FAQs When Sued by Cavalry Portfolio Recovery Services or Cavalry SPV I
You have about 30 days from the day you were served to file a written response, and that's usually enough time.
Miss that deadline and the plaintiff can take a default judgment against you. Respond, and the plaintiff has to prove its case, which is harder than it sounds. Here's how, and how I can help.
Cavalry Portfolio Services is the name people know, because it's the name on the phone calls and the letters. But Cavalry Portfolio Services is the servicing arm of the Cavalry family of companies. The entity that actually claims to own your account, and the one that typically appears as plaintiff on a California summons, is usually Cavalry SPV I, LLC, a debt buyer that purchases defaulted accounts in bulk.
Check the caption on your summons for the real plaintiff. If it's Cavalry SPV I, the case runs on debt-buyer rules. The plaintiff has to prove it owns your specific account, through however many hands it passed, with admissible evidence. In my experience that's the load-bearing question in these cases, and it's worth making them carry it.
Use the thirty days
From the day you're served, you generally have thirty days to file a written response with the court. If nothing gets filed, the plaintiff can ask for an automatic judgment against you (called a default judgment), and with a judgment they can levy your bank account, meaning they take the money directly, garnish your wages if you have a job, or put a lien on your house. Responding is what makes everything above matter, because a defended case is where the proof gets tested.
Two reads that will help. Here's how to calculate your deadline, which is more particular than people expect. And the top five mistakes people make when they get sued is five minutes well spent before you decide anything.
Let it be my problem
If you'd rather hand this off, the consultation is free, it takes fifteen minutes, and you speak with me directly. No intake screener, no telemarketer. Although the outcome can't be guaranteed, you can offload the process, so you know that whatever can be done is being done while you go about the other things in your life. It's sort of like the alarm clock by your bed. Once it's set, your brain stops holding the time, because that's taken care of. Let me take care of this.