit dismissed and not having to pay anything to the debt collector. Except in the smallest of cases, hiring a capable and experienced attorney is going to save you money and get you better results than trying to do it yourself or doing nothing.

Our Track Record

Here is a summary of the credit card cases I have handled to conclusion starting in 2008 through present. (Last updated July 28, 2011)

So far, the debt purchasers have never won a case against me. Not once. Not ever. That is not to say it could not happen, but it has not happened yet.

TRACK RECORD:

1. Dodeka, LLC v. S.P., Travis County, July 2008. Case dismissed after I filed for summary judgment.

2. Dodeka, LLC v. R.S., Travis County, September 2008. Case dismissed after I filed for summary judgment.

3. Dodeka, LLC v. E.W., Travis County, October 2008. Case dismissed after I filed for summary judgment.

4. L.G. v. Dodeka, LLC, Travis County, October 2008. After getting Dokeka's case dismissed against my clients in Denton County, I filed a FDCPA lawsuit against Dodeka and its lawyers in Travis County. Dodeka paid us $3,037 to settle. My clients received $1,500 of this and the rest went to my attorney's fees. The case against the lawyer is still pending.

5. Dodeka, LLC v. B.M., Williamson County, February 2009. Judgment for my client.

6. Unifund CCR Partners v. C.E., Travis County, April 2009. Unifund dismissed its claims and paid $2,000 to my client to reimburse her for my attorney's fees and for statutory damages.

7. Capital One v. F.T., Travis County, April 2009. Case voluntarily dismissed.

8. CACH, LLC v. M.A., Williamson County. My motion to vacate an arbitration award was granted and the case was dismissed with prejudice.

9. Unifund v. L.P., Williamson County, June 2009. Amount of claim: $28,693.71 plus attorney fees and interest. We settled for $500.

10. Pharia, LLC v. K.J., Bistro County, June 2009. Case dismissed after we filed for summary judgment.

11. CACH, LLC v. W.W., National Arbitration Forum, June 2009. Claim voluntarily dismissed after I filed a petition to stay arbitration.

12. Discover v. K.L., Harris County, July 2009. Case voluntarily dismissed after I filed for summary judgment.

13. CACH, LLC v. A.B., Travis County, August 2009. Case voluntarily dismissed.

14. Portfolio Recovery Associates v. P.S., Travis County, August 2009. Case and counter-claim mutually dismissed by agreement after I filed for summary judgment.

15. CACH, LLC v. P.K., Travis County, August 2009. This was a lawsuit to confirm an arbitration award of over $65,000, which was awarded against my client prior to my representation. After I was hired, I filed a plea to the jurisdiction and the case was dismissed.

16. Amex v. D.W., Travis County, September 2009. Amount of suit was over $200,000. Case was voluntarily dismissed after I defeated AMEX's motion for summary judgment and after the court ordered the parties to mediation.

17. Dodeka v. W.W., Lubbock County, September 2009. My client paid $500 to settle to avoid travel expenses.

18. Midland Funding v. E.O., Hays County, September 2009. Case voluntarily dismissed.

19. Midland Funding v. M.B., Parmer County, September 2009. Plaintiff dismissed the case and paid us $650 in attorney fees.

20. Pharia, LLC. v. R.M., Brazoria County, September 2009. My client paid $500 to settle. I filed a motion for summary judgment but the settlement saved my client my travel expenses.

21. Chase Bank v. L.B., National Arbitration Forum, October 2009. Claim voluntarily dismissed after I filed a petition to stay the arbitration.

22. Pharia, LLC v. L.F. November 2009, Dallas County. I filed a motion to dismiss. My client paid $500 to settle in order to save on paying for my travel expenses to Dallas.

23. Hilco Receivables, LLC v. E.W., Travis County, December 2009. Case voluntarily dismissed after I filed a motion for summary judgment.

24. Arrow Financial Services, LLC v. J.P., Travis County, December 2009. Case voluntarily dismissed after I filed a motion to dismiss.

25. Discover v. D.W, Williamson County, January 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

26. Asset Acceptance LLC v. N.B., Travis County 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed by plaintiff in open court during our motion for summary judgment, when it wasn't going so well for them.

27. CACH, LLC v. A.G., Travis County, January 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

28. Midland Funding, LLC. v. A.R., Travis County February 2010. Case settled by Midland Funding LLC paying my client $1,000.00 on a FDCPA counterclaim.

29. Capital One Bank v. J.D., Travis County, April 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

30. HSBC Bank v. K.W., Williamson County, April 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

31. CACH, LLC v. J.T., Travis County, May 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed in open court.

32. Discover v. R.P., Williamson County, May 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

33. Travis County case, confidential settlement, plaintiff paid us attorney fees and damages on FDCPA counterclaim, June 2010.

34. CACH v. C.Y., Williamson County, June 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

35. LVNV Funding, LLC v. D.C, Hays County, June 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

36. Pharia, LLC v. J.O., Hays County, June 2010. Court granted special exceptions and dismissal is pending if plaintiff cannot produce evidence.

37. Pharia v. D.C., Travis County, July 2010. Court granted plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed the case.

38. LVNV Funding, LLC. v. W.L., Travis County, July 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed.

39. CACH, LLC v. T.H., Williamson County, July 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed after we set our motion for summary judgment for a hearing.

40. Dodeka v. M.R., Williamson County, August 2010. Plea to the Jurisdiction granted, case dismissed by the court.

41. Equable Ascent Financial (Hilco) v. K.C., Travis County, August 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed after we set our motion for summary judgment for a hearing.

42. Dodeka v. M.D., Williamson County, August 2010. Case dismissed with prejudice in exchange for our dropping our sanctions award against Dodeka.

43. Arrow Financial Services, LLC v. J.M., September 2010. Case voluntarily dismissed after we filed our plea to the jurisdiction.

44. Confidential settlement., Bastrop County. We took over a pro se defendant's case. She had done an amazing job of defeating a motion for summary judgment, but was ordered to mediation. After taking over, we got it settled for a small amount, about the cost of the mediator's fee, which she would have had to pay regardless. These are usually the only times I recommend settlement in a debt purchaser case, when we can settle for what we were going to have to spend on case expenses anyhow.

45. HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A. v. C.C., Williamson County. Case voluntarily dismissed.

46. Pharia v. L.C., Travis County, October 2010. We got Pharia sanctioned for discovery abuse. They paid us $2,500 in attorney fees and dismissed the case with prejudice. All of the attorney fees paid to us by the client were returned to the client.

47. Capital One v. T.G., Travis County, October 2010. We filed a third party petition for violation of the FDCPA. All claims were mutually dismissed with prejudice by agreement.

48. Original creditor (credit card), confidential settlement, November 2010. Settled claim of over $75,000 for $20,000.

49. AMEX v. R.D., Travis County, November 2010. Settled for approximately 30%

50. Samara Portfolio Management, LLC v. N.Z, Harris County, November 2010. Client was defending himself pro se and about to lose a motion for summary judgment with deemed admissions. Notwithstanding these difficulties, we quickly got the case dismissed after taking over and are now pursuing a counterclaim for violation of the FDCPA.

51. Original creditor (credit card), December 2010. Confidential settlement.

52. Credit card debt purchaser (confidential settlement) Travis County, December 2010. Non-monetary settlement, parties exchanged mutual releases and dismissed with prejudice.

53. Harvest Credit Management, LLC v. K.R., Travis County, December 2010, voluntary dismissal.

54. Credit card debt purchaser (confidential settlement), Fayette County, January 2011. Settled claim of over $27,000 for $500.00, less than two cents on the dollar.

55. Credit card debt purchaser (confidential settlement), Hays County, January 2011. Settled for $150, less than two cents on the dollar.

56. Credit card debt purchaser (confidential settlement), Hays County, January 2011. Settled for $150, less than two cents on the dollar.

57. Credit card debt purchaser (confidential settlement), Hays County, January 2011. Settled for $500, less than five cents on the dollar.

58. Unifund Partners CCR v. E.A., Fayette County, January 2011. Plaintiff dismissed the after our motion to compel was granted, in which the court ordered plaintiff to produce all of its purchase agreements.

59. Pharia v. C.M, Travis County, Texas, January 2011. Court granted our plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed the case.

60. Credit card debt purchaser (confidential settlement), Bexar County, January 2011. Non-monentary settlement, parties exchanged mutual releases and dismissed with prejudice.

61. Midland Funding, LLC v. M.P., Williamson County, January 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

62. Midland Funding, LLC v. L.C., Williamson County, February 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

63. Bank of America v. V.F. Travis County, March 2011. Voluntary dismissal the day before trial. We were ready to go and are a bit disappointed we didn't get to beat up on them in court.

64. Citibank (South Dakota) N.A., v. C.K, Harris County, March 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

65. Midland Funding, LLC v. K.L., Harris County, March 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

66. CACH, LLC v. K.B., Travis County, March 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

67. Confidential settlement, debt purchaser case, Travis County, March 2011. Mutual release and dismissal. We released our FDCPA counterclaim in exchange for their release of the debt.

68. Confidential settlement, original creditor, credit card, Travis County, March 2011. Settled for 16% of total.

69. Target National Bank v. S.K.H., Williamson County, March 2011. Voluntary dismissal. Target actually sued my client twice, in two separate cases. Both were dismissed.

70. Midland Funding v. E.C., Travis County, April 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

71. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC Assignee of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. M.D., Williamson County, April 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

72. Confidential non-monetary settlement, debt purchaser case, Hays County, Texas, April 2011. Debt purchaser agreed to a mutual release of all claims after the court overruled their discovery objections and granted our motion to compel further discovery responses.

73. Capital One Bank (USA) N.A. v. R.M., Williamson County, April 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

74. ___ v. C.G, confidential non-monetary settlement, consisting of a dismissal of the claim in exchange for dismissal of our FDCPA claim, debt purchaser case, Travis County, April 2011.

75. Amex v. D.D, Travis County, April 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

76. Citibank (South Dakota), N.A. v. I.H., Williamson County, April 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

77. Hillcrest Bank v. V.F.I, LLC, Travis County, April 2011. Dismissed for want of prosectuion.

78. CACH, LLC v. D.A., Travis County, May 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

79. HSBC Bank Nevada, N.A. v. K.W., Williamson County, May 2011. Mutual agreed dismissal.

80. Capital One Bank (USA) v. J.R., Hays County, May 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

81. Midland Funding, LLC v. T.S., Williamson County, June 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

82. Precision Recovery Analytics, Inc. v. TS and ST, Williamson County, June 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

83. Equable Ascent Financial LLC assignee of Chase Bank USA, N.A. (WAMU) v. T.W., Lee County, June 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

84. Midland Funding, LLC v. R.R., Travis County, July 2011. Case voluntarily dismissed.

85. Midland Funding, LLC v. P.N., Travis County, August 2011. Case voluntarily dismissed.

86. CACH, LLC v. C.N., Travis County, August 2011. Case voluntarily dismissed.

87. American Express v. J.S., Travis County, August 2011. Case dismissed with prejudice and we received $1,750 in settlement of our FDCPA third party petition against the debt collector. Of this amount, $1,583 was paid to my client, which fully reimbursed her flat attorney fee of $1,250 and left her with an extra $333.00.

88. Palisades Collection, LLC v. K.L., Harris County, August 2011. Mutual dismissal with prejudice and mutual release. This was a non-monetary settlement in which our FDCPA counterclaims were released in exchange for the release of plaintiff's claims.

89. Discover v. W.F.N., Bastrop County, September 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

90. State Farm Bank v. R.M, Williamson County, October 2011. Case voluntarily dismissed.

91. Equable Ascent Financial LLC assignee of Chase Bank, USA, N.A. (WAMU) v. R.F., Travis County, October 2011. Voluntarily dismissed.

92. Midland Funding, LLC v. M.A., Travis County, October 2011. Court granted our plea to the jurisdiction and dismissed the case.

93. Crown Asset Management, LLC v. S.E.O., Travis County, October 2011. Mutual voluntary dismissal with prejudice, after the court granted our motion to transfer venue.

94. Debt purchaser v. J.S., Travis County, October 2011. Mutual voluntary dismissal and full release. This was a non-monetary settlement in which we released our FDCPA counterclaim in exchange for their release of their claims.

95. Asset Acceptance, LLC v. K.T.N, Travis County, October 2011. This case went to trial and the court dismissed it in my client's favor due to the plaintiff's lack of evidence. I argued the case as local counsel for an out of town attorney who prepared the case.

96. Portfolio Recovery Associates, LLC v. W.R., Williamson County, November 2011. Plaintiff voluntarily dismissed during trial right before judge was going to grant judgment against them for lack of any evidence on file.

97. FIA Card Services, N.A. v. V.K.F., Travis County, November 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

98. Midland Funding, LLC v. A.G., Travis County, November 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

99. AIS Services, LLC v. L.D., Anderson County, November 2011. Mutual dismissal and non-monetary settlement agreement. Plaintiff agreed to dismiss its claims and release the debt in exchange for our dismissal and release of FDCPA counterclaims.

100. Portfolio Recovery Associates LLC Assignee of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. v. CSC, Travis County, November 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

101. Equable Ascent Financial, LLC v. K.F., Travis County, December 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

102. Discover Bank v. M.A.F., Travis County, December 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

103. Capital One, N.A. v. C.A.M., Travis County, December 2011. Voluntary dismissal.

104. Capital One Bank, N.A. v. P.J.O., Williamson County, January 2012. Voluntary dismissal.

105. Midland Funding, LLC v. C.C., Williamson County, January 2012. Voluntary dismissal.

106. Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. v. S.D.M, Williamson County, February 2012. Voluntary dismissal.

107. Midland Funding, LLC v. E.A., Fayette County, February 2012. Voluntary dismissal.

Past results are no guarantee or prediction of the outcome of your case.

My view is that the debt purchasers do not deserve to win. They are speculators who are unwilling or unable to prove they own the debt, who use phony and false evidence and who have hired unscrupulous, dishonest, or unethical lawyers on many occassions.

If they cannot prove they own the debt - and so far they never have in any case I have seen - what is to stop someone else from suing you for the same debt, if we are to allow this to happen? If real evidence of ownership is not required, there is no limit to the number of times you could be sued by any number of different people who manage to get their hands on some credit card documents. No one should be allowed to come into court suing on a debt they can't prove that they own. That's the law, and it comes from the Constitution of the United States of America. It's a doctrine called "standing." If you can't prove you own the debt, you don't have standing and the court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case. If they own the debt, it should be easy for them to prove it. And yet they can't or won't. What does that tell you?

The credit card banks also often don't deserve to win. They trick people into low interest rate cards and then jack up the interest rate for reasons hidden in the fine print or for no reason at all, even on accounts that are current. They cheat, and they intentionally target people who they know are poor credit risks. By the time of the default, they have often earned back all of the principle plus a lot of interest. The debtor defaults because he or she can't even keep up with the minimum payment once the interest is jacked up to 30%, which is a sin. And then the credit card companies REFUSE to negotiate. I have seen this time and time again.

Ways to beat the credit card plaintiffs:

The Statute of Limitations

The statute of limitations is an affirmative defense to a lawsuit. If the defense is valid and is properly raised by the defendant, the defendant should be able to get the case dismissed. The statute of limitations on credit card debt in Texas is four years from the date of the consumer's breach of contract. Generally, this means that the lawsuit must be filed within four years from the date of your last payment.

It is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act for a debt collector to serve a consumer debtor with a lawsuit that was filed past the statute of limitations.

The Burden of Proof

The plaintiff has the burden of proof in every lawsuit. Credit card companies usually do not have much difficulty proving their case, but when they sell the debt to third party debt collection companies, the necessary business records don't always get transferred. Without that evidence, the third party debt collectors can't prove their case. Of course, the third party debt collectors have plenty of tricks to try to get around this problem, including sneaky requests for admission. We know their tricks and know how to find out if they have the necessary records. If they don't have the records, we will seek to have the case dismissed. This isn't just a technicality. If these debt purchasers can't prove they own the debt, then how do you or the court know they are the rightful owner? What is to stop you from being sued multiple times by different shady characters claiming to own the debt?

Fair Debt Collection Practices Counterclaims and Discovery Sanctions

Debt collectors often commit violations of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. These violations can give us grounds to file a counterclaim for $1,000 in statutory damages, plus any actual damages and attorney's fees. Violations include serving you with a lawsuit that was filed after the statute of limitations had expired, threatening to file a lawsuit that is past the statute of limitations, filing the lawsuit in a county where you do not live, threatening to take your Texas homestead, misrepresenting themselves as law enforcement, and other forms of harassment.

In other cases, the debt purchasers would rather violate a court order to produce documents and face monetary sanctions rather than produce their debt purchase documents. There is something in their documentation that they don't want anyone to see. They've definitely got something to hide. This is another avenue for getting these cases dismissed.

What I charge

Normally, my hourly rate is $200 per hour. But in these cases, I charge a FLAT FEE of $1,250. Most of these cases would probably cost more if done on an hourly basis. But with the flat fee, that is all my clients pay in attorney fees. This flat fee covers all of my time and services all the way through trial. It does not cover travel expenses for cases outside of Central Texas. It also does not cover court costs or litigation expenses, but those are very rare. So in the vast majority of these cases, the flat fee is all you will ever pay me.

I usually handle counterclaims for violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act on a contingency fee basis, meaning that you don't pay me anything for my work on the counterclaim unless we recover from the plaintiff.