LVNV Funding Is Suing Me in Indiana — What Do I Do?

LVNV Funding LLC is one of the largest passive debt buyers in the United States. Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, LVNV is part of Sherman Financial Group LLC and was founded in 2001 specifically to purchase portfolios of charged-off consumer debts.

When a bank like Citibank, HSBC, Capital One, or GE Capital decides an account is uncollectible, it sells that debt — often for two to eight cents on the dollar — to a debt buyer. LVNV is one of the biggest buyers in the country. LVNV does not service the debt itself; it uses an affiliated company called Resurgent Capital Services LP to manage collections and engage local Indiana collection attorneys.

In 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau issued a consent order against Resurgent Capital Services for collecting on debts consumers had disputed by submitting Identity Theft Reports and for unfair billing practices. Resurgent paid a one-million-dollar civil money penalty and was required to provide consumer redress.

The key fact: LVNV is not your original creditor. LVNV did not lend you any money. LVNV bought your charged-off account at a deep discount, hoping to collect the full balance plus interest. Indiana has one of the most detailed debt-buyer pleading statutes in the country — the Debt Buyer Pleading Act, IC 24-5-15.5, effective in 2020. Combined with Indiana TR 9.2 (Affidavit of Debt requirement) and the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, Indiana gives defendants powerful tools to challenge LVNV cases at every stage.

If you were just served with a complaint from LVNV Funding in Indiana Circuit Court or Superior Court, here is what almost certainly happened. You fell behind on a credit card or other consumer account. The original creditor wrote the account off and sold it as part of a portfolio to LVNV at a deep discount. LVNV is now suing you in Indiana because a default judgment is the most efficient way to convert that purchase into a full-balance recovery.

Industry data and CFPB studies confirm that the majority of consumers sued in debt collection cases never file an Answer. They get scared, they do not understand what to do, or they assume the lawsuit will go away if they ignore it. When that happens, the Indiana court enters a default judgment automatically.

In Indiana, a default judgment carries serious consequences. With a judgment in hand, LVNV can garnish up to 25% of your disposable wages, levy bank accounts, and pursue other collection remedies. An Indiana judgment is valid for ten years and renewable.

Filing a real Answer flips the case from a near-automatic default into a real lawsuit that LVNV must actually prove under IC 24-5-15.5 and TR 9.2. They often choose to settle or dismiss rather than do that work — particularly because Indiana’s pleading requirements are unusually detailed and many LVNV complaints fail to meet them.

Indiana gives you twenty-three days to file your Answer after you were served with the summons and complaint. This deadline is set by Indiana Trial Rule 12(A)(1). The 23-day deadline is unusual because it accounts for the typical service-and-mail timeline used in Indiana practice; some service methods may carry different deadlines.

You count the twenty-three days starting the day after service. Weekends count. If the deadline falls on a weekend or court holiday, the deadline rolls to the next business day under Ind. Trial Rule 6(A). "Served" in Indiana generally means a sheriff or licensed process server personally handed you the papers, or — under certain conditions — left them with someone of suitable age at your usual residence.

If you miss the twenty-three-day deadline, LVNV will move for default judgment under Ind. Trial Rule 55. The court will normally grant the default if procedural requirements are met. Once a default is entered, vacating it requires a motion under TR 60(B) showing one of the rule’s grounds for relief and a meritorious defense.

The single most important step you can take right now is to mark your deadline on your calendar — twenty-three days from the day after service — and treat that date as the most important date on your schedule until your Answer is filed.

Indiana has one of the most detailed debt-buyer pleading statutes in the country. The Indiana Debt Buyer Pleading Act, codified at IC 24-5-15.5 and effective in 2020, requires every debt-buyer complaint filed in Indiana to attach three specific items:

(a) the original signed agreement — or, if the original signed agreement is not available, the charge-off statement; (b) the names of ALL prior owners of the debt with the dates of transfer between them; (c) a bill of sale evidencing the transfer of the debt to the plaintiff.

Failure to attach any of these is a deceptive act under the Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act (IC 24-5-0.5). This is significant because the DCSA provides for actual damages, treble damages or $500 per violation (whichever is greater), and attorney’s fees on uncured violations.

Indiana also requires an Affidavit of Debt under Ind. Trial Rule 9.2 for account-based claims. The affidavit must lay foundation for the account records — not just assert ownership. A generic Resurgent custodian affidavit asserting that LVNV owns the debt typically does not satisfy TR 9.2.

The leading Indiana case is Rock Creek Capital LLC v. Tibbett, 231 N.E.3d 256 (Ind. Ct. App. 2024). The Indiana Court of Appeals held that debt buyers are "debt collectors" under the FDCPA and "suppliers" under the DCSA, meaning a defective collection suit is itself a deceptive act. This dramatically expands counterclaim leverage in Indiana cases.

In practice, LVNV complaints filed in Indiana routinely fall short of IC 24-5-15.5. The original signed agreement is often missing. The complete chain of prior owners with transfer dates is often missing. The bill of sale is often a generic block-transfer document without account-level identification. Each defect supports a motion to dismiss and a DCSA counterclaim.

For credit card debt and most consumer accounts in Indiana, the statute of limitations is six years under Ind. Code § 34-11-2-9, which governs claims founded on accounts and contracts not in writing. The clock starts running on the date of your last payment, not on charge-off — see McMahan v. Snap-On Tool Corp., 478 N.E.2d 116 (Ind. Ct. App. 1985), and Ganz v. Ohio Casualty, 51 N.E.3d 415 (Ind. Ct. App. 2016).

If you made your last payment in March 2018, the six-year clock began on that date and expired in March 2024. A lawsuit filed in late 2024 would be filed outside the limitations period and would be time-barred. If you cannot remember when you last paid, look at your old credit reports.

Indiana has specific rules on revival. Under Ind. Code § 34-11-1-2, a written acknowledgment of the debt — and importantly, a signed writing — is required to revive a time-barred debt. Partial payment alone may also revive in some contexts, but the rule is more limited than in some states. Critically, an oral acknowledgment is not enough.

The statute of limitations in Indiana is an affirmative defense that must be raised in your Answer. Under Ind. Trial Rule 8(C), affirmative defenses must be specifically pleaded. If you fail to plead the SOL, you waive it.

LVNV is well known for filing on accounts that are right at the edge of the limitations period or even past it. The CFPB has criticized this practice. Calculate your dates carefully and raise the SOL defense if it applies. Combine the SOL defense with the IC 24-5-15.5 attachment defenses for maximum effect.

Most credit card agreements contain a clause requiring that any dispute be resolved through binding arbitration administered by AAA or JAMS. When LVNV bought your account, they bought it subject to whatever terms were in the original cardholder agreement — which means the arbitration clause may now belong to you.

This is a powerful defense for Indiana defendants. AAA and JAMS commercial filing fees for a business claimant typically run from $1,500 to $5,000 or more, plus the arbitrator’s hourly fees. If the disputed debt is, say, $3,200, the cost of arbitration may exceed the recoverable amount.

This creates the "arbitration fee trap." When an Indiana defendant files a motion to compel arbitration under IC 34-57-2-1 et seq. — Indiana’s Uniform Arbitration Act — and the court grants it, LVNV must choose between paying thousands in arbitration filing fees or abandoning the case. They very often abandon, which can result in a dismissal.

Indiana courts will compel arbitration if the agreement is valid and the dispute falls within its scope. To use this defense, you generally need a copy of the original cardholder agreement showing the arbitration clause. LVNV is required to produce that document — and IC 24-5-15.5 already requires it to be attached to the complaint, which makes the arbitration motion easier than in most states. Pair the arbitration motion with IC 24-5-15.5 dismissal motion and a DCSA counterclaim under Rock Creek Capital for maximum leverage.

Your Answer is the most important document you will file in this case. It is your formal response to LVNV’s complaint, and it locks in your defenses for the rest of the lawsuit. A good Answer in Indiana does three things: it admits or denies each numbered allegation under Ind. Trial Rule 8(B), it raises every applicable affirmative defense under Trial Rule 8(C), and — where appropriate — it raises a DCSA counterclaim under Rock Creek Capital.

For the admit-or-deny portion: do not admit anything you do not actually know. If LVNV alleges that you owed Citibank $3,217.42 as of a charge-off date you do not remember, deny that allegation for lack of knowledge.

The affirmative defenses to consider in an Indiana LVNV Answer include lack of standing or chain of title; failure to comply with IC 24-5-15.5 (missing signed agreement, missing prior owners with transfer dates, missing bill of sale); failure to satisfy Ind. Trial Rule 9.2 Affidavit of Debt requirements; statute of limitations under Ind. Code § 34-11-2-9 (six years from last payment); failure to state a claim; account stated cannot be established; and arbitration clause (if the original agreement contains one).

Where DCSA violations are present, raise a counterclaim under IC 24-5-0.5 for actual damages, treble damages or $500 per violation (whichever is greater), and attorney’s fees on uncured violations. This dramatically changes LVNV’s risk calculation.

What you should never do: do not admit you owe the debt. Do not call LVNV. Do not promise to pay. Do not ignore the lawsuit.

Indiana has one of the strongest consumer protection regimes in the country for debt-buyer cases. The Indiana Deceptive Consumer Sales Act, codified at IC 24-5-0.5, prohibits unfair, abusive, and deceptive acts in consumer transactions.

Under Rock Creek Capital LLC v. Tibbett, 231 N.E.3d 256 (Ind. Ct. App. 2024), the Indiana Court of Appeals held that debt buyers are "suppliers" under the DCSA — meaning a defective collection suit is itself a deceptive act. The damages available under the DCSA are powerful: actual damages, plus treble damages or $500 per violation (whichever is greater), plus attorney’s fees on uncured violations. IC 24-5-0.5-4.

The Indiana Debt Buyer Pleading Act (IC 24-5-15.5) is itself part of the consumer protection framework. Failure to comply with its attachment requirements is a deceptive act under the DCSA, providing a direct hook for the counterclaim.

The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act also applies to LVNV and Resurgent. The FDCPA prohibits false statements, misrepresentations of the amount or character of the debt, and abusive collection tactics. FDCPA violations entitle you to up to $1,000 in statutory damages plus attorney’s fees in federal court. Rock Creek Capital confirmed that debt buyers are "debt collectors" under the FDCPA.

The combination of DCSA treble damages, FDCPA statutory damages, IC 24-5-15.5 attachment requirements, and the strong arbitration leverage means Indiana is one of the most defendant-favorable states in the country for debt-buyer cases. Many Indiana LVNV cases settle or get dismissed once a real Answer is filed with proper defenses raised.

After you file your Answer with the Indiana court clerk and serve a copy on LVNV’s attorney, the case enters discovery. Discovery in Indiana is governed by Ind. Trial Rule 26 and following, and gives each side broad rights to request documents and information.

In an LVNV case, this is where the chain-of-title defense gets tested. You can serve a request for production of documents under Ind. Trial Rule 34 demanding every assignment document, every bill of sale, the original cardholder agreement, and the complete account history. LVNV must respond within thirty days. If they cannot produce the documents required by IC 24-5-15.5 — the signed agreement, every prior owner with transfer dates, and a bill of sale — their case is in serious trouble.

What very often happens next is a settlement offer. The economics for LVNV change dramatically once they realize they are facing a defendant who is going to make them prove their case under Indiana’s detailed pleading rules — and who may have a DCSA counterclaim with treble damages and fee-shifting pending. Indiana practitioners report that debt buyers commonly settle real-Answer cases for forty to sixty cents on the dollar, sometimes much less.

If the case does not settle, it proceeds to a court date. Cases under $10,000 are typically heard in Indiana small claims under simplified procedures. Cases above $10,000 are in Circuit Court or Superior Court under full Trial Rules.

A meaningful share of LVNV cases get voluntarily dismissed in Indiana after Answer, especially when the IC 24-5-15.5 attachment requirements are not met. Many more settle for a deeply discounted lump sum.

Answered is a self-help legal platform built specifically for pro se defendants in consumer debt collection lawsuits. The Indiana playbook was reviewed by an Indiana-licensed consumer-rights attorney and is built around the specific statutes and rules that govern LVNV cases — Ind. Trial Rule 12(A)(1), 9.2, IC 24-5-15.5, Ind. Code § 34-11-2-9, IC 24-5-0.5, and Rock Creek Capital LLC v. Tibbett.

When you upload your summons and complaint, Answered does the following: it extracts your service date and your 23-day Answer deadline; it scans for the IC 24-5-15.5 pleading defects most commonly found in LVNV pleadings — missing signed agreement, missing prior owners with transfer dates, missing bill of sale; it checks the Affidavit of Debt against the TR 9.2 standard; it identifies whether your debt may be time-barred under the six-year SOL of Ind. Code § 34-11-2-9; it analyzes whether a DCSA counterclaim is supported under Rock Creek Capital; it checks whether an arbitration clause is likely available under IC 34-57-2-1; and it generates a court-ready Answer with the affirmative defenses that apply to your case.

The Answer document is formatted for Indiana Circuit Court or Superior Court, includes the proper caption and case style, and contains the affirmative defenses and (where applicable) DCSA counterclaim language.

Pricing is simple: free to start, and a one-time $99 charge to unlock and download your final documents. There is no subscription. There is no per-document fee.

This product exists because the founder, John DiSalle, was sued by a debt buyer, fought back using exactly this process, and won. He built Answered so that other defendants do not have to figure it out from scratch.