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How to Resolve Debt With Stillman Law Office

Dena Standley | September 22, 2023

Dena Standley
Legal Expert, Paralegal
Dena Standley, BA

Dena Standley is a seasoned paralegal with more than 20 years of experience in legal research and writing, having received a certification as a Legal Assistant/Paralegal from Southern Technical College.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

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: Stillman Law Office doubles as a law firm and debt collection agency, fighting for creditor’s rights and helping them collect their money. If Stillman Law Office has contacted you about a debt, SoloSuit can help you request a debt validation, respond to a debt lawsuit, and settle your debt before going to court.

If Stillman Law Office (SLO) has called you about a debt, you may be wondering if this company is legitimate because of the illegal and unprofessional way they treat you. For instance, you may have told them to stop calling, but they ignore your request.

Like other debt collection agencies, Stillman Law Office often crosses the legal lines while collecting their money. Even though they have the right to contact you and ask you to pay their debt, the law still limits the far they can go. Hence, if Stillman Law Office has violated your rights, you can beat them at their own game. SoloSuit will explain how to go about it.

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What is Stillman Law Office?

Stillman Law Office (SLO) is a legitimate law firm in Michigan specializing in third-party debt collection. SLO has been in business for 14 years with clients from small to large organizations and international companies. The industries they handle include insurance, financial institutions, hospitals, and automotive lenders.

Since SLO is first a law firm, they also offer their clients legal services ranging from lawsuit representation, seeking garnishment orders, attachments, and repossession actions.

Their website clearly states they take an aggressive position focused on asserting the debt collector’s rights in all the cases they take. But let this not scare you. Many consumers have exercised their rights and beat SLO several times.

Below is the Stillman Law Office phone number and other contact information:

Stillman Law Office reviews

Stillman Law Office is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and it has an average rating of 1 out of 5 stars. As for its Google reviews, Stillman Law Office has earned only 1.9 out of 5 stars.

On top of these poor reviews, Stillman Law Office has received several complaints on its BBB profile and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s complaint database. Most of these complaints mention SLO’s failure to validate a debt or attempting to collect a fraudulent or invalid debt. Here is an example of a real Stillman Law Office complaint:

“Repeated written attempts to validate debt with this company has fallen on deaf ears. They have failed to email per my instruction to validate the debt on items they have. When they are called, they do not tell who owns the debt.”

If you have had such an encounter with SLO, you can beat them once you know your consumer rights. In fact, you have a legal right to have your debt validated upon request. Let's explore this law, and other legal provisions that protect you, in the next section.

Exercise your rights when Stillman Law Office contacts you

The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA) seeks to protect debtor's rights when debt collection agencies come after them. These guidelines ensure creditors do not mistreat, harass, or scam you when communicating about your debt. Examples of these regulations state that SLO should not:

  • Make numerous calls in a day for the same debt
  • Threaten to take and keep sensitive documents until you pay
  • Talk to your colleagues, neighbors, and family members about your debt
  • Refuse to give more information about themselves and your debt
  • Fail to verify the debt on request

Notably, your right to debt validation can help you respond to an initial contact from Stillman Law Office and potentially prevent a debt lawsuit. Debt validation can also force debt collectors to stop contacting you. Here’s how.

Under the FDCPA, you have 30 days to request that a debt collector validate an obligation after you first receive written communication. You can do this by sending a Debt Validation Letter. Once Stillman Law Office receives your letter, the collection agency must provide you with the following evidence before attempting to contact you again:

  • The name of the original creditor and the total amount due.
  • A copy of the contract where you agreed to take on the debt.
  • The date of the last payment made on the account.
  • The age of the debt.
  • An explanation for whether the obligation is past your state’s statute of limitations.
  • Still Law Office’s debt license number in your state.

If a Stillman Law Office debt collector fails to validate your debt, or if they have violated any part of the FDCPA, submit a complaint to the Fair Trade Commission, your state’s attorney general, the CFPB, and the BBB.

Respond to Stillman Law Office debt lawsuit

Like most debt collection agencies, SLO also sues debtors who ignore their attempts to collect. If you are in this situation, do not despair. You can still beat them by following these steps to respond to the lawsuit.

1. Answer each claim listed in the Complaint

A complaint document is always included in the lawsuit. It contains a list of allegations SLO has made against you. Your task is to respond to it in any of these three ways:

  • Admit: This means you agree with the allegation.
  • Deny: This means you want SLO to prove the allegation.
  • Deny due to lack of knowledge: This means you don't know.

Debt specialists often advise consumers to deny most allegations to let the creditor prove their case in court. It may also increase your chances of SLO accepting a settlement deal if they lack enough evidence.

2. Assert your affirmative defenses

This section allows you to explain why you are not responsible for the debt and, if it is truly yours, why you should not pay it. However, stating that you lack money to pay the debt is not a viable defense. You may lose favor with the judge if you use this excuse.

The following are affirmative defenses you can use:

  • The statute of limtiations on the debt owed to SLO has expired
  • The debt information was incorrect
  • SLO violated your consumer rights
  • You paid off the debt, or it was canceled
  • SLO hasn't shown legal standing to collect the debt on behalf of the creditor

Does this process sound long and challenging? SoloSuit can help you draft your affirmative defenses using our Answer document.

3. File the Answer in court, and send a copy to Stillman Law Office

The last step is essential because if you draft an excellent Answer and it fails to get to the court in time, SLO will receive a default judgment. Hence, make three copies of your answer document and send one to the court indicated in the lawsuit, send the second copy to SLO, and keep the last copy in your records. Do this before the deadline for sending your answer in your state.

Settle your debt with Stillman Law Office

After you respond to your debt lawsuit with an Answer, you have bought yourself time to work out a debt settlement plan.

Stillman Law Office is often willing to negotiate if you promise to pay a lump sum and clear the remaining balance within the shortest time possible. Based on typical debt settlements, it’s best to offer a payment of no less than 60% of the debt value; however, the final decision rests with you. If you aren’t in a position to pay that much, communicate your circumstances and explore whether Stillman Law Office is willing to work with you.

Watch the following video to learn more about settling a debt with Stillman Law Office:

SoloSettle, powered by SoloSuit, is a tech-based approach to debt settlement. Our software helps you send and receive settlement offers until you reach an agreement with the collector. Once an agreement is reached, we’ll help you manage the settlement documentation and transfer your payment to the creditor or debt collector, helping you keep your financial information private and secure.

What is Solo?

Solo makes it easy to resolve debt with 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.

SoloSettle can help you contact your debt collector or creditor and negotiate the debt to settle for less, all online. It simplifies and streamlines the process to settling your debt.

No matter where you find yourself in the debt collection process, Solo is here to help you resolve your debt.

>>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.)

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