Hi all,
Thank god for this forum. I received a summons from Portfolio (via bike messenger at 9pm) on behalf of my fiance in Oregon. She's being sued by PRA for 1500 dollars that she owed to Citibank. It does appear on her credit, and has for some time. At this point, she has 30 days to respond or they get a default judgment, which seems to be their entire business model. Here's my problem: we have no idea how to respond. Do we need to fill out standard forms/paperwork? Do we need to draft our own letter and file it with the county clerk? Do we need to copy the listed PRA attorney on said letter or form? And despite Googling madly, I've only got the vaguest of ideas how to fight this. It seems like JAMS is an option, but I've heard that Oregon has strange arbitration laws, so I'm unclear on that. It also seems that PRA has to validate the debt in order to legitimately collect, and I'm also unclear as to how to go about forcing them to do this. I've been looking for attorneys in OR, but at the rates most of them are charging, it seems more worthwhile for her to set up a payment plan with PRA than to fight it. I'm at a loss, and trying to help her out as best I can. Any information or guidance would be greatly appreciated, and I thank you in advance for responding!