Advantages a Pro Se Defendant Has Vs Represented Debt Collectors When You Are Sued for Debt Pt 3
In parts 1 and 2 of this set we discussed first your advantages as a pro se defendant in a debt collection case against a debt collector, and then their advantages.
In this part, we will put them together to form a sort of strategy.
Although victory is never guaranteed in the law under any circumstances, I repeat that you have an excellent chance of winning if you fight intelligently.
The debt collectors are not used to that and are unprepared for it.
A Brief Mention of the "Merits" of the Case In reading parts 1 and 2 of this series regarding your advantages against the debt collector and its advantages against you, you may have noticed that I made only a passing reference to the actual substantive facts of the case.
Let me repeat that.
Sometimes the debt collector can prove its case, no doubt, if put to the test, but many times it can't.
The debt collectors essentially never begin the case with the actual records they would need to win.
In many, perhaps most or even almost all, they couldn't get them if they tried.
The lawyer representing the debt collector probably doesn't know whether they could get the records any better than you do.
They are rarely put to the test.
I will discuss a few further things about the actual merits of the case below.
Neutralizing the Debt Collectors Advantages and Exploiting Your Strengths The trick in defending debt collections is to neutralize the debt collector's advantages and exploit your own strengths.
That means, to the extent possible, you must seek to take the case out of the ordinary run of the mill and require the collection attorney to spend individual time on your case.
You need to push very hard for the underlying documents theoretically supporting the debt collector's case.
If you can force them to fight enough over that issue, and if you can force them to hand over what they have, you'll be well on your way to victory.
And you will win either because by forcing them to devote so much time to the case you make it unprofitable for them (time is on your side) or because you can prove they do not have what they need to win.
Neutralizing Their Familiarity and Scale Advantages The more you push, the more you take away the collection attorney's advantages of familiarity and scale by forcing the lawyer to devote attention to your case specifically.
You can also neutralize the advantages of scale if you can leverage arguments and documents produced by other people who have opposed the debt collectors and won.
Then you don't have to spend the gigantic amounts of time to respond to the motion for summary judgment written and filed with so little effort by the debt collector.
My website is one such source of materials you could leverage, and my materials will point you to other sources.
Neutralizing Fear I have tried to show you that you have basically nothing to lose by defending yourself and almost everything to win.
But it is a fact.
Most debt defendants take fear into the courtroom with them.
You're never going to make the debt collector afraid, and they're never going to fear the outcome of the case in the way you do, but is there some way you can strike some sort of fear into their crocodilian hearts? Well, yes, in a way.
Debt collectors and their lawyers are highly leveraged operations.
They buy in scale, work in scale, and have a machine behind them that always needs "oil.
" Your money is their oil, and they want it as fast as they can get it.
Like dictators in the Middle East, they fear an uprising.
If you fight, you slow them down, adding to their costs and increasing the friction of their operations.
The more you fight, or the more you make them fight, the less efficient they become, and this puts pressure on their bottom lines.
If you went so far as to win, or to enlist other people they were suing in defending themselves, you might actually cause them fear.
They might settle just to get rid of you.
A Few Final Words According to the Federal Trade Commission, one large debt collector collector collected as much as 80% or more of its revenues from people who never owed anybody the money, and the news is full of information about "robo-signers" and meritless debt suits.
I believe it is a rare debt collection case where the debt collector isn't trying to collect at least something more than you ever owed, and there have been many cases where the debt collector sued for money on a debt it didn't own.
And as I have already said above, in most debt collection cases the collector does not have, and cannot get, the documents it needs to win if you fight intelligently.
Considering that you have such a good chance to win and so little to lose, doesn't it make sense to stand up and defend yourself?
In this part, we will put them together to form a sort of strategy.
Although victory is never guaranteed in the law under any circumstances, I repeat that you have an excellent chance of winning if you fight intelligently.
The debt collectors are not used to that and are unprepared for it.
A Brief Mention of the "Merits" of the Case In reading parts 1 and 2 of this series regarding your advantages against the debt collector and its advantages against you, you may have noticed that I made only a passing reference to the actual substantive facts of the case.
Let me repeat that.
Sometimes the debt collector can prove its case, no doubt, if put to the test, but many times it can't.
The debt collectors essentially never begin the case with the actual records they would need to win.
In many, perhaps most or even almost all, they couldn't get them if they tried.
The lawyer representing the debt collector probably doesn't know whether they could get the records any better than you do.
They are rarely put to the test.
I will discuss a few further things about the actual merits of the case below.
Neutralizing the Debt Collectors Advantages and Exploiting Your Strengths The trick in defending debt collections is to neutralize the debt collector's advantages and exploit your own strengths.
That means, to the extent possible, you must seek to take the case out of the ordinary run of the mill and require the collection attorney to spend individual time on your case.
You need to push very hard for the underlying documents theoretically supporting the debt collector's case.
If you can force them to fight enough over that issue, and if you can force them to hand over what they have, you'll be well on your way to victory.
And you will win either because by forcing them to devote so much time to the case you make it unprofitable for them (time is on your side) or because you can prove they do not have what they need to win.
Neutralizing Their Familiarity and Scale Advantages The more you push, the more you take away the collection attorney's advantages of familiarity and scale by forcing the lawyer to devote attention to your case specifically.
You can also neutralize the advantages of scale if you can leverage arguments and documents produced by other people who have opposed the debt collectors and won.
Then you don't have to spend the gigantic amounts of time to respond to the motion for summary judgment written and filed with so little effort by the debt collector.
My website is one such source of materials you could leverage, and my materials will point you to other sources.
Neutralizing Fear I have tried to show you that you have basically nothing to lose by defending yourself and almost everything to win.
But it is a fact.
Most debt defendants take fear into the courtroom with them.
You're never going to make the debt collector afraid, and they're never going to fear the outcome of the case in the way you do, but is there some way you can strike some sort of fear into their crocodilian hearts? Well, yes, in a way.
Debt collectors and their lawyers are highly leveraged operations.
They buy in scale, work in scale, and have a machine behind them that always needs "oil.
" Your money is their oil, and they want it as fast as they can get it.
Like dictators in the Middle East, they fear an uprising.
If you fight, you slow them down, adding to their costs and increasing the friction of their operations.
The more you fight, or the more you make them fight, the less efficient they become, and this puts pressure on their bottom lines.
If you went so far as to win, or to enlist other people they were suing in defending themselves, you might actually cause them fear.
They might settle just to get rid of you.
A Few Final Words According to the Federal Trade Commission, one large debt collector collector collected as much as 80% or more of its revenues from people who never owed anybody the money, and the news is full of information about "robo-signers" and meritless debt suits.
I believe it is a rare debt collection case where the debt collector isn't trying to collect at least something more than you ever owed, and there have been many cases where the debt collector sued for money on a debt it didn't own.
And as I have already said above, in most debt collection cases the collector does not have, and cannot get, the documents it needs to win if you fight intelligently.
Considering that you have such a good chance to win and so little to lose, doesn't it make sense to stand up and defend yourself?
Source...