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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.

Beating McCarthy, Burgess, & Wolff feels like ^^

Summary: Is McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff coming after you for a debt? SoloSuit can help you take a stand and win in court.

McCarthy Burgess & Wolff is a legitimate debt collection agency that aggressively contacts consumers to pay their debt. They collect debt on behalf of companies that offer services such as credit cards, utilities, medical care, auto loans, or student loans. If you have unpaid debt in these areas, McCarthy Burgess & Wolff may be on your case until you pay.

McCarthy Burgess & Wolff (MB&W) has been in business for over 41 years with an A+ accreditation from Better Business Bureau. They are a multi-location company, and their headquarters is in Bedford Heights, Ohio. Their contact information is:

Address: 26000 Cannon Rd, Cleveland, OH 44146
Phone Number: (440) 735-5100
Website: www.mbandw.com
BBB profile: McCarthy Burgess & Wolff

Despite their excellent accreditation by BBB, MB&W has received 77 complaints on its profile. Even worse, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has reported 446 complaints against McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff in the last three years. In addition, . MB&W's Google review rating is an average 1.3 out of 5 stars from 164 review entries.. The complaints range from poor customer service to inaccurate debt figures in credit reports.

MB&W begins their attempt to collect by calling or emailing you and requesting payment. If you delay responding or ignore their attempts, they may take you to court if they have a strong case against you. Below we will discuss the options you have to fight back when they contact you or send a letter threatening a lawsuit.

Steps to take when McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff contacts you

Debt collectors frustrate consumers by calling multiple times a day or sending countless emails to prompt them to pay. They assume most consumers do not know their rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), which prohibits them from harassing, abusing, or lying to consumers. Below are two legal steps you can take under the FDCPA when MB&W calls.

Ask for more information

Debt collectors do not like being asked to provide more information regarding themselves or the debt in question. They simply want you to admit to the debt and make payments without verifying the debt details.

Do not engage them further if they refuse to identify themselves properly by giving you their full names, employee number, the original creditor you owe the debt to, and their contact information. Inform them you need to have everything in writing, and they should email all the information before you respond to their request.

Request a debt validation

Debt information sometimes gets mixed up as it moves from the creditor to the collecting agency. Do not accept the debt amount they quote until you verify that the debt is yours and the amount is accurate.

Send SoloSuit's Debt Validation Letter, whose outline clearly indicates the information MB&W needs to provide. This information includes:

Breakdown of the debt in question
Details of the original creditor
Statement allowing you to dispute the debt in case you find discrepancies
Statement enabling you to ask for more information if the validation notice is still not clear

Once you receive the debt validation notice, go through it carefully to verify that the details are accurate. If you find errors, dispute the debt with Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian. Make plans to start payments if the information is accurate and the debt is familiar to you. If not, MB&W may take you to court.

How to respond to a lawsuit by McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff

Debt collectors file lawsuits for cases when there is sufficient evidence to support their claims. If MB&W has sued you, you need to take legal action, or you will incur more debt to pay. Here are three steps you can take after receiving the MB&W lawsuit.

Respond to the lawsuit against MB&W

The first step to beating McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff in court is to file a written Answer with the court within 14–35 days after receiving the lawsuit. SoloSuit can help you draft an Answer within minutes. Use these six tips to draft an Answer that will increase your chances of winning the case:

The Answer isn't the place to tell your side of the story in detail. Instead of using an elaborate story to respond to the lawsuit, your Answer should focus on responding to the claims listed in the Complaint document. Keep it simple. You can admit, deny, or deny due to lack of knowledge.
Deny, deny, deny. Most attorneys recommend that you deny as many claims as possible, forcing MB&W to do more work to prove their side of the case.
Include affirmative defenses. These are any legal reasons that MB&W should not win the case. A common affirmative defense used in debt lawsuits is the statute of limitations, which is the time period that a debt collector has to sue someone for a debt. If the debt is past the statute of limitations, then the lawsuit is void.
Use standard formatting or “style”. At the head of the Answer document, be sure to include a caption where you list the court information, party information, and case number.
Include a certificate of service. It's important to serve your Answer to MB&W. At the end of your Answer document, include a certificate of service when you verify the address you used to serve MB&W the Answer.
Sign it. Most courts reject any legal documents without signatures, which is why this last step is so crucial.

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

Learn more about these six tips in this video:

Plan to go to court

Failing to go to court may lead to a default judgment where MB&W automatically wins the case. The courts may allow MB&W to garnish your wages, access payments from your bank account, or get a lien on your property.

Show up in court on the assigned date whether you have the means to settle the debt or not. You are allowed by law to represent yourself in court, but you have to prepare well by:

Doing legal research on debt collection
Gathering all defenses, you can use
Learning about the simple court rules
Using SoloSuit's legal documents

During the court procedures, press MB&W to prove you owe the debt, the debt is accurate, and that you owe the debt to them and not someone else. Do not directly admit to owning the debt. The debt collector's main goal will be to trap you into admitting responsibility for the debt.

Negotiate a debt settlement with MB&W

If you are sure the debt in question is yours and the figures are correct, you can negotiate a settlement outside the courts. Two documents you can send to start the settlement process with MB&W are:

Motion to Compel Arbitration: Send this document to MB&W if you have already sent the Answer and want to settle the case outside the court. Motion to compel arbitration works best if your loan or credit card agreement includes an arbitration clause.

Debt Lawsuit Settlement: Use this document if you want to make arrangements with MB&W on how and when you will make the payments.

You can negotiate a settlement with MB&W's lawyer or talk to the original creditor and agree to pay the entire debt or a huge portion of it. Payment plans are rarely possible in debt settlement because the creditor will risk another default once again. Prepare to make a lump sum payment to end the lawsuit.

SoloSuit can help

Our Motion to Compel Arbitration and Debt Lawsuit Settlement documents are powerful tools to deliver a compelling message to MB&W to agree to a settlement. Debt collectors count on consumers failing to understand and exercise their rights. With SoloSuit's help, it is possible to fight McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff and win. You can save time and resources by using our professional templates to customize the information to favor your settlement needs.

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