“I’ve been sued by a collector — what is the ‘complaint’ I got served with?”
“I’ve received a complaint from a debt collector. What exactly is this?”
The “complaint” is the legal document (pleading) that starts the lawsuit against you.
It does several things:
- Once you are served with it, your time limit to answer starts running to answer the lawsuit (30 days in circuit court; 14 days in district court; 14 days in small claims court [this is for Alabama]);
- It tells you who is suing you — this is the “plaintiff” who started the lawsuit;
- You name is listed as the “defendant” being sued;
- The complaint should tell you the dollar amount you’re being sued for;
- It should tell you what the debt supposedly is;
- It gives the type of court, and the case number of the lawsuit; and
- In addition, it will tell you the law firm that has sued you.
It is very important that you do not ignore this.
Instead you need to pay careful attention to the complaint and take immediate action to understand your rights and options.
One of the best ways is to watch this video or read the transcript on your five options when sued by a debt buyer.
Then get with us to help you figure out your best option.
Most debt buyer cases we see have serious problems with them as the debt buyers struggle to be able to prove their allegations.
It is one of the dirty secrets of the debt buying industry.
The fact that they normally cannot or will not prove they own the debt.
So find out your options so you can turn a bad situation into a good one.
Contact Us.
You can call us at 1-205-879-2447 if you live in Alabama.
We represent consumers throughout the state of Alabama.
We will gladly help you figure out your est course of action.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day!
[…] initial part of the case is the complaint, then there’s the […]