George Simons is the co-founder and CEO of SoloSuit. He has helped Americans protect over $1 billion from predatory debt lawsuits. George graduated from BYU Law school in 2020 with a JD-MBA. In his spare time, George likes to cook, because he likes to eat.
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 CCS Collections suing you for a debt? SoloSuit can help you take a stand and win in court.
Has CCS Collections been harassing you to pay off a debt you owe? This is probably an upsetting time. Unfortunately, CCS Collections and other companies like them use unethical means to get consumers to pay what they allegedly owe. So CCS Collections may call you at all hours of the day to get you pay up. They might harass you on the job and try to bother you on your social media channels. These companies rarely give up and can hound you for years. They get the most compensation when they get you to pay, so they will keep coming after you.
Here's everything you need to know about how to get CCS Collections off your back and beat them in court.
What is CCS Collections?
CCS Collections is considered to be one of the world's largest debt collection companies. IT reportedly has close to 700 employees and generates more than $53 million in revenue each year. This revenue is comes primarily from purchasing delinquent accounts (also known as“charged-off” accounts) from other creditors such as financial institutions, credit card companies, auto lenders, and more.
CCS Collections focuses its debt collection efforts in the following sectors of the economy: banking, cable, education, financial services, healthcare, insurance, retail telecommunications, and utilities.
If you are on the receiving end of nasty phone calls and letters from CCS Collections, don't give up. You have legal rights that protect you from being subjected to such inappropriate collection tactics.
CCS Collections has bad reviews
If you are feeling frustrated with CCS Collections, you're not alone. CCS has more than 200 complaints listed in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau complaint database. CCS Collections also has more than 900 complaints posted to its profile with the Better Business Bureau.
These complaints involve harassing phone calls and text messages, inaccurate negative marks on credit scores, fraudulent debts, and more. Let's take a look at an example.
Example: One consumer reached out to CCS Collections because they were using the wrong address to notify the consumer about debts owed. CCS Collections would not fix the address and continued sending communications about the debt to the wrong location. Also, CCS Collections reported two other debts under this consumers name that were fraudulent, and it was very difficult to contact them to have it corrected.
This complex law has many provisions that state what a debt collector can and cannot do to get money for debts. Some of the many rules they must follow are:
Debt collectors are prohibited from contacting you at work.
Debt collectors cannot use vulgar or rude language when they communicate with you.
Debt collectors cannot threaten you with a lawsuit.
Debt collectors are prohibited from calling you at home before eight in the morning and after nine at night. If they communicate with you, it must be during business hours.
Protect yourself if CCS Collections files a debt collection lawsuit
If CCS Collections sues you, it's good policy to respond as soon as possible. Please don't think you can ignore the lawsuit and it will go away. If you ignore your case against CCS Collections, you will lose by default. This gives CCS Collections the right to garnish your wages and even put liens on your property. But there are several things you can try to get the lawsuit thrown out as you write your Answer. Follow these three steps to respond to a debt lawsuit against CCS Collections:
Respond to each claim listed in the Complaint, and deny as many as possible.
Assert your affirmative defenses against CCS Collections.
File your Answer with the court, and send a copy to CCS Collections.
Keep reading to learn more about these three steps, or check out the video below:
1. Respond to each claim listed in the Complaint, and deny as many as possible
The first step to beating CCS Collections in court is to respond to the lawsuit. You should respond by filing a written Answer into the case. In your Answer, respond to each claim that is listed in the Complaint document (also known as the Petition in some states).
Keep in mind that most attorneys recommend denying as many of the claims as possible. This requires CCS Collections to do more work to prove their case, and if they don't have the necessary documentation for evidence, the case may be dismissed entirely.
There are three ways you can respond to each claim:
Deny
Deny due to lack of knowledge
Admit
When you admit a claim, it means you're agreeing with what's being said. So if you admit to everything, you will most likely lose the case and have to pay the amount that CCS Collections is claiming. For this reason, you can make a stronger case for yourself by denying as many claims as possible.
Use SoloSuit to draft an Answer in minutes.
2. Assert your affirmative defenses against CCS Collections
Do you want to defeat CCS Collections and not pay anything? You need to respond effectively to the suit and use some affirmative defenses. Point out any weaknesses in their case. Remember that CCS Collections is required to affirmatively prove you owe the money. So they have to prove a few things before they can legally claim the debt is yours.
The debt collection agency can sue you.
You are the person who owes the money.
You owe the amount that CCS claims in the complaint.
If the debt collection firm doesn't satisfy these requirements, the lawsuit may be dismissed.
Depending on the case, you might claim the company failed to file the lawsuit after the statute of limitations expired. This is how long someone has to sue you. It can range between one and three years in many cases. If the statute of limitations expired, you could file a motion to have the lawsuit dismissed with prejudice.
Also, you may even be able to get compensation and your legal fees paid by CCS if you can prove they violated federal law when they contacted you. If you are smart and aggressive, you can walk away without owing and dime AND have the company pay your legal fees!
3. File your Answer with the court, and send a copy to CCS Collections
After your Answer is drafted with the responses and affirmative defenses, you should file it with the court. You have 14-35 days to file your Answer, depending on which state you live in. Make sure to submit it as close to the deadline as possible to avoid a default judgment.
Don't forget to make a copy of the Answer and send it, via USPS certified mail, to the attorneys representing CCS Collections. Use the address and contact information listed on the Summons document for this. You may also want to request a return receipt so that you have proof that you sent it properly.
What to do if sued by CCS Collections
We have covered a lot of ground, but here's a quick summary of what you should do if CCS Collections sues you:
Write down when the company calls you and note if they use bad language or call you before eight am or after nine pm. They are only allowed to call you during normal business hours and they cannot use vulgar language.
Reply to each claim listed against you in the Complaint.
Raise affirmative defenses in your answer, such as the company violated federal law when they called or wrote to you. You also should insist CCS Collections prove that you owe the debt and that you are the one who owes it.
File your Answer to the Complaint within the proper time limits.
Send a copy of the Answer to CCS Collections.
These are proven methods to beat CCS Collections. Remember you can file a countersuit if they may have violated the FDCPA.
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.
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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