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Expert: Creditwrench - 5/6/2008


Question
I have been served a summons for unpaid credit card debt, and I would like to know what I should be aware of and look for when looking for an attorney to handle my affairs? I may have other summons in the near future, considering that I have multiple debts, both credit card and hospital debts that I have not been able to pay on. So, I would imagine that I should be looking for an attorney that will be able to help me with settling all of my debts and not just the summons. Is that the correct way of thinking on that? If so, what kinds of questions should I be asking the attorneys? What terms should I be looking for when searching for attorneys?

Also, should I take care of filing with the county clerk's office, or should I wait and have the attorney handle that?

Thanks!

Answer
Look for an attorney who can intelligently discuss the Fair Debt collection Practices Act with you. If you start to ask him questions about that and whether or not the other attorney has violated any of your rights under FDCPA and he gives you that "deer in the headlights" look then you might want to go elsewhere. You will also want to know whether or not he practices in federal courts or has ever filed and won any FDCPA cases. If not you might want to look elsewhere. Ask if he knows how to defeat the plaintiff's case or not and if not you might want to look elsewhere.

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Creditwrench

Expertise

Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.

Experience

I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.

Education/Credentials
Paralegal courses for the most part.
I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.

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