I continued to be amazed at the inability of banks to produce a copy of the actual credit card agreement signed by their customers when suing on a defaulted account.  The inability or unwillingness to produce a signed agreement is truly astounding. How can a bank obtain a judgment for a debt on a written contract without production of the contract itself?

The answer to that question is that banks are allowed to rely on the monthly billing statements they send their customers as proof of the debt without having to produce a signed copy of the written agreement. This action is called an Account Stated lawsuit, and for the first time the Nebraska court system has issued a ruling specifically allowing these lawsuits to proceed in the case of American Express Centurian Bank v. Scheer, 25 Neb. App.784 (2018).
Continue Reading American Express v Scheer: Account Stated Nightmare Comes to Nebraska

Most collection lawsuits result in judgments obtained by default. A Default Judgment is awarded when the defendant fails to file a written response to the lawsuit within the required time period, typically 30 days.  Over 90% of collection lawsuits filed in Nebraska result in a default judgment.

The concept of allowing default judgments seems fair

carpetbagger

Junk debt buyers are the modern version of a post Civil War carpetbagger as they suck money out of every county in the State of Nebraska without contributing anything in return.  I cannot think of a single positive thing these debt collectors contribute to our state.

Junk debt buyers typically purchase defaulted credit card accounts