Expert: Creditwrench - 7/27/2009

Question
I had a credit card in 2004. In 2007 I had defaulted on my payments and was sent to a collection agency (United Recovery Systems). In March of 2007 payment arrangements were set up with URS of $50 per month to pay off the credit card bill. I have made 24 payments through automatic withdrawal from my bank account. I set it up this way. In February of 2009 URS took out a payment, then in May of 2009 I was sent a letter from Weltman,Weinberg and Reis stating that their law firm had been retained to collect an outstanding balance due on this account. I had no idea that URS had stopped taking the payments out of my account since I had been getting the deductions taken out for two years, I automatically assumed that it had continued to come out. Anywyay, I contacted URS to find out why they stopped taking the $50 out of my account, they said to call WWR, I called WWR and they said that I had stopped making payments. I explained that I didn't stop the payments and they then said that Capital One (the Credit card Co.) must have done it. I called Capital One and they said that WWR was the only firm that had this information. So after several unsuccessful attempt to rectify the situation I sent a letter to WWR disputing the amount owed, and asking for all of the available information that they have in my file. I received no response either by mail or by phone. I called them to tell them that I hadn't received the information that I had requested. No-one was available for me to speak to so I left a detailed voice mail. Still no responses. Two days ago I received a certified letter in the mail stating that a complaint has been filed in court for the amount that WWR says that I owe. I am wondering how WWR can serve me with a complaint notice when I had sent a letter to them stating that I needed the information on my file and disputing the amount due within the 30 days alloted by their letter to me. In their letter to me they state that I have 30 days to dispute the amount and they will "obtain verification of the debt and mail me a copy", which they didn't do. This Complaint they filed against me is the only response I have received from them. The only thing that I was told in the original phone call to WWR is that the $50 per month I was paying was only on interest and not on the principal of the loan, which I did not know since URS did not tell me this. They told me that I would be paying off the credit card. Is there anything at all that I can do at this point???
I live in Ohio.. Thanks so much

Answer
The answer and the remedy to your problem is short and hopefully sweet. You sent a dispute and demand for validation to the lawyer who is now suing you and they didn't provide it and still filed the lawsuit. That is illegal continued collection activity under FDCPA. And I'm willing to bet that they have also violated in other ways too. The answer is respond to the summons and complaint and then file a federal case against them. You don't need a lawyer to do any of it. Here is a web page that will give you links to other web pages that tell you what you have to do to respond to the summons and complaint. http://docs.google.com/View?id=dfbnbmv_45gpq9bkdf
Don't let them stomp on your rights like that. Learn how to fight back and win.