being sued... HELP!

[indebted]

Ok, i'm getting sued by a legit law practice that buys old debts for pennies on the dollar and takes each person to court. sucks for me. The issue is I don't have any problem repaying this- I was in a bad place at the time, and now i'm in a better one- BUT $2k of the $4k bill is fees... the court date is scheduled for the 28th of this month (in a different jursidiction then where I live) and I would like to keep this out of court. I spoke to this attorney before about repaying but he demanded 3 payments of 1200 within 2 months or something- which is a bit steep. 400 a month- sure. but 1200 every 3 weeks? Not so much.

I'm wondering what I can do?

Should I talk to this attorney and try to reason with him?
Should I go to court? I don't want to!!

Also, I've never requested validation from this gentlemen, but he sent me over his "validation" by sending a signed affadavit that this debt was his... is that enough? How is that proving anything?

UGH! This is scary and frustrating and i don't know what to do!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

It's a negotiation. Tell them that you won't pay their overinflated fees and that you're willing to make a reasonable offer but you'll object to the attorney's fees in court because that's the only reason they are going to court, to tack them on. Most of these places will even settle for less than the amount of the debt. Be cool and calm and see what you can negotiate. Best of luck and don't be scared - they read that and will then scare you into paying the maximum amount owed.