Have you been Sued by Midland Funding LLC?

Midland Funding LLC chose to dismiss its lawsuit against a Tulsa consumer rather than providing her attorney with information which would show that the debt is actually owed to Midland Funding. When the Tulsa consumer was served with a summons, she contacted Paramount Law to help her assert her rights.  We got involved and requested information from Midland’s attorneys, Love Beal and Nixon regarding how Midland, a third-party debt buyer, based its claim that it was the owner of a debt allegedly owed by our client to a different party.  When we did, Midland Funding LLC chose to dismiss the lawsuit.

Help! Midland Funding LLC is Suing Me!

Midland Funding LLC is one of the nation’s biggest buyers of unpaid debt. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Encore Capital Group, Inc., who recently merged with another major debt buyer, Asset Acceptance.  According to Encore’s Federal Form 10-K 2013, they “purchase portfolios of defaulted consumer receivables at deep discounts.” Encore’s portfolio purchase and recovery business now includes accounts originated in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Colombia, and Peru. For accounts originated in the United States, you Encore/Midland may call you from call centers in the United States, India or Costa Rica. Encore and Midland Funding LLC pay their collection attorneys “a contingent fee based on amounts they collect on our behalf.“

 Just 3.5% of the credit card accounts are charged off any any given year. However, according to Encore’s 2013 10-K, found on the Midland Funding LLC Website, in 2013 Encore purchased $525,106,000 — half a billion dollars worth — of charged off debt in the United States.  However, they paid “an average purchase price of 1.4% of face value.”  In other words, if Midland Funding LLC has sued a consumer for a $2,500 credit card debt, it likely acquired the debt for about $35 bucks.

How to Fight Midland Funding

If a lawsuit is filed against you by Midland Funding LLC or Asset Acceptance LLC, you need to speak with an experienced attorney in debt collection defense as soon as possible. This is a specialized practice, and many attorneys may try to encourage you to “settle” the alleged debt without any verification that the debt buyer is the actual owner of the debt.  While settlement is always something we discuss with our clients, we believe that it is the best practice to confirm that the debt is actually owed to the alleged debt buyer first in order to prevent potential double-jeopardy on the same account!