Is the Person Who Wrote Me a Real Attorney?
If you live in North Carolina and you have unpaid debts, at some point in time you will likely get a letter or call from a debt collection attorney or law firm hired by your creditor. Unfortunately, many North Carolina residents are now getting called by scam artists pretending to be attorneys and falsely threatening lawsuits to extort money.
So how can you know if you are dealing with a legitimate attorney?
Many North Carolina debt collection attorneys belong to larger collection firms that operate across the state. These well-established firms include Sessoms & Rogers, Smith Debnam, and Bernhardt & Strawser. However, there are also a number of smaller firms and sole practitioners that also collect debts, as well as out-of-state attorneys and law firms, such as Dominion Law Associates and Zwicker & Associates.
Two types of attorneys collect debts in North Carolina: those with North Carolina law licenses, and those without. To check if an attorney is licensed in this state, you can search the North Carolina State Bar Member Directory. If the attorney contacting you has an address in another state, do an internet search to find the website for that state’s state bar, and search that state’s bar member directory.
All law firms that conduct business in North Carolina (except those that are unincorporated) must register with North Carolina’s Secretary of State. If a law firm’s name includes the words “Inc.”, “P.A.”, “P.C.”, “P.L.L.C.”, or “L.L.P.”, it should be in the Secretary of State’s records. This is true even if it is a law firm located outside of North Carolina! This makes it very easy to find out if the law firm contacting you is for real. Simply check the Secretary of State’s corporation database. All debt collection attorneys, regardless of the state of licensure, must follow the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.