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Chloe Meltzer, MA

Chloe Meltzer is an experienced content writer specializing in legal content creation. She holds a degree in English Literature from Arizona State University, complemented by a Master’s in Marketing from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: Is American Coradius International suing you for a debt? Here's SoloSuit's guide on how to take a stand against American Coradius International and beat them in court.

American Coradius International (ACI) is a financial service agency that frequently represents banks and finance companies. ACI is a third-party debt collection agency, which means that it is required to abide by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA). This is a federal law that protects consumers from abusive debt collection tactics. If you believe you have been harassed by ACI, then you need to learn your consumer rights to increase your chances of beating American Coradius International in court.

Who is American Coradius International?

American Coradius International LLC is a financial services agency based in New York. It provides first-and third-party debt collection services. ACI is known to collect often for PayPal. Although ACI claims to be accredited by the Better Business Bureau, the agency's BBB web page is unavailable as of June 2018.

Common complaints against American Coradius International

Many consumers have filed complaints accusing American Coradius International of violating the FDCPA. This includes the company threatening to sue consumers without actually intending to do so, as well as discussing debts with third parties. Although many third-party debt collectors do not cause issues such as these, American Coradius is known to use aggressive measures to get people to pay their debts.

For example, Public Access to Court Electronic Records (“PACER”), shows over 140 lawsuits filed throughout the United States against American Coradius International. Most of these lawsuits involve violations of consumer rights or the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA).

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) protects consumers from robocalls. These can be annoying because they are automated, recorded calls that computers make constantly. It is pretty obvious because no one responds when you speak to them, and there is usually a delay for when you pick up the phone. If you have received a message like this it can be a $500 fee per call. American Coradius International is known for violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

Beat American Coradius International in court

Know your rights under the FDCPA

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) is a federal law that applies to all third-party debt collectors. Every consumer is protected under the FDCPA, which means that every consumer is protected from abusive debt collectors.

If you are being sued for debt, then the most important thing you can do is educate yourself on your rights, especially if you think American Coradius International LLC has harassed you. Because the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act protects you from a wide range of predatory behavior from third-party collectors, it is essential you understand what is allowed, and what is not.

American Coradius International is violating the FDCPA if they:

Continue contacting you about a debt that you have disputed without providing a verification of the debt
Call you before 8 am or after 9 pm
Try to contact you at work if they know your employer prohibits such communication
Use threats of violence or other crimes in order to persuade you to pay the debt
Damage your reputation, or threaten to damage it, in order to collect the debt
Use other obscene language or profanity with the intent to abuse
Call you excessively with the intent to annoy, abuse, or harass
Falsely represent themselves as attorneys, or falsely represent the debt in terms of amount, legal status, and character
Discuss the debt with anyone other than you, your spouse, your attorney, or the creditor

If something about the collection efforts of American Coradius International feels wrong to you, look over the whole list of prohibited actions under the FDCPA before taking any further action.

What happens in court

If American Coradius International is suing you, you should have received a legal notice called the Summons and Complaint. The Summons notifies you that you're being sued, while the Complaint lists the specific allegations that ACI is making against you.

Many Summons will list a court date. Although going to court is never ideal, it's important that you show up for any hearing or trial listed in the Summons. Failure to appear can result in a default judgment entered against you, which can lead to serious financial complications like wage garnishment. While you can't go to jail for not paying your bills, it can affect your life tremendously if you do not go to court.

Always respond to a debt lawsuit

When it comes to any type of debt collection lawsuit, it is essential that you respond to the lawsuit. If you do not respond, you will have a default judgment placed against you. This is very serious, as it can result in wage garnishment, seizure of property, and other issues

The first step to responding to a debt lawsuit is filing a written Answer with the court and sending a copy of it to ACI's attorney. Finding an attorney to represent you can be expensive and challenging, but you can represent yourself in court by drafting your own Answer with SoloSuit's help.

SoloSuit can help you file an Answer in all 50 states.

How to prepare for court

When preparing for your court date you should write down all of your interactions with American Coradius International. For example, you might have had the agency threaten you, or even impersonate law enforcement on a voicemail. Keep this and all correspondences with ACI in writing so you can present it to the courts.

You can also use SoloSuit's Answer as a guide while responding in court.

Debt lawsuit flowchart

Check out SoloSuit's handy flowchart on all possible routes that a debt collection lawsuit can take:

Debt Collection Lawsuit Flowchart

Always respond to a debt lawsuit

When it comes to any type of debt collection lawsuit, it is essential that you respond. If you do not respond, you will have a default judgment placed against you. This is very serious, as it can result in wage garnishment, seizure of property, and other issues.

What is SoloSuit?

SoloSuit makes it easy to respond to a debt collection lawsuit.

How it works: SoloSuit is a step-by-step web-app that asks you all the necessary questions to complete your answer. Upon completion, you can either print the completed forms and mail in the hard copies to the courts or you can pay SoloSuit to file it for you and to have an attorney review the document.

Respond with SoloSuit

"First time getting sued by a debt collector and I was searching all over YouTube and ran across SoloSuit, so I decided to buy their services with their attorney reviewed documentation which cost extra but it was well worth it! SoloSuit sent the documentation to the parties and to the court which saved me time from having to go to court and in a few weeks the case got dismissed!" – James

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