What is This Low Cost Consultation

One-on-one attorney consultations generally costs hundreds of dollars an hour. In fact, my customary rate is $400/hour, so $40 is actually my fee for 6-minutes of time, the smallest increment in which attorneys bill. These telephone consultations are solely for people who are defending against a current debt collection lawsuit in a California court. If you were sued by a debt collector, I can help you understand the collection case against you and help you determine how to deal with it, and how to fight it, including specific next-steps if appropriate. Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here. Here's what I won't do:  I will not give you a sales pitch for my services during your half-hour consultation (by the way this is what other "free initial consultations" really are).  You are paying me for a professional consult (albeit at a greatly reduced rate) and I will be giving you help and information in return. (If you want to talk about the possibility of hiring me, I can give you a few extra minutes to focus solely on that possibility).  You should also be aware, that I do not consult concerning "credit repair" and I do not focus on bankruptcy (although I may touch on bankruptcy with you if it seems like an option that you should consider). Some people wonder why I do this, and if you're curious about it, you can read to the end. Or feel free to skip over my blah-blah, and just become a "member" of California Collection Defense so you can immediately book your first low-cost consultation. Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here. How do you get access to be able to schedule these low-cost sessions?   Click on any of the links on this page and sign up.  You will then be whisked off to the Consumer Resource Hub of the website you can access a calendar with available consult times. Simple as that. This doesn't have to be a one-time thing.  If you've been sued by a debt collector in California Court, this is perfect for you, because if you need more help later on in your case, sign back into the member area, and I'll know who you are, so you can just schedule another time for the same discounted rate. Pretty neat huh? Here's where you schedule it: Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here. I've been doing this for a long time. I'm confident that you will get much more than the full value of your money from this session. If, after hanging up the phone you believe that the call was not worth your money, you can request a refund within 24 hours, and I will courteously and promptly return your money (more about that below). I will not use up your call with a sales pitch! In fact, if you end up wanting to inquire about my services in representing people for such cases I will talk about that outside of your half-hour. (By the way, if you end up hiring me for the case, I deduct the $40 so you haven't lost anything). Please keep in mind that I am just one person, and so I have limited availability.  I offer as many sessions as I can on any given week but don't wait until the last minute, because you might not be able to schedule it as soon as you need. Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here.

Who Will You Be Talking To?

Your half-hour consultation will be directly with me, California consumer attorney Ian Chowdhury. Ian Chowdhury California Collection Defense is run by me. I have defended consumers against hundreds of debt collection lawsuits, have done telephone consultations with thousands of people facing debt collection lawsuits and have gained a reputation for treating consumers with dignity and respect, for providing stellar service at a price that is affordable for consumers and, importantly, for winning the vast majority of my cases. It ain't glamorous work, but it's what I do. Please feel free to Google me. I'm married and have three kids, so I know what a dollar is worth and I understand where you are coming from. I'm a guy who compares the prices of different brands of peanut butter at the grocery store. As you might guess, representing people who are being sued for credit card debt is not much of a get-rich-quick scheme, but I sleep well at night knowing I bought the bed with money that I earned by thwarting debt collectors. I've been told by many clients that my services have also helped them sleep at night, in contrast to lying awake worrying about money and legal problems. I'm here to tell you, that it is often more than possible to win the game against these debt collectors. Of course, in litigation, as in life, there is never any guaranteed outcome and no one result is "typical". (But I sure see my clients get great results on a regular basis). For the curious, I grew up in the 70s-80's in Michigan (just like Michael Moore), partly in the city of Alpena (farm country) and partly in the suburbs of Detroit (car country). I earned my law degree in 1998, here in California. For a little while, I did a fancy-pants federal clerkship after I graduated from law school. For a little while after that, I worked for a couple of high-end law firms doing intellectual property litigation and class actions. For about eight years now, I've been helping consumers like you, and I've long been a proud member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here.

Here's Why I Don't Do Free Consultations Anymore

I'm known in some circles for spending lots of time with people for free. I used to spend two-hours each evening doing free consultations of 15-minutes each. Unfortunately, I've found this is just not sustainable. Partly, it is because 15-minutes was not long enough. Everybody took half-an-hour, and so for each successive call I became progressively later for the next call, and then at the end of four-hours (instead of two hours), I was too wiped out to get back to working on my actual cases and, to boot, I sometimes ended up not being able to get to some people. I had to either totally exhaust myself, or take on fewer cases, or stop taking four hours of free phone consultations a day. I came up with this as a compromise: Half-hour consultations for $40. Normally, attorney's charge $400 per hour for one-on-one consultations because it takes them away from active case work that they have to do. Interacting one-on-one with a client, means that everything else comes to a dead stop. When a one-hour phone consultation is done -- unlike other uses of time -- the attorney is every bit as far behind on his or her cases as at the beginning of the hour. Too many phone consultations, means not enough time and energy to take on enough cases. With this modest fee, I can just about make it work though. I'm frankly very excited about this, because by charging everybody just a little bit, the whole thing becomes sustainable and everybody benefits; instead of me having to give up the phone consults, I can actually do more of them. Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here. I only do these low-cost phone consults for self-represented individuals who are facing a debt collection lawsuit in California. This is my particular niche, so I've found that I can provide a lot of value, very efficiently (and simultaneously cause a big headache for debt collectors -- which I enjoy doing). Thus, I now do 1/2 hour consultations worth $200, but I only charge you for the first 6 minutes of that.

The Unprecedented Money-Back Risk Free Blah, Blah

This is a whole new world, and a whole new way to get attorney services; a telephone consultation that is "limited scope" and arranged "over the internet" and all the rest of it. I get it. It's different. But consumers are facing a whole new threat with mass filings of lawsuits against people who cannot realistically obtain traditional representation. I'm trying to fill a need. I'm trying to provide real value where it is needed, and frankly to do some good. Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here. I do NOT want to take your money if you feel, for whatever reason that what I provide for you is not what you needed and that you did not get full value for your money. If that ends up being the situation, then you have 24-hours after we talk to request a full refund. I will then courteously and promptly use the "refund" function on my PayPal account to provide your money back. There will be no hard feelings.

The Mandatory Disclaimer Blah, Blah

Please be aware, your use of this website does not make me your attorney. We have to enter into a written agreement for that, and money has to change hands. You might head down the road of hiring me for limited scope representation by signing up for a telephone consultation here. If so, read the limitations of that relationship before you click agree, so you understand that arranging a phone consultation with me does not make me the attorney of record on your case. Also, while I do promise to give you your money's worth from the consultation, I need to be quite clear, that I can make no promise about the outcome of your case. Even if I state an opinion about possible results in your case, do not guarantee any particular result. No opinion offered by me now or in the future will not constitute a guarantee of such. Finally, be aware that every case is different. Any comments by me concerning the outcome of past cases, does not necessarily reflect the future outcome of your case. Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here.

Hey, Do You Feel Better Already?

Admit it. I know that you do. That's because simply by scheduling the call, you have started down the path to do something about this mess, and you've scheduled a specific time at which that action is going to occur. It means you can relax. It means you can get a good night's sleep. You really can. Believe me, I understand. Oh...it's not nighttime? Well, I'm surprised. Go grab a nap then -- you need one! Schedule Your Low Cost Consultation Here.