Recently we were retained by multiple clients who had Capital One debt cases against them. Capital One Bank is generally known to be one of the more aggressive creditors in the consumer debt world. That is mainly because they do not sell most of their debt to third party debt buyers such as Midland Funding, so when they bring cases against consumers, it is easier for Capital One to prove standing as an original creditor. Most of the time, Capital One will have the original credit agreement sent to consumers and monthly statements that sometimes show years of use. They are also known for their aggressive negotiation when discussing settlement of the debt owed. Obtaining 50% off is not an easy feat when dealing with Capital One. They frequently retain the debt collection law firm of Malen and Associates in New York to sue consumers as well as to enforce against judgments that they obtain by way of wage garnishment and bank levy most often.
In these most recent cases, two of the clients that retained us were served by Malen with a summons and complaint so we were able to submit answers to defend the clients and protect them against default judgments being entered against them. Our third client found that there was a judgment against him when his bank account was frozen. He never received notice of the lawsuit because he was not properly served with the summons and complaint. We quickly filed an Order to Show Cause to vacate the default judgment on his behalf and were contacted by Malen inquiring whether we were interested in settling the matter instead of litigating. We had obtained leverage in the other two cases by keeping the burden on Malen and Capital One to prove their case which takes time and money on their end. We ultimately settled all three cases for about 60% off of the amount owed on each.