Discover Bank is one of the major credit card issuers in the United States. They are just behind Visa and Mastercard in terms of customer volume. They are generally pretty easy to work with but they will file a lawsuit if you default on a credit account with them. This can occur at any point after you have been in default for 180 days. At that time, the account will “charge-off” and be placed for collections with a law firm. Charge-off is an accounting term, not a legal term, and it simply means that an account is at least 180 days delinquent.
Upon default and charge-off, Discover has a decision to make with regards to your account. They can choose to sell the debt to a junk debt buyer or they can file their own lawsuit against you in an effort to collect. In my experience, Discover is one of the few credit card companies that does not sell defaulted accounts to junk debt buyers. This means that when you default on one of their accounts, they’re going to sue you. It may take several months or even a year or more, but its eventually going to happen if you do not cure the default. This can be a very trying and scary time for consumers. The key is to address the problem head on by consulting with and then hiring a consumer defense attorney. Do not ignore a lawsuit as that will only complicate matters even more.
In Pennsylvania, most of the Discover Bank cases are handled by the law firm Weltman, Weinberg and Reis. This is a very reputable firm that gets very good results for their clients. They are tenacious and they are tough to beat in court. Often, they will commence a claim by sending out a collection letter asking for voluntary payment. We would strongly suggest that you do not contact them directly. If you contact them, you are the underdog in that battle. You presumably don’t know much about credit card law and you are not a “threat” to them… meaning, you are unlikely to prevail if you represent yourself in a lawsuit and you are further unlikely to obtain a good deal if you attempt to negotiate with them yourself. What you should do is contact our office for a free consultation.
At that time we can discuss your situation. We can make a choice as to whether to try to negotiate a settlement with them or rather to defend and try and win in court. The important thing is to not panic and to not ignore their inquiries. In many of these cases Discover is able to produce sufficient documentation to win in a court of law. If that happens then we can still work towards a negotiated settlement and in many cases we can reduce the balance owed by a substantial amount. We’ve dealt with Discover on hundreds of cases and handled hundreds more with the Weltman law firm. We can also assist if a different firm is representing Discover in its claim against you. Please call our office at 412-348-8600 or click over to our Contact form and send us an inquiry.
