How do I settle my original creditor collection lawsuit on my own?
How do I settle my original creditor collection lawsuit on my own?
If you’re dealing with an original creditor lawsuit, you may have made the decision to settle with them on your own.
You may be thinking, “How do I go about settling my case?”
Well, I can’t speak to your specific situation, since I don’t represent you, but I’ll give you some thoughts to keep in mind about how this is usually done.
First, you need to decide what you’re willing to pay.
You can either do a lump sum, or you can meet with/call the collection lawyer to work out a payment plan.
Generally speaking, a lump sum is much cheaper than doing a payment plan.
If you do a payment plan, you’ll usually pay the full amount of what you owe.
So you figure out what you can afford, call the collection lawyer, and start the process of settling.
Then, you need to get the agreement in writing.
It’s not that the collection lawyer would lie to you. (At least not the Alabama collection lawyers I deal with.)
But.
Miscommunication happens because we’re human.
Let’s say you owe $5,000, but you settle and pay $3,500 in a lump sum to mark the debt as paid.
The collection lawyer may misunderstand and think you’re just making a partial payment.
Don’t put yourself in a position where something like that can happen.
Put it in writing.
It doesn’t have to be a huge scroll with every itty bitty detail signed in blood, but you need to know how much both parties agreed to, how it’s going to be paid, and what they will do once the debt is paid.
Are you paying the full amount?
Are you paying with a cashier’s check, etc?
Is the case going to be dismissed without prejudice? I wouldn’t be interested in that because that means they can sue you again.
Will they dismiss the case with prejudice? That means the case is over.
What are they doing with your credit reports?
Will they fix them?
What are they doing about taxes?
These are all questions that should be answered in the agreement when you settle with the original creditor.
After you do the settlement agreement, you execute it.
This means that you pay them the money, and they hold up their end of the deal.
I will say this on credit reporting:
Usually, if they sue you on a debt and there’s no evidence that you don’t owe it, they won’t delete it from your credit report.
However, you can ask them to mark the debt as paid, or that it’s settled and they can write in how much was paid in the settlement.
Or you can say nothing about this as these are sophisticated companies and they know what they are supposed to do with your credit reporting.
Then go back and check your credit reports after a month or more.
If they haven’t fixed it, then you can dispute it through the credit bureaus to fix it.
If you have any questions, contact us.
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