According to a recent study by the New Economy Project, debt collectors are flooding the country’s courts. In Rochester, N.Y., research shows that 89% of civil lawsuits in 2011 involved debt collection. This is extremely high. Not to mention the fact that nearly half of the debt cases ended in default judgment, meaning there was no defense put forward. As the study found, many people are finding out that a default judgment was entered against them months or years after the lawsuit was filed and they were supposed to be made aware.
Even worse, after examining 90 randomly chosen debt collection lawsuits, the New Economy Project found:
“In 9 out of 10 of those cases, an employee or debt buyer who had no connection to the original creditor testified to facts that only an original creditor could know, the report says. And in 4 out of 10 cases, the paperwork was filed out of order — the affidavit in support of a default judgment was completed before the defendant’s time to answer the lawsuit had expired, an easy-to-spot procedural error.”
For more information: https://redtape.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/05/18779096-courts-clogged-by-debt-cases-rubber-stamp-rulings-advocacy-group-says?lite
If a debt collection lawsuit has been filed against you, contact a debt settlement attorney who can defend your rights in court and negotiate the debt on your behalf. Same thing goes if you have discovered a default judgment that you were never made aware of. In some circumstances, a debt settlement attorney can get the default judgment vacated so that you can have your day in court. Do not let the banks and debt collectors take advantage of you or the legal system.