How to Fight P. Scott Lowery in Court, and Win, Without an Attorney

The P. Scott Lowery law firm is a debt collection ageny, not a true law firm, that does nothing but "represent" scam-artist debt collection agencies. These 'client agencies' are often sister companies, or worse, owned by P. Scott Lowery himself! If you were to travel to the local P. Scott Lowery "law firm" location, you would be hard pressed to find an attorney onsite. Rather, you would see (but most often hear) debt collectors making phone calls to people, like you and I, who got behind on their bills. What law firm do you know of where you can't speak to an attorney? The so-called 'attorneys' of their so-called 'law firm' are actually rent-a-lawyers, whose sole job is to file lawsuits and attend debt related court hearings.

If you are sued by P. Scott Lowery, do not despair. Follow my lead and beat them at their own game!

Recently P. Scott Lowery tried to sue my husband for a really old credit card debt. The original debt collection agency was CACH, which is also known by a wide assortment of other names. As it turns out, CACH is owned and operated by (surprise surprise) a sister affiliate of P. Scott Lowery! And, thanks to our religious dedication to fighting for our rights, the court case was thrown out, with prejudice. (Note: With prejudice simply means "with pre-judgment"). This means that the law firm cannot attempt to pursue this debt again at any time in the future!

If you are sued by any debt collection agency, such as CACH, and especially if a law firm is involved (like P. Scott Lowery), there are a few things you should to do secure your rights. Rest assured, if you fail to go to court, they will win by default. In these cases, once judgment is entered against you, they will have every right to either garnish wages (which will happen almost immediately), or they will attach a lein to your end-of-the-year tax return. This lein applies to everyone, even if all you receive is the sales tax relief check, if your only income is from disability, or if you do not plan to file your taxes. They can also attach leins to any and all bank accounts, including your children's savings accounts (since you, the adult, are also listed on the account). They can claim rights to rainy day funds, burial savings accounts, IRA's, CD's, and even your inheritance should a relative die!! Do not, and I repeat, do not allow a court case to remain ignored. Do not avoid going to court! If you want to secure your financial future, your rights to a full pay check, or the full tax refund, you absolutely must go to court!

If you want to fight P. Scott Lowery, who most often represents CACH (a debt collection agency owned by - surprise! -P. Scott Lowery), here are the steps that you must take.

1. Keep very, very detailed and accurate notes about everything on the debt issue. Write down who you talk to at P. Scott Lowery and when you spoke to them, what was said by whom, the date and the time. Keep all copies of all letters received as well as letters you have sent. It is best to send all letters by certified mail with return receipt. You can even go as far as to have a notary to verify your letter and signature, if desired.

2. If you receive a phone call from CACH or P. Scott Lowery representatives (and rest assured, you'll get plenty), do not waste your time explaining your side of the story. Do not admit that you owe the debt, even if you think that you do! Do not get into a questions and answer session, because they record conversations and will attempt to use ANYTHING you say against you in court! When a phone call comes in, state the following: "I am the owner of this phone number. I do not care who you are calling about or the purpose of your call. I demand that you cease all phone calls to this number at once. Since this conversation is recorded, I expect that you will do as I request, as required by law." Then hang up.

If you want to get even more ruthless, record all of the phone calls on your end from P. Scott Lowery representatives. Be sure to check your state laws regarding recording of conversations. In some states, like Oklahoma, you don't have to tell the other party that you are recording them. You can easily accomplish this by using the speaker phone feature and a digital camera with video capabilities. By doing so, you will have an undeniable record of who spoke to you, what they said, and when they said it. Likewise, most debt collectors repeatedly violate consumer rights under the Fair Debt Collection Act, especially during phone conversations. These violations are considered federal offenses, punishable by up to $1,000 per incident. It is not unusual for debt collector representatives to violate your rights as many as 5 times in any one single conversation. A recording is the only way that you can prove that these rights were violated!

3. Should you get a letter in the mail from P. Scott Lowery or CACH, reply promptly (within a day or two) in writing, by certified (green return receipt) postal mail. In your letters state the following: You dispute the validity of the debt, you want to see a copy of the original signed contract for the disputed account, and that you want all communications about the debt to occur by letter. Also, state that you want the representatives of P. Scott Lowery and CACH to refrain from making any sort of communication efforts with you by phone, by email, by cell phone, thru your employer, or thru a friend or relative. Be sure to sign and date this letter. Rest assured, they will call you anyway. That's when you want to be ready with a recording device to prove that your rights were violated. In one instance, even after filing a paper with my local county court (in response to one of their court cases against me) I stated that I wanted all communications to occur in writing or in court. I still received 8 phone calls thereafter, 4 of which I was able to record.

4. Because the P. Scott Lowery law firm is in business for the sole purpose of taking people to court for old debts, you will more than likely be sued. When you are served with papers, make sure that you call about the pending court date. Go to court on that date and make sure that the judge is aware that you are present. In most cases, the first few court dates will be either "timeline hearings" or "preliminary hearings." Even if the court clerk says you do not have to be in court, go anyway. The rent-a-lawyers hired by P. Scott Lowery can enter a request for judgment at any time and, if you are not present when they do, they could easily win the case in your absence!

5. Call the court clerk's office at LEAST once every two weeks to be sure of any upcoming court dates, which will be for additional timeline hearings or preliminary hearings. Nobody will notify you of these dates. You must be responsible for yourself and stay on top of these dates, and attend court on these dates, yourself.

6. The debt collection agents at CACH and P. Scott Lowery will attempt to intimidate you, belittle you, cut you down, or get you to admit ownership of the debt. Be aware of this tactic, and be prepared to face it. Stick to your story... you dispute the validity of the debt, you want to see an original signed contract with your hand written signature, and you cannot agree to or deny the debt unless you have these things.

You should also be aware that the agency may send you copies of a so-called purchase order. This purchase order will say something like this: "On such n so day, Bank of America sold x number of uncollectable debt accounts to CACH." This paper will not specifically list your name, your account, or your information. You will never get a copy of the actual purchase order indicating the sale of your account, primarily because these documents contain private information about countless individuals. Remember, if they are the rightful owner of the debt, they should have a copy of the original contract and should adhere to the terms/conditions of that contract.

Finally, P. Scott Lowery may send you a notarized, sworn, signed affidavit from a representative at the original CACH office in Denver, Colorado. This statement will assert that the mentioned individual knows and attests, under oath, that he/she handled your account specifically and knows that it was old from such n so company to CACH in a legal and lawful manner. I got a package of information containing a letter like this. I called the person named. She told me (quote), "I sit at my desk and sign stacks of papers all day long. That is what I do. I don't have time to read and scruitinize every single document I sign. I'm just doing my job." Be sure to bring these documents to court with you and question them before the judge.

7. Although you should pay your debts, you should also make sure that the debts you pay are both legitimate and proper. Remember, even if you did once use the account, chances are that the majority of what CACH and the P. Scott Lowery law firm is trying to charge you is erroneous, non-agreed fees. Did you know, when a collections agency takes your account, they are actually buying it for pennies on the dollar and hope to gain a profit at your expense? Not a single penny that you pay to these companies actually go to the original debtor! Likewise, in cases such as these, where a third party debt collector like P. Scott Lowery gets involved, the original debtor has often times written off the debt as bad debt, then received a tax credit for it, and it is illegal for anyone to attempt to collect the debt once this credit is issued. And by anyone, I mean anyone in the original company, which is why the company sells of the "rights" to the debt for a few pennies - they could care less if anything is recovered or not. Why let a shady collections agency, like P. Scott Lowery, get away with something illegal? Unless you go to court and stand up for yourself, that is exactly what will happen!

8. Do your research. Get copies of all three credit bureau reports. If the debt has been written off, it means that the company received a tax credit. Look at court cases in your county involving CACH or P. Scott Lowery, and then see how many were dismissed and how many won by default. In my county, for example, every single case where the consumer did not show up, the law firm won by default, but in every case where the consumer showed up for court the law firm lost. Read up on the Fair Debt Collection Act, which will also help to confirm all that I have told you in this article.

In addition, if you have requested proof of the debt (primarily proof that they are the rightful owner of the debt) and they have put bad marks against your credit report without proving their case, it could be a violation of your rights under the law.

9. Every credit card contract contains an arbitration clause. In essence, this means that any dispute arising between you and the original debtor cannot go to regular court, but rather, must go through arbitration first. This fact can be used to your advantage. Debt collection agencies, like CACH and P. Scott Lowery, will tell you over the phone that they have the right to collect any and all fees, interest, etc. etc. under the original contract. Be sure to get these statements in a recording. If you have representatives stating that you are obligated to them under the original contract, then guess what... they are also obligated to use arbitration under the same contract! The debt collection agency cannot attempt to enforce part of the contract and forget others.

10. When it is time to stand up for your ights and face P. Scott Lowery rent-a-lawyers in court state the following: "I have asked the representatives at P. Scott Lowery repeatedly to validate the debt with a signed legal contract, or at least something showing me that the account is legally my responsibility. They have failed to do so (and this will always be the case, by the way) to this date. They have brought this case to this court for judgment without having any legally binding evidence to substantiate the case. The information they have, such as my name, address, and last four digits of my social security number, can be obtained by any novice computer user today thanks to public records. If this debt is legally mine, and if they are the rightful owners of this debt, I will gladly pay it, but so far I have no reason to believe that it is."

Every case is different, of course, but these ten tips will help you to at least have a fighting chance against this shady law firm. Look up court cases or consumer reports about P. Scott Lowery on the internet and you will read countless stories of people who have fought them. This law firm is a rent-a-lawyer firm. They do nothing but "represent" shady debt collection agencies. Their #1 client, CACH, is owned by (surprise, surprise) - P. Scott Lowery! Being educated, informed, and standing up for your rights is a debt collection agencies worse fears. They do not want you to fight against them! They want you to feel intimidated, fearful, or helpless so that you give up, throw your hands in the air, and fail to attend the court hearing. They want a smooth and easy case, which is why they are most likely to sue people who are struggling financially or who they think could not afford to take time off of work to attend court, thus resulting in a default judgment, garnishment, tax lein, or worse.

Never assume that the results of a debt collection hearing will be a simple "bad mark against your credit rating." Nothing could be further from the truth. Debt collection is big business these days, to the order of billions of dollars. Yes, CACH and P. Scott Lowery will tarnish your credit rating with a judgment against you, but it gets much, much worse. They will invade your bank accounts, ALL of them. They will require an asset hearing, where you have to prove all of your posessions. They will order DMV records for ownership of campers, boats, cars, trucks, motorcyles, anything that can (or should) be registered. If you own more than one vehicle, running or not, it will be taken from you, sold at auction, and the profits sent to the law firm. If a relative dies, P. Scott Lowery will attach a claim to your inheritance, monetary or property. They will investigate your personal life to the point of invasion of privacy, in an attempt to 'prove' that you can pay them, even if your income is low or you have little assets. Rest assured, failure to attend a court case involving P. Scott Lowery and CACH will result in ruthless results which will haunt you for years, even decades, to come.

To this end.... GO TO COURT!!!

In our court case with P. Scott Lowery, we attended every single hearing. One time the law firm representative did not show up to court. I said to the judge, "Your honor, we have attended court four times so far on this matter. We have disputed this debt from day one. The law firm has already admitted that they do not have any legally binding evidence to substantiate their case (meaning, no contract). We would like to ask for either a full hearing on this case (we were still in the timeline hearings) or that the case be dismissed with prejudice."

The judge dismissed the case. Now, CACH and P. Scott Lowery can never attempt to sue us again for this debt!

Now that you know how to fight P. Scott Lowery, get out there and stand up for your rights! And, when you succeed, come back here and post a comment so I can share in your glory!

Update: P. Scott Lowery have since sold this debt to a new collection agency, who started calling us. When we told them that the case was heard in court, dismissed, and cannot be heard again, the collection agency apologized and promised to never bother us again.

I am now dealing with P. Scott Lowery on another issue, this time against me. I have recorded more than a year's worth of conversations with them, with countless violations of my rights under the Fair Debt Collections Act therein. I am not concerned about the case, as I have educated myself enough to know what they are about and to stand up for my rights. I have kept exceptionally detailed records of all conversations, such as listed above, and followed all of my own advice. I hope that my local judge takes the law firm to task and makes them pay for what they have done!

Update #2: The court case was dismissed, in my favor! If you'd like to read how I handled P. Scott Lowery from beginning to end, you will find an article detailing my experiences by following this link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7730358/my_battle_with_p_scott_lowery_in_court.html?cat=17

Update #3: P. Scott Lowery currently owes me a whopping $7, reimbursement for my gasoline expenses from the day that they did not show up for court. To this day, nearly 3 months later, they have yet to pay me. They are arguing based on a technicality. They tell me to take them to court if I want the seven dollars. Really? How petty can you be?