Collections Legal Questions

UNless this is a very expensive item justifying spending money on a lawyer, you should have know his reputation better and had the details of repayment reduced tow riting bfore you spent a dime. Second rule is NEVER loan people money you can't walk away from. If the items were over say, $5,000.00, and you want to spend the money hiring a lawyer, do so immeidately. Otherewise, you most likely have en expensive learing lesson. ... Read More

Its possible some of the statements made may amount to a collections harassment lawsuit - especially if they do NOT actually take you to court to sue you for damages as threatened. If they DO, then its a much weaker case though a threat of wage garnishment is likely violation in and of itself as you are likelt exempt and they hhave no judgment yet. THAT stated, if you work part time, have 2 kids and live in public or subsidized housing you have no business "renting" tv's or other things you can't afford let alone expect that they get return broken and that "its all fine". Rent to Own businesses literally prey on people in your situation that want what they can't afford, gouge them for the items and then allow you to continue to ruin your credit for the effort. You need to NEVER use rent to own ANYTHING  - period and make sure you live within your means for yourself and your children. That stated, you needto contact a consumer lawyer immediately in regard to the collections threats as you may be able to sue them for damages for a collection harrassment issue and make them actually pay for the legal fees to do so. IN the meantime, if they do sue you, you will simply have to address that lawsuit if it happens as you are likely responsible for the damages to the TV. ... Read More

Legally, they can try. Whether they can force the sale of the vehicle if you have equity in it, or will want to go through that effort is up to them. The bigger issue is thehassle that will follow as they try to collect on the judgment which may involve periodically raiding your bank accounts or locking them down until the court decides whether they can take the money. If you have a lot of such debt you may want to talk to a bankruptcy lawyer. ... Read More

The initial attorney who is now sick has an obligation to refund the retainer and give you back your documentation. If he has support staff, you might reach out to them to address these issues. If he does not have any support staff and nobody to help him, you might try to reach out to his wife (if he has one) and address these issues with her. If he has no support staff and no family, you might try contacting the local county bar association to ask it to help you with these issues. Good luck.... Read More

I hate to tell you but there is NO estimate of fees that will ever make sense in such a case. The exception being reliance on blind luck or default judgment, which in fact defeats the purpose. This is due to the low value of the claim and the high likelihood of uncollectiabilty rendering the legal effort a functional faliure. By example, our retainer fee for small claims cases start at $1500.00 at $400.00/hr. so you can see why its so important not to loan money to people where you can't enforce the debt effectively. ... Read More