Serving clients on the Eastside, in Seattle & throughout Western Washington
Member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (NACA) 
Credit Card Lawsuits, Debt Defense & Negotiation
I represent clients seeking successful resolution of many Consumer Debt issues, including:
- Credit Card collection actions: defending lawsuits & vacating default judgments
- Apartment lease collections
- Garnishment defense & settlement
- Prosecuting Civil consumer claims under the FDCPA and FCRA
- Prosecuting Collection Agency Act violations
- Prosecuting Consumer Protection Act violations
- Defense representation in Civil Claims & Lawsuits
It's almost counterintuitive how some creditors act. A consumer starts to fall behind on payments, and instead of trying to work with the consumer, the creditor declares a default - accelerating the debt and sending the interest rate charges through the roof. Perhaps the original creditor has charged off your account, and then sold or assigned the debt to a third party. In other cases, the original creditor may have assigned the debt to contract collections houses, but takes the debt back and then hires an attorney to sue you over that same debt.
Maybe you've just been served with a summons and complaint from a collections attorney, but it doesn't look like much more than a threat, since there isn't a case number on the paperwork.
What you may not know is that under Washington civil procedure, it's perfectly legal to serve a summons and complaint before actually filing the complaint. The creditor or debt collection attorney simply waits as little as 20 days after the date you were served, and then files the complaint - along with a motion and order for default judgment on the very same day.
Beware of the 'free' information found on the Internet. Consumer debtors often make critical mistakes by either ignoring the unfiled summons and complaint after being served or by sending the collector attorney a letter acknowledging that they are responsible for the debt or explaining why they can't pay the debt. They also make huge mistakes relying on information from the internet that is outdated, false or misleading.
Respond. Timely. Or suffer the unpleasant consequences. Once a default judgment has been entered, that judgment can be recorded as a lien against the debtor's personal or real property. In Wazshington, a judgment is good for ten years and is renewable for another ten. The debtor may not have any assets to collect against at the time the default judgment was obtained, but collections attorneys know that sooner or later, the debtor will have money...the debtor will have a new job...the debtor will try to obtain credit and will not be able to do so because of that judgment.
The truly shocking thing is that the interest rate keeps running on the debt after the original credit card default and after the default judgment has been obtained. In Washington, a judgment is valid for ten years and renewable for another ten - for a possible total of 20 years. Imagine what a $5,000 debt could look like in 20 years - at 30% interest.
I've seen cases where the original debt sued on was less than $5000.00. After five years of collections attempts, the debt was alleged as being over $12,000.00. In one case, a few years after the client ignored the lawsuit and default judgment, the debt had climbed well over $20,000.00, and the client had to pay this amount in order to sell his property. I couldn't do anything to help him at all becasue he chose to ignore the original summons and complaint, giving up every sigle defense to which he was entitled.
All of this could have been avoided by simply contacting and hiring an attorney within 20 days being served because the suit brought was for a debt that was time barred under the statute of limitations in the first place. In this case, the attorney could have gotten rid of the debt and the collections attorney at the same time for a very small fraction of what this individual ended up paying.
Debt collectors know that over 90% of collections suits filed will end up in default judgments in their favor because the consumer is frightened or simply fails to answer the unfiled summons and complaint.
Do not wait before you take action. The debt that the collections agency or collections attorney is alleging you owe may not be your debt at all. The debt may be past the statute of limitations and 100% uncollectable. The attorney or credit card issuer may not have any right to bring suit against you in the first place. The debt may have been bought by a third party who lacks a valid legal assignment and proper evidence to back up ownership of the claim. The so-called 'debt validation' you've been provided may been completely inadequate under the law.
Be extremely careful how you respond to any collections letter or a summons and complaint. Sending a letter to the collections attorney or debt collector may simply end up in that letter being used against you as supporting evidence in getting a default judgment.
To protect yourself, contact an attorney as soon as you get served in order to protect your rights. Think you know all of the dirty tricks in the debt collection business and can defend this on your own? Read this.
There may be several defenses and counterclaims available to eliminate, reduce or offset the alleged debt you owe. If you've already had a default judgment entered against you, it's still not to late to take action to protect yourself from wage or bank account garnishment - but you must act timely to preserve your rights.
Don't let debt collection agencies or collection attorneys take advantage of you.
If a collections lawsuit has already been filed against you, it's still not too late to prevent a default judgment and garnishment of your wages or bank account(s) - but you need to act quickly to protect yourself.
Don't wait to act once your debts have become unmanageable. The faster you take action to protect yourself, the more options I will have at my disposal to assist you.
Law Office of Fred Martens Phone: 206.300.2733 Fax: 425.643.6222 Email: fred@fjmlaw.net
Skype Subscribers: call 'fjmlaw' on your Skype phone
Mail Address: Law Office of Fred Martens P.O. Box 6416 Bellevue, WA 98008-6416
Office Address: Law Office of Fred Martens 14040 NE 8th St, Suite 211 Bellevue, WA 98007
