PROVO, Utah, Sept. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- SoloSuit, a legal
tech startup that empowers individuals to respond to a debt
collection lawsuit, today announced it is a semi-finalist at
TechCrunch Virtual Disrupt 2020. During the Battlefield competition
taking place through September 18,
SoloSuit will detail how its newly expanded online tools are now
available in all 50 states to help individuals who cannot afford
professional legal services respond to a debt collection
lawsuit.
The U.S. debt market is big business with debt collection
agencies buying and selling debt for pennies on the dollar. Many of
these agencies use the court system to collect consumer debt,
garnish wages and even seize bank accounts. Research by Pew on debt
collection lawsuits from 2010 to 2019 has shown that less than 10%
of defendants have legal counsel compared to nearly all plaintiffs.
Every year, an estimated 10 million Americans are sued for debts
according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but an
overwhelming 90% of them lose by default because they can't figure
out how to respond. An individual must respond to a debt collection
lawsuit in writing within 14 to 30 days of receiving the complaint,
depending on state and court jurisdiction, but this process can be
confusing and difficult to navigate.
Available for free at www.solosuit.com, SoloSuit's automated
software guides the defendant to safely and accurately respond to a
debt collection complaint by following simple online prompts. The
finished answers are then available to download and print for
submission to the courts. SoloSuit has found that many people fail
to respond to a debt collection lawsuit because they do not have
access to a printer or a post office. In response, SoloSuit's
freemium business model now includes paid options to have a
response filed on your behalf, or to have a professional debt
defense attorney review your response as well.
"SoloSuit is closing the justice gap. People need our help to
protect them from predatory debt sharks coming after them for
inflated debts," said George Simons,
founder and CEO of SoloSuit. "SoloSuit is designed to serve the
underserved, and we are excited to have the opportunity during
TechCrunch Startup Battlefield to demonstrate how our online
resource is making the law more accessible to a greater number of
people."
Simons adds that 52% of all debt collection actions in
the United States include medical
expenses and warns of a likelihood of increased debt collection
lawsuits as a result of COVID-19. "During the 2008 financial crisis
and the subsequent three years of recession, the U.S. saw a 40%
increase in debt collection lawsuits. Indicators point to an uptick
in debt collection lawsuits resulting from pandemic-related
financial struggles. SoloSuit is here to help make it a little
easier for vulnerable defendants to plead their case."
SoloSuit is presenting to multiple groups of VCs and tech
leaders this week during the Disrupt Startup Battlefield
Competition. Startup Battlefield is one of the world's most
renowned startup competitions, having launched companies such as
Dropbox, Cloudflare and Fitbit.
About SoloSuit
Launched in 2018, SoloSuit is a
Provo, Utah-based legal tech
startup that provides debt collection defendants with an online
resource to prepare a response to a debt collection lawsuit and
provide filing instructions. SoloSuit is backed in part by an
initial $100,000 investment from the
Kleiner Perkins Fellows program. The software used by SoloSuit was
initially developed by LawX, the legal design lab at BYU Law
School. To learn more about how SoloSuit is helping to close the
justice gap and visit www.solosuit.com.
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SOURCE SoloSuit