Why do I need to pull my credit reports in my debt collection case?
Sometimes people look at us funny and wonder why we need for them to pull their credit reports after they have been sued.
If you plan to call my office, you should know that we always ask whether or not you have pulled your credit reports within the last few months.
If you say yes, then that’s great.
We’d like to see those when we talk to you.
If you haven’t, we will ask you to pull them.
If you go to AnnualCreditReport.com, you can print them for free.
You can even save them to PDF and email them to us.
You may be thinking, “What difference does this make? I was sued by Midland Funding — I don’t have any credit report errors.“
It actually makes quite a difference.
We want to see whether the company that is suing you is also reporting on you.
9 out of 10 times they are reporting on you. What if they sue you for $3,000 dollars, but your credit report says $10,000?
Sometimes after a repossession, they’ll say you owe a deficiency. This is where they say that you owe $10,000, they sell the car for $4,000, leaving you with having to pay the $6,000.
Your credit report may say that your owe $2,000.
Or that you don’t owe anything.
It may even be the original creditor says that you owe $4,000, but LVNV says you owe $14,000.
Those don’t really match up. This can be tremendously helpful in fighting the debt collection lawsuit.
Your credit reports also help us see your big picture
If you’ve been sued for $3,000 by Portfolio, and everything else is fine, that’s one situation.
What if you have $300,000 worth of old credit card debt? That would make a difference on whether you should file bankruptcy.
If you’re in the boat of owing $300,000 dollars, then bankruptcy may be appropriate.
We need to know the situation to help you decide the best plan of action.
We also need to know how old the debt is, and when the last supposed payment was made as this will impact any statute of limitations defense.
All of these variables affect your plan of action.
You have 5 options when you’re sued
We have plenty of articles that talk about your options when you’ve been sued. We are happy to help you think through those options and your credit reports help just like with a GPS — we need your “current location”….
For us to advise you, we need to know what your current location is
Just like with a GPS, we need to know your current location to help give you direction in moving on with your case. Your credit reports help us to know this so we can help you. Did we go through a rough time but now things are cleared up on our report?
Are we in the middle of a bunch of bad debt that we could still be sued on?
Everyone’s situation is unique and your credit report is not the “end all be all” but it does give us useful information to help give you good advice.
Feel free to contact us
Hope this answers some of your questions about why you should pull your credit reports.
There’s no downside to pulling your reports.
Instead there is plenty of upside as you need to have relevant useful information as you are making decisions on what to do after you have been sued.
You’re more than welcome to call us at 1-205-879-2447, or you can fill out a contact form and we will happily get in touch with you.
I look forward to talking with you!
Have a great day.