Many consumers may not realize that ignoring their credit card bills can have much larger ramifications then simply bad credit. Recently in Massachusetts as well as many other states, credit card companies and other unsecured creditors have been fighting back, although in many cases unlawfully, by taking possession of their customers cars and trucks, selling them and applying the funds to the past debt on the credit card bills. The problem with this is that in many cases, these creditors are sidestepping the procedure and rules in order to satisfy a debt.

How did this happen to me? That’s the questions people have asked after the fact. Well, consumers do bear some of the responsibility. If and when you find yourself unable to pay your credit cards, you must be vigilant in checking your mail. A creditor may file a law suit and if you don’t answer it in a certain period of time (21 days in Massachusetts), the Creditor will get a default judgment against you. Once that happens you are already behind the eight ball.

If a creditor does get a judgment, they can not just come and take your car though. They must ask permission of a judge. The problem for consumers though is that if you are ignoring the complaint filed, you have not defended yourself against the debt. A debt that quite frankly you may or may not even own to the creditor who filed the law suite. What some sneaky creditors will even do is at the time they ask for the default, will ask for permission to take your car. Since you are not there to say anything in your defense, the judge may just grant the creditor’s request. However, even if this does happen to you, you may still have rights, and the creditor may have not followed all of the rules in your state.

The biggest defense that consumers have is that they can shift the burden from themselves to the creditor. What I mean by this is that the Creditor MUST prove that you actually owe them and not some previous creditor the debt. They must be able to demonstrate they have the original paperwork you signed in many case. This is called demonstrating they are a holder in due course. Many of these unscrupulous creditors will buy millions of dollars in debt in a bulk transaction. What this means is that they may not have actually reviewed their file to make sure your specific paperwork was in the batch. If they do not have it, you may be able to go into court and force them to give you your car back and may even be able to set aside the judgment. The Creditor, even if they own the debt, may have waited too long to get a judgment. In each state, there is a statute of limitations on how long a creditor has to obtain a debt. Finally, in each state as well as under various Federal laws such as the Federal Debt Collections Practices Act, there is a requirement to provide proper notice to you by mail, in some cases proof of delivery is required.

The most important thing to do if you find yourself owing a credit card or any other debt is to deal with it before the situation gets out of hand and a suite is filed. However, if a suite is filed, you should seek out the advice of a lawyer in your state who handles consumer debt matters.

Author Bio: The foregoing article on consumer rights was drafted by Attorney Michael Goldstein of the Law Office of Goldstein and Clegg

Category: Legal
Keywords: consumer debt, credit card debt, FDCPA, law, consumer rights