Q&A: How to Resolve Your Debt Lawsuit (May 24, 2023)

George Simons | June 22, 2023

Edited by Hannah Locklear

The following is a transcript for one of our webinars. In it, SoloSuit's founder George Simons responds to live questions from consumers.

Disclaimer: this post is not legal advice. George is not a lawyer.

Transcript begins here

All right, folks, looks like we are live. Just going to make sure my audio and video are working okay.

I'm one of the founders of SoloSuit. Happy to be here today. Looking forward to helping you guys out. We're going to go over just some of the basics on how to win and resolve your debt lawsuit. Then we're going to reserve most of the time for questions and answers.

Just a little disclaimer: I'm not an attorney. Not your attorney. So this is not a law firm providing legal advice. This isn't legal advice. This doesn't replace the advice of an attorney, et cetera. There is no attorney client relationship formed in this webinar. So those are some things. Generally, we're just providing legal information. And if I'm speaking to some of the lawsuits or questions that you bring up, just helping provide information for hypothetical, right? So I'm not applying law to the facts of your case, and your case is a bit more nuanced than we could cover in this webinar.

Okay, so that disclaimer is out of the way. Let's see. Looks like audio and visual is all good. Okay, let's go over some of the basics here.

How to resolve a debt lawsuit

So how to resolve a debt lawsuit. First, we have some good news, which is that SoloSuit helps people win about 70% of the time in their debt lawsuits. Without SoloSuit, people only win maybe up to like 10% of the time in these debt lawsuits, usually about 90% of the time, they lose automatically by default. 10% of the time, they might figure out how to respond. They might like, hire an attorney to help them respond, and then they might lose still. But 90% of the time, people lose by default judgment without SoloSuit.

With SoloSuit, we help people win about 70% of the time. So we increase the win rate by 7% by 7x or 700%.

And what that means is you might get a settlement, you might get the case dismissed, or the case might be ongoing, giving you time to make your next move or file for bankruptcy. So that's what we mean by win. Those three things we count as a win.

So, as you're finding out, debt sharks use the legal system to exploit people. We take the real life example of Raquel here. She got sued for $1,000 in debt. She wants to respond, so she talks to an attorney, but she finds out the attorney costs like $3,000 just to get started. Then she tries to go into a pro bono clinic, but the free legal clinic only meets on the third Thursday of the third month of the year. She doesn't have time to wait for that.

So then she tries doing it herself. She tries a DIY solution. She finds out how to get her the Answer, but then she finds out she needs the mailing address for the court. She needs to know the filing fee. She needs a printer. She needs snail mail. She needs to go down to USPS and mail the document. And then she misses her 21 day deadline. And then practically overnight, that $1,000 debt balloons into $3,600 judgment. So that's what happens without SoloSuit.

And we want to help you avoid this whole big problem. We make it really easy to file an Answer so you can use us to resolve your debt lawsuit. You can use our Answer service to file an Answer document if you've been sued for a debt with a Complaint, Summons, or Petition and citation.

If you're in a credit card debt lawsuit, you can use our Motion to Compel Arbitration, which hopefully forces the lawsuit out of court.

And then, if you want to settle, if you actually feel like you owe some of the debt, not everybody does. A lot of people, a lot of our customers don't owe any of the debt at all, and the collector is suing the wrong person. But if you feel like you owe some of the debt, and oftentimes the best option, the best resolution, is to settle the debt for less.

So if you owe $10,000, you can settle the lawsuit for 5000 and then you save $5,000. That's a big win. We can help you with that as well. All right, so those are some of the basics. So I'm going to now get into the chat. We also have wonderful Hannah on Team SoloSuit responding to some people in the chat by text.

So between the two of us, hopefully we'll get your question covered. All right, we're going to go until 5:30pm Mountain Time today. All right? So let's jump in. All right.

Q&A session starts here

How does filing a Motion to Compel Arbitration work?

Viewer Question: I filed for a Motion to Arbitrate. When will I hear something back from the lawyer representing Citibank?

George: So sounds like you filed a Motion to Compel Arbitration. You probably used the SoloSuit document, so that's a good move. That sounds like you generated the document and then you filed it on your own in the court. You also want to make sure that you sent the copy of it to the attorney.

So you make two copies and send one to the court, one to the attorney. Once that's filed, a few things can happen. One, the lawyer, the plaintiff might just dismiss the case. They might say, “Crap, we don't want to arbitrate, we don't want to pay all this money. It's going to be like thousands of dollars while the debt's only a few hundred bucks. Let's just pull this out of court.”

So they might file a Motion to Dismiss their own case. That's what people usually hope to see happen. If they don't do that, they might file a motion opposed to the motion to compel arbitration. So they might file their own motion telling the judge that this case shouldn't go to arbitration because of these reasons. That doesn't happen that often, but sometimes it does happen.

If they do that, then you'll want to respond. There might be a hearing. You have to show up to the hearing. You have to explain your rationale for why this case should go to arbitration. You'll bring up the arbitration clause in the contract, you'll say, this applies.

Another thing that could happen is that the arbitration could actually be granted. The plaintiff won't dismiss the case, and then the judge does stuff to make the case go to arbitration. Usually how that looks is, like, they'll say, okay, this case is going to arbitration. Here's a list of arbiters you have to choose from, or something along those lines where you have to contact JAMS, or the plaintiff has to pay for arbitration, et cetera. And then the arbitration process actually has to move forward.

And sometimes collectors stick it out and move the arbitration process forward, especially if the debt is sizable, like over $5,000 or something along those lines. So those are some things that might happen, usually how long it takes. We usually say nothing's going to happen, probably for at least 30 days. It's going to be at least that long.

Most cases, generally speaking, wrap up between, on average, four to six months. But the range is really broad. Sometimes things take years. Just depends. You can check out the rules of civil procedure for your state, depending on what state you're in. You can search on SoloSuit, your state, and like, rules of civil procedure, or even do a Google search, find the rules of civil procedure and then look into that.

And that might have a deadline for how long a person has to respond to a motion. It's probably going to be around 30 days, but there might not be one. It might be longer. So those are some comments on that.It’s probably going to take 30 days or more for them to respond. If it's past the deadline, you can certainly bring that up with the court and say, these people haven't responded. Some emotion should be granted. All right.

When is the best time to discuss debt settlement?

Viewer Question: If the court requests for the estimated amount of time needed for trial hearing, can someone try to send an offer letter for settlement reply by guessing, like saving three or six months if he had no idea?

George: All right, not sure I followed you fully there, Ross. If the court requests the estimated amount of time needed for the hearing, can someone offer a settlement letter? Ross maybe you could clarify that a little bit, but it sounds like maybe generally your question is like, if you filed an Answer and there's going to be a hearing scheduled, can someone try to settle by sending a letter to settle? Yes, they totally can.

You can settle pretty much any time. As far as, like, the time frame for a hearing, you usually want to schedule the hearing out. If you feel like you owe a portion of the debt, you want the hearing to go out as far as you can so you can amass money to make a settlement offer before the hearing.

If you don't owe the debt, then you might want the hearing to be as soon as you can because then you can make a case and say you don't owe the debt and you can get the lawsuit wrapped up.

But the general idea is that, let's see, what a lot of people do… So you have the Answer and then you can settle. So if you file an Answer document and the case is like, ongoing, you can make an offer to settle. The court case can also be like, proceeding along this time frame, and you can settle at any point in time.

What is the best way to settle a debt?

Viewer Question: What is the best way to try to settle?

George: Okay, so kind of like getting back to this, right? So a lot of people will follow this format. So Answer first and then they have a hearing. They have a hearing that's like coming up, and then since they don't want to go to the hearing, they're going to try to settle before that. That's a common thing, right? The plaintiff doesn't want to go to court either because it's expensive. So they're also pretty interested in settling oftentimes.

So see what is the best way to try to settle. The best way to try to settle is a little thing called SoloSettle. I am naturally a bit biased because SoloSettle is a product of SoloSuit, but it is a great way to settle. It's free to get started. You can make an offer. You can do it all online. Unlike a lot of settlement companies or law firms, we don't care how much money you have in debt, like how many accounts you're enrolling or anything like that.

You can just go to SoloSuit.com/solosettle. Or you can just go to SoloSuit.com and click the settle lawsuit button and then you fill out a few questions. We'll send your offer nice and packaged up to the collector. Then the collector can respond, they can counter offer, they can accept, and you can move things along.

So with SoloSettle, a few things are important. We protect your rights. We make sure your rights are asserted appropriately in the emails and in the correspondence with the collector. We also protect your financial information, right. So you don't pay the collector directly. So we're protecting your financial information from the collector so that they can't overcharge your account or something like that, or charge it late on the wrong day, like right at the end of the month. So they get a default. Then they can get more money from you. Don't let them do stuff like that.

And then also on the phone, most collectors are set up to receive settlement offers by the phone. However, we've had at least one collector openly, like, tell us the reason that collectors like to negotiate on the phone is so that they can lie and bully consumers because there's less of a record on the phone than there is on email. That's just one collector, right? I'm sure not all collectors are bad actors by any means, and even some people tell us that some collectors are maintaining the highest level of ethics, as they oftentimes will say on the website, and I believe it. Some of them are good actors. But on the phone, it's just a real time negotiation.

It's hard to compete with a professional negotiator that's doing these phone calls all day long so you can make it asynchronous through email or like, sending a paper letter or by using Solaceto. All right, so those are some thoughts there.

Watch the following video to learn more about how to settle a debt:

Does SoloSuit file my Answer for me?

Viewer Question: I am about to submit the SoloSuit Answer form at the court assigned tomorrow.

George: Nice work. Glad to hear it. Sounds like you're doing our free service. Sounds like you made an Answer document on our site for free. Sounds like you're bringing it down to the court yourself. If you want us to file for you, you can do the standard option where we calculate the filing information, including the filing fee, mailing address for the court, make sure it gets to the right court, all that stuff. So something you can do if you want the standard option. But a lot of people use the free service and certainly get victories from the free service, as well.

How do you respond to a debt lawsuit in California?

Viewer Question: I received the summons, trying to do the Answer. This is a lawsuit in California. Citibank is the one suing me.

George: Okay. Yeah. California is our most popular state. We certainly work in California. Sometimes people wonder if we, like, operate in all states. We definitely operate in California, without a doubt. All right, draw a little thumbs up right there. That's my thumbs up. So we are good to go in California.

Check out our guide on How to Answer a Summons for Debt Collection in California.

Is arbitration a better option than debt settlement?

Viewer Question: I was recently served with a Summons from Discover, and the court date is in three weeks. Is filing a Motion to Compel Arbitration better than attempting to call them for a settlement offer?

George: So how often things go right… So, you get the Complaint and then, so it's from Discover. Great. We help people respond to Discover all the time, and then what people do next is they file the Answer.

So the Complaint is from the collector, the Answer is done by you. So it's totally a crucial step to file an Answer to set your rights and make sure they don't get a default judgment. It gives you the leverage necessary to settle, and then it's kind of up to you.

We're a self-help service. It's up to you to make your own choices. Ultimately, you can then settle. You can make an offer to settle with SoloSettle, or you can do our Motion to Compel Arbitration. We usually call it an MCA internally, and then you can make an offer to sell. Kind of up to you.

For me, if I had a credit card debt lawsuit, I would definitely do an Answer. And then if it's a Discover card, which I think has an arbitration clause in their credit card agreements, I don't remember exactly offhand, you can look it up on the CFPB database of credit card agreements. I would check that. And if there was an arbitration clause, personally, I'd probably file a Motion to Compel Arbitration. And then right after doing that, I would send an offer on SoloSettle. In my mind, the Motion to Compel Arbitration gives you more leverage to settle.

We've talked with collectors who, like the big collection agencies, actually some of the biggest in the US, we've talked to collectors in there. And they're like solo settlement. Solo suit makes it so hard, it's hurting our margins, our collection profits, et cetera, because those people file an Answer and all that.

So some collectors have told me they don't like the Motion to Compel Arbitration because it makes their job harder. I'm not exactly sure if that's a bad thing or a good thing, but in my mind, if I were to do the Motion to Compel Arbitration, because it's like throwing a wrench in their machine. And in my mind, it would give me more leverage to settle the debt, and that's what it's there for. It's especially there to get the case dismissed. But for me, I think it gives you more leverage to settle.

Watch a SoloSuit customer beat Discover in court:

How do you respond to a debt lawsuit in Louisiana?

Viewer Question: My lawsuit is in Louisiana. How do I respond?

George: All right, I'm just going to input Louisiana up there. Just so you know, we are good to go in Louisiana. We got another little thumbs up. Me and Hannah sometimes have, we sometimes have draw battles in the company. I usually lose to Hannah. This is why I'm not very good at drawing thumbs up.

But Louisiana is a good state. It's a little weird to have filing fees. Definitely recommend our standard, our premium service in Louisiana, just because the filing fees are super difficult to calculate.

We have a database of over 3000 courts that we keep track of to calculate the filing fees for these courts. Louisiana oftentimes charges by the page, depending on what court they have, like different rates per page. It might be like $10 per page. You have to pay this to the court, and we calculate that for you and make sure it's good to go. I suppose by the page is better than by the pound or something. They make you weigh the paper on a scale. Yeah, we help out in Louisiana.

Okay, let's see. All right, we got a lot of questions, just a little bit of time left, so I'm going to try to speed things up here.

How do I respond to interrogatories?

Viewer Question: Thank you guys for helping me to Answer the Summons. After that, I received documents from the plaintiff. Now they're asking for special interrogatories. What is supposed to be my next step?

George: All right, that happens sometimes. The case continues. Interrogatories is part of the discovery process. You got to respond to the interrogatories. But basically, like, making interrogatories means interrogation. So you have to write up your response interrogatories.

You also have to make a response to a Request for Admissions. Usually, unfortunately, we don't help with those documents at this point in time. Usually we direct most people to settle because that’s what most people are doing. So you can make an offer to settle with SoloSettle.

You can also file a Motion to Compel Arbitration if there's an arbitration clause, or you can just figure out how to respond to the documents and file your response in court. It's definitely crucial to file a response.

If you want to continue on the case, you can check out our blog. Our blog has more info on how to do that on your own.

I'm just going to make a note here that we discussed discovery as, like, the general term for interrogatories and a Request for Admissions and stuff.

How can I translate court documents?

Viewer Question: Is there a way to translate and understand the meaning of the Answer files that we file online and generated by the service? I have the document, but I have no clue what it means.

George: So you want to translate the answer document from legalese into plain English? I think you could just try doing, like, a Google search on the language and the Answer document. You can try getting, like, a premium package if you want to make sure an attorney signs off on it and says that it's good to go. Generally speaking, we've filed this Answer.

Over 100,000 people have used this Answer document to respond to over $700 million in debt lawsuits. So we're pretty confident that the Answer is going to be good. Beyond that, I'm not sure. I think you could just try googling the individual phrases or the individual words. I don't think there's an easier way than that to make sure you understand the ball.

What is a stipulation for scheduling without counsel?

Viewer Question: What is stipulation for scheduling without counsel by me? I believe I am judgment proof.

George: Sounds like you're trying to state, like, the name of a legal document here. Stipulation for scheduling without counsel. Not exactly sure what that would mean. Offhand, I'd need to probably see the full title of the document, but usually legal documents are phrased in really specific terms about exactly what they're asking for. Right.

So, like, a stipulation would be kind of a request to schedule without legal counsel. So they probably want to schedule a hearing with you personally, even though you don't because you don't have a legal counsel, you don't have a lawyer with you. I guess that's what it would mean.

Judgment proof is a term that we use pretty sparingly. So in our take, very few people are judgment proof. Maybe you are. You often make your own decision here on that. But judgment proof means that you don't have any assets or income right now, and you never will again at any point in time in the future. So if you plan to never have any money or assets at any point in time in the future and you don't have it now, then that'd be pretty judgment proof.

Otherwise, if you don't respond to the lawsuit, they get a default judgment. Usually judgments are infinitely renewable in a state, right? So the judgment doesn't expire for ten years, and after it does expire, they can usually renew it for another ten years indefinitely. So that at any point in time in the future, if you make money, they can smell that this person's making money, then they can try to garnish your wages at that point. Done.

So it's really important to file an Answer, respond, try to avoid the default judgment, try to avoid the judgment generally. But if you aren't ever going to make money again in the future, then certainly you could be judgment proof.

Does SoloSuit really work?

Viewer Question: I used SoloSuit to file a motion for arbitration and the lawyer responded by saying that SoloSuit is used to getting people out of lawsuits.

George: Maybe a little bit more info there. Okay, so scrolling down here on Jamil said that SoloSuit isn't credible and use reviews from your site. We're helping people out, trying to do our best to help people out. I think some lawyers, especially debt collection lawyers, don't like SoloSuit for obvious reasons, usually because we are protecting money from them. They're used to just running, like, rampant in courts and winning and collecting money from defenseless people. We, however, are defending consumers.

So therefore, collection lawyers and plaintiffs lawyers will do what they can to try to get rid of us. But we're here to stay. And again, 7% win rate. Most people are using SoloSuit are winning. So I just stick to your guns and then the Motion to Compel Arbitration and push through, like, legal terms.

There's no reason that SoloSuit’s reputation would even be a factor in a court of law. It's about the motion. It's not about who drafted the motion. So those are some arguments that you can bring up. I'd be curious to know, did the motion pass? Did the judge agree or not? Let us know.

How does debt settlement affect my credit score?

Viewer Question: If I settle in California, will my credit score stay bad for seven years?

George: Yeah, usually events stay on credit reports for around seven years, like five to seven years. A settled debt is supposed to be reported on your credit report. It's not always reported properly or reported at all, but it's supposed to be reported, and it will be, like a negative thing on your credit report.

However, delinquent debt is also reported on the credit report, and settled debt is usually perceived better than overly delinquent and not paid. As a matter of bank, would I rather loan money to the person who has a $1,000 debt that's old and has never been paid? Or do I rather give money to the person who has, like, $1,000 debt that was settled? I'd rather give it to the person who at least attempted to settle the lawsuit.

What are affirmative defenses?

Viewer Question: What does this mean? “Plaintiff's claims are barred in whole or in part due by the doctrine of laches, equitable estoppel and unclean hands.

George: Great question. Basically, those are like some affirmative defenses that people just bring up that attorneys kind of make as a blanket statement. So laches, for example, is a legal term, means unreasonable delay in making an assertion or claim, such as asserting a right claim of privilege or making an application for just basically, it's just saying that your affirmative defense is that the plaintiff took too long to bring this case, should have brought this up earlier. Just a general statement like that.

Equitable estoppel. Estoppel, again, is a legal term that means, like, you're trying to stop someone. You aren't trying to get money damages from them, but you're trying to stop them from doing something. Generally speaking, it's a legal principle, which means that in certain cases, the judge can order the department. So basically, you're asking the judge to not grant a judgment to the plaintiff just because they're like a bad actor, basically just for general reasons.

And then unclean hands. Again, you're saying that the plaintiff has unclean hands. They haven't acted appropriately throughout this case or, like, throughout the dealing with you.

So these are pretty general, broad affirmative defenses that are put on all the answer documents because that's what an attorney would do in most cases if you go to an attorney. Good question. All right,

What does failure to mitigate damages mean?

Viewer Question: What does this mean? “Plaintiff’s claims are barred in whole or in part because of a failure to mitigate damages.”

George: Yeah, more so than, like, abstract language. What are these terms? These are legal terms that are well defined, right? So people oftentimes get frustrated with American legal system because why are these contracts so confusing, et cetera. There's a reason for it. There's a good reason for it, really.

A little bit of a broad idea. Zooming out. America uses a common law system. What that means is that court cases are decided based on precedent. Based on precedent which goes back hundreds of years, back to England and the Middle Ages, England and the year 1100, or something like that, where these judges make these decisions and those affect later decisions, et cetera.

So the judge is like that. When a judge sees a case that looks like an old case, they're going to try to make a similar decision as that judge made. Because of this, language kind of gets passed on and language gets developed. So, like, Equitable estoppel is a legal idea that's been around for a long time. People call it that because that's what it's called. So it's a real idea.

And so here, like, failure to mitigate damages, what that's saying is that the plaintiff did not take proper precautions to mitigate damages, right. So they're going to take proper precautions to protect themselves against losing money in this situation, and therefore their claims are barred and whole or in part. So that means that they shouldn't be able to win the lawsuit either entirely or at least they shouldn't be able to win, like, part of the lawsuit for all the money they're asking for.

Does Discover settle debt?

Viewer Question: Does Discover have a history of going through the whole process, or do they arbitrate or settle?

George: We actually have a fairly good track record of settling with Discover. We've certainly seen them settle. The word on the street, general assessment is that Discover is one of the hardest people to settle with. That's not what we've seen from our own data, so there's probably at least some good chance of settling with them.

Should I deny owing the debt in my Answer?

Viewer Question: On my response letter, the recommendation was to disagree with the question, is that the best thing to do even if you owe the debt?

George: Yeah. So SoloSuit, to some degree, the app kind of mimics, like, what an attorney would do for you. So if you went to an attorney and hired an attorney for like $3,000, however much they cost, the attorney is going to slap your name onto an Answer form document with all the appropriate affirmative defenses that they make every time in every Answer document that they ever file.

And they're just going to stick those affirmative defenses and denials on that document. So an attorney will certainly deny everything in a Complaint that it's going to deny every paragraph. What that does is it puts the burden of proof on the plaintiff to prove that you owe the debt, Because the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, not on you.

So that's a pretty core legal idea. The burden of proof is on the plaintiff. So it's up to the person suing you to prove that you owe the debt. And denying everything in the Complaint is just saying you're just making the person prove that all of it is true.

How can I improve my credit score?

Viewer Question: During that seven years of the things on my credit report, can I improve my credit score?

George: You can totally do things to improve your credit score. Right. So the general idea… I'm not a credit expert by any means or financial advisor, but some general tips that get around online are to have a credit account that's open for a long period of time, have a few different credit accounts, you know, maybe two to three. Make your payments on time. Make sure the balance isn't more than 30% of your total balance on the card. Right?

So if your maximum amount of credit card is $10,000, make sure that your balance is never over $3,000. Keep a pretty low balance on these cards. Those are some things that you can do to improve your credit score.

Main thing is just get a line of credit, make regular payments on that credit card every month, pay off the full balance every month, and that will improve credit.

I am being sued for a debt I already settled. What do I do?

Viewer Question: I settled this debt in 2020, and they sold a settled amount to a collection agency. They also wrote off the amount as a bad debt. How can they do this when I settled in good faith?

George: Well, that sounds pretty crazy, sue. I haven't heard of that situation before. That sounds like bad news. So you're saying that in 2020, you settled a debt, and then whoever you settled with might have been a collection agency or the original creditor, they sold that to another collection agency.

“They also wrote off my account as a bad debt.” So I think writing your account, charging off your account, selling it after you settled, all that sounds legal. I just don't hear that happening very often. I guess the main question is, did you settle for, like, a payment plan? Did you have, like, a five year payment plan that you agreed to, or did you settle on a lump sum, and then did your payment plan get messed up because they sold it to a different person? If so, that's a problem that you could certainly bring up in court or something along those lines.

So we have several affirmative defenses that apply that you can bring up. You just want to make sure you click the right buttons on the website. I think, like, even saying that you settled this debt already is a defense that you can bring up.

Do I have to prove that the statute of limitations has expired on my debt in my Answer?

Viewer Question: If I believe the statute of limitations has expired on the debt, do I need to provide evidence for that in my answer?

George: No. Good question. Other general ideas here…

So how a case progresses, this is a thing that a lot of people get wrong, right? So the case begins, you have pleadings, and then if it goes beyond that, then you have discovery. And if it goes beyond that, you have a trial hearing of some sort. Usually the trials are called hearings.

So pleadings is where you have the Complaint and you have the Answer. I've seen it here. The Answer document is just to respond to the Complaint. Right. So the plaintiff is bringing up all the stuff. It's on them to prove that you owe the money. The Answer only responds to the Complaint. That's it. It doesn't bring up new information. It just says whether or not things in the Complaint are true or false. And then if it gets further, then you can bring up the discovery.

You can bring up evidence and discovery. So, like, they'll send you a document requesting, basically evidence, like a Request for Admissions or interrogatories. Then you can bring up some kind of evidence in that.

What you want to do in the Answer, and what you can only do in the Answer, is assert your affirmative defenses, one of those being a statute of limitations having expired. So our website walks you through the process.

You'll say, like, when was the last time I made the payment on the debt? They'll tell us. And then based on that calculation, we'll start the affirmative defense of the statute of limitations being expired.

Can I settle multiple debts and respond to multiple lawsuits?

Viewer Question: What if you have multiple judgments against you? Can you do this multiple times? If so, how much will they accept?

George: You can settle multiple times. If you have multiple lawsuits, you can file multiple Answers. People do that all the time with us. You can also make multiple settlement offers for however much you want.

We don't have any bulk discounts or anything like that. Just transparently, what a lot of people do is they might buy, like, a premium package for one Answer, and then it might be, like, the standard for the other Answers.

How much does SoloSuit cost?

Viewer Question: How much do we pay SoloSuit for this?

George: Prices are subject to change. It's best to just to check on our website. Prices are pretty transparent, usually on the main landing page for each product on our website.

Can you try to settle a debt before you respond to the lawsuit?

Viewer Question: Can you send a SoloSettle offer before the Answer to the lawsuit?

George: Yes, you can. You don't want to generally, you want to send them pretty much at the same time. Or the important thing is you want to make sure you do both. Right? So if you in getting back to this, I generally want to do an answer, and then you want to settle after that, but you want to make sure you do both. Okay, so it doesn't really matter. What are you doing on our website? You can make the solo settle first, then you can go over and file the answer. But I do it in pretty much the same day at pretty much the same time, because the answer gives you leverage to settle.

Do I have to appear in court after I file my Answer?

Viewer Question: Do you know if I would have to attend court in person once I filed this?

George: We can't say for sure, but it's certainly possible, right? So filing the Answer doesn't mean you win your case. It doesn't make the case disappear. You might still have to go to court after you file an Answer. It just means you won't lose automatically by default judgment upfront.

So you might file the Answer, just going back to this little thing here, right? You get the Complaint and Summons, you file your Answer document. Sometimes this part happens like discovery, sometimes it doesn't. And then you have a trial, which is a hearing. And if there is a hearing, you have to go to it. You either have to hire an attorney to go for you, you might have to go with the attorney, or you have to go yourself in person.

SoloSuit is not going to show up for you. We're not your law firm. We're not your attorney. You have to show up at the hearing, bring your records with you, bring your documents. It can be a pain. Maybe you can attend that hearing remotely, but certainly a better chance of winning than if you don't respond.

SoloSuit is rooting for you

All right, so those are some of the basics on how to win your debt lawsuit. All right, there we go. I am glad we can help you out. As always, remember that we are rooting for you, okay? So we're doing our best every day to make sure that you win your lawsuit and that you get back on your feet after this situation. So we're rooting for you. We're in your corner. Let us know what we can do to help you out.

You can email us at support@solicit.com or join us for this webinar just about every week, so we'll probably be here next week, same time. All right? Thank you all. Best of luck out there. Hope you win.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to fight debt collectors.

You can use SoloSuit to respond to a debt lawsuit, to send letters to collectors, and even to settle a debt.

SoloSuit's Answer service is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your Answer. Upon completion, we'll have an attorney review your document and we'll file it for you.

>>Read the FastCompany article: Debt Lawsuits Are Complicated: This Website Makes Them Simpler To Navigate

>>Read the NPR story on SoloSuit. (We can help you in all 50 states.)

How to answer a summons for debt collection in your state

Here's a list of guides for other states.

All 50 states.

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Guides on how to beat every debt collector

Being sued by a different debt collector? Were making guides on how to beat each one.

• Absolute Resolutions Investments LLC
• Accredited Collection Services
• Alliance One
• Amcol Clmbia
• American Recovery Service
• Asset Acceptance LLC
• Asset Recovery Solutions
• Associated Credit Services
• Autovest LLC
• Cach LLC
• Cavalry SPV I LLC
• Cerastes LLC
• Colinfobur
• Covington Credit
• Crown Asset Management
• CTC Debt Collector
• Cypress Financial Recoveries
• Delanor Kemper & Associates
• Eagle Loan of Ohio
• Educap
• Estate Information Services
• FIA Card Services
• Forster & Garbus
• Freshview Solutions
• Fulton Friedman & Gullace LLP
• Harvest Credit Management
• Howard Lee Schiff
• Hudson & Keyse LLC
• Integras Capital Recovery LLC
• Javitch Block
• Jefferson Capital Systems LLC
• LVNV Funding
• Mannbracken
• Mariner Finance
• Medicredit
• Michael J Adams PC
• Michael J Scott
• Midland Funding LLC
• Mullooly, Jeffrey, Rooney & Flynn
• Mountain Land Collections
• MRS Associates
• National Collegiate Trust
• Nationstar Foreclosure
• Northstar Capital Acquisition
• NCEP LLC
• NRC Collection Agency
• OneMain Financial
• Palisades Collection LLC
• Pallida LLC
• Paragon Revenue Group
• Pinnacle Collections Agency
• PMAB LLC
• Portfolio Recovery Associates
• Provest Law
• PYOD LLC
• Reunion Student Loan Finance Corporation
• Revenue Group
• Regents and Associates
• RSIEH
• Salander Enterprises LLC
• Second Round Sub LLC
• Security Credit Services
• Sherman Financial Group
• Suttell and Hammer
• T-Mobile
• Transworld Systems
• Tulsa Teachers Credit Union
• UCB Collection
• Velo Law Office
• Velocity Investments
• Waypoint Resource Group
• Weinberg and Associates
• Wolpoff & Abramson

Win against credit card companies

Is your credit card company suing you? Learn how you can beat each one.

• Bank of America
• Capital One
• Chase
• Credit One Bank
• PayPal Synchrony Card
• SYNCB/PPEXTR
• Synchrony Bank
• Target National Bank
• Wells Fargo

Going to Court for Credit Card Debt — Key Tips

How to Negotiate Credit Card Debts

How to Settle a Credit Card Debt Lawsuit — Ultimate Guide

Get answers to these FAQs

Need more info on statutes of limitations? Read our 50-state guide.

Why do debt collectors block their phone numbers?

How long do debt collectors take to respond to debt validation letters?

What are the biggest debt collector companies in the US?

Is Zombie Debt Still a Problem in 2019?

SoloSuit FAQ

If a car is repossessed, do I still owe the debt?

Is Portfolio Recovery Associates Legit?

Is There a Judgment Against Me Without my Knowledge?

Should I File Bankruptcy Before or After a Judgment?

What is a default judgment?— What do I do?

Summoned to Court for Medical Bills — What Do I Do?

What Happens If Someone Sues You and You Have No Money?

What Happens If You Never Answer Debt Collectors?

What Happens When a Debt Is Sold to a Collection Agency

What is a Stipulated Judgment?

What is the Deadline for a Defendants Answer to Avoid a Default Judgment?

Can a Judgement Creditor Take my Car?

Can I Settle a Debt After Being Served?

Can I Stop Wage Garnishment?

Can You Appeal a Default Judgement?

Do I Need a Debt Collection Defense Attorney?

Do I Need a Payday Loans Lawyer?

Do student loans go away after 7 years? — Student Loan Debt Guide

Am I Responsible for My Spouses Medical Debt?

Should I Marry Someone With Debt?

Can a Debt Collector Leave a Voicemail?

How Does Debt Assignment Work?

What Happens If a Defendant Does Not Pay a Judgment?

How Does Debt Assignment Work?

Can You Serve Someone with a Collections Lawsuit at Their Work?

What Is a Warrant in Debt?

How Many Times Can a Judgment be Renewed in Oklahoma?

Can an Eviction Be Reversed?

Does Debt Consolidation Have Risks?

What Happens If You Avoid Getting Served Court Papers?

Does Student Debt Die With You?

Can Debt Collectors Call You at Work in Texas?

How Much Do You Have to Be in Debt to File for Chapter 7?

What Is the Statute of Limitations on Debt in Washington?

How Long Does a Judgment Last?

Can Private Disability Payments Be Garnished?

Can Debt Collectors Call From Local Numbers?

Does the Fair Credit Reporting Act Work in Florida?

The Truth: Should You Never Pay a Debt Collection Agency?

Should You Communicate with a Debt Collector in Writing or by Telephone?

Do I Need a Debt Negotiator?

What Happens After a Motion for Default Is Filed?

Can a Process Server Leave a Summons Taped to My Door?

Learn More With These Additional Resources:

Need help managing your finances? Check out these resources.

How to Make a Debt Validation Letter - The Ultimate Guide

How to Make a Motion to Compel Arbitration Without an Attorney

How to Stop Wage Garnishment — Everything You Need to Know

How to File an FDCPA Complaint Against Your Debt Collector (Ultimate Guide)

Defending Yourself in Court Against a Debt Collector

Tips on you can to file an FDCPA lawsuit against a debt collection agency

Advice on how to answer a summons for debt collection.

Effective strategies for how to get back on track after a debt lawsuit

New Hampshire Statute of Limitations on Debt

Sample Cease and Desist Letter Against Debt Collectors

The Ultimate Guide to Responding to a Debt Collection Lawsuit in Utah

West Virginia Statute of Limitations on Debt

What debt collectors cannot do — FDCPA explained

Defending Yourself in Court Against Debt Collector

How to Liquidate Debt

Arkansas Statute of Limitations on Debt

Youre Drowning in Debt — Heres How to Swim

Help! Im Being Sued by My Debt Collector

How to Make a Motion to Vacate Judgment

How to Answer Summons for Debt Collection in Vermont

North Dakota Statute of Limitations on Debt

ClearPoint Debt Management Review

Indiana Statute of Limitations on Debt

Oregon Eviction Laws - What They Say

CuraDebt Debt Settlement Review

How to Write a Re-Aging Debt Letter

How to Appear in Court by Phone

How to Use the Doctrine of Unclean Hands

Debt Consolidation in Eugene, Oregon

Summoned to Court for Medical Bills? What to Do Next

How to Make a Debt Settlement Agreement

Received a 3-Day Eviction Notice? Heres What to Do

How to Answer a Lawsuit for Debt Collection

Tips for Leaving the Country With Unpaid Credit Card Debt

Kansas Statute of Limitations on Debt Collection

How to File in Small Claims Court in Iowa

How to File a Civil Answer in Kings County Supreme Court

Roseland Associates Debt Consolidation Review

How to Stop a Garnishment

Debt Eraser Review

Do Debt Collectors Ever Give Up?

Can They Garnish Your Wages for Credit Card Debt?

How Often Do Credit Card Companies Sue for Non-Payment?

How Long Does a Judgement Last?

​​How Long Before a Creditor Can Garnish Wages?

How to Beat a Bill Collector in Court