Imagine your bank account wiped out for a debt you do not owe.
It's exactly what happened to a Pierce County woman who discovered debt collectors used a controversial and confusing tactic to get to her cash.
It's called pocket service. Debt collectors can send a summons without immediately filing a complaint.
Consumers call the court and since there's no case filed, some think it's a scam and throw the summons away. In other cases, the person may owe a debt, but if it's sold and fees are added, the consumer might not recognize the entity or the amount owed and think it's a mistake.
KIRO 7's Jesse Jones explains why Superior Court Judges and the Attorney General want to end pocket service in debt collection cases for good in the video embedded below:
The consumer has 20 days to respond to the debt collector, if they don’t, they can get a default judgment against the consumer.
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