LVNV Funding Is Suing Me in Texas — 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 Texas 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. Texas is unusual in that wages are largely exempt from garnishment, which lowers LVNV’s collection upside even on a winning judgment — but the 14-day Answer deadline is the shortest in any state in our network, so the cost of doing nothing is high and immediate.

If you were just served with a citation from LVNV Funding in Texas Justice Court or District 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 Texas 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. Texas is unusually punishing in this regard because of the 14-day deadline — many defendants simply do not have time to act before the deadline runs.

In Texas, a default judgment carries some collection consequences but fewer than in most states. Texas exempts current wages from garnishment under Tex. Const. art. XVI, § 28, with limited exceptions for child support, taxes, and a few other categories. However, LVNV can still levy non-exempt bank account deposits, place judgment liens on non-exempt property, and pursue a turnover order against non-exempt assets.

Filing a real Answer flips the case from a near-automatic default into a real lawsuit that LVNV must actually prove under Tex. R. Civ. P. 508.2 (Justice Court debt-claim rules) and Texas case law on standing. They often choose to settle or dismiss rather than do that work — particularly because Texas Finance Code § 392.307(d) categorically blocks any SOL revival once the 4-year clock has run.

Texas gives you the shortest Answer deadline in the country: just fourteen days from service if your case is in Justice Court, under Tex. R. Civ. P. 505.3. For County Court and District Court cases, the deadline is the Monday following twenty days after service under Tex. R. Civ. P. 99(b). Most credit-card collection cases fall in Justice Court because of the dollar limits, so 14 days is the practical rule for LVNV defendants.

You count the fourteen 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 Tex. R. Civ. P. 4. If you are unsure when service was completed, check the docket and the citation.

Fourteen days is dangerously short. Many Texas defendants miss this deadline simply because they are still processing the shock of being sued when the clock runs out. There is no informal extension; if you do not file an Answer in time, LVNV can move for default judgment immediately.

If you miss the 14-day deadline, vacating a default in Texas requires a motion under Tex. R. Civ. P. 320 within thirty days of the judgment, or a bill of review afterward. Both require showing factors set out in Craddock v. Sunshine Bus Lines, 134 S.W.2d 195 (Tex. 1939) — that the failure to answer was not intentional or due to conscious indifference, that you have a meritorious defense, and that vacating the default will not delay or prejudice the plaintiff.

The single most important step you can take right now is to mark your deadline on your calendar and treat that date as the most important date on your schedule. Fourteen days passes faster than you think.

Texas has a specific procedural rule for debt-claim cases in Justice Court that protects defendants. Under Tex. R. Civ. P. 508.2, a debt-claim petition must disclose the charge-off balance, an itemization of post-charge-off interest and fees, and the complete chain of assignment with each transfer date and assignee name. The rule applies to most LVNV cases because most credit-card collection cases land in Justice Court.

In practice, LVNV petitions filed in Texas often fall short of Rule 508.2. The chain of assignment is often presented as a generic block transfer without account-level identification. The post-charge-off itemization is often missing or incomplete. Each defect is a basis to challenge the petition under Rule 502 or to demand more definite pleading.

Under Texas common law, a debt buyer must establish standing by proving an unbroken chain of title from the original creditor to itself. A generic affidavit from a Resurgent custodian asserting that LVNV owns the debt is generally insufficient if challenged. The bills of sale must specifically identify your account number, balance, and origination date.

In District Court cases, where the dollar amount exceeds Justice Court limits, Texas Rules of Evidence 803(6) (business records exception) and 902(10) (self-authenticating business records affidavits) govern admissibility. The custodian asserting the records must lay foundation showing personal knowledge of how the records were kept — and a Resurgent custodian generally cannot testify about how Citibank kept its account records.

Attacking the chain of title and the post-charge-off itemization is the central LVNV defense in Texas, and Rule 508.2 makes it easier in Justice Court than in many other states.

For credit card debt and most consumer accounts in Texas, the statute of limitations is four years under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004. The clock starts running on the date of your last payment or last charge on the account.

Texas has the strongest no-revival rule in the country for debt-buyer cases. Under Tex. Fin. Code § 392.307(d), when a debt buyer is the plaintiff, no payment, partial payment, or other activity restarts the SOL clock. Once the 4-year SOL has run, it stays run — no exceptions. This is dramatically more protective than the rule in most states, where a partial payment or written acknowledgment can revive a time-barred debt.

If you made your last payment in March 2020, the four-year clock began on that date and expired in March 2024. A lawsuit filed in late 2024 would be filed outside the limitations period. Even if you made a small partial payment in 2023 — for example, in response to a Resurgent settlement letter — that payment does not restart the clock once the original SOL has already expired.

The statute of limitations in Texas is an affirmative defense that must be raised in your Answer. Under Tex. R. Civ. P. 94, 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 in repeated enforcement actions. The combination of the 4-year SOL and the categorical no-revival rule under § 392.307(d) makes Texas one of the strongest states in the country for time-bar defenses against LVNV.

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 strong defense for Texas defendants because of the dollar dynamics. Under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 171.021, Texas courts must compel arbitration when a valid agreement exists. 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. Most Texas LVNV cases involve credit-card debts under $10,000 — well below the threshold where arbitration makes economic sense for LVNV.

This creates the "arbitration fee trap." When a Texas defendant files a motion to compel arbitration — 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.

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 if you request it during discovery. Pair the arbitration motion with a Rule 508.2 attack on the petition and a § 392.307(d) SOL defense for maximum leverage. Texas defendants who file these motions early — within the 14-day Answer window — often find LVNV settles or dismisses rather than respond to the motion.

Your Answer is the most important document you will file in this case. It is your formal response to LVNV’s petition, and it locks in your defenses for the rest of the lawsuit. A good Answer in Texas does three things: it admits or denies each numbered allegation, it raises every applicable affirmative defense, and — where appropriate — it raises a Texas Debt Collection Act counterclaim under Tex. Fin. Code § 392.001 et seq.

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. Texas accepts a general denial under Tex. R. Civ. P. 92, but specifying particular denials and affirmative defenses is far stronger procedurally.

The affirmative defenses to consider in a Texas LVNV Answer include lack of standing or chain of title; failure to comply with Tex. R. Civ. P. 508.2 disclosure requirements; statute of limitations under Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004 with the categorical no-revival rule of Tex. Fin. Code § 392.307(d); failure to state a cause of action; account stated cannot be established; arbitration clause (if the original agreement contains one); and failure to itemize post-charge-off interest and fees.

Where TDCA violations are present, raise a counterclaim under Tex. Fin. Code § 392.401–.404 for actual damages, statutory damages of at least $100 per violation, and attorney’s fees.

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. The 14-day clock is unforgiving.

Texas has two principal consumer protection regimes that apply to LVNV cases — the Texas Debt Collection Act (Tex. Fin. Code §§ 392.001–392.404) and the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.

The TDCA prohibits unfair, deceptive, and harassing collection practices. Section 392.304 prohibits deceptive collection methods, including misrepresenting the character or amount of a debt or threatening unauthorized actions. Section 392.301 prohibits threats of violence or other prohibited conduct. Section 392.302 prohibits harassing or abusive contact. Most importantly for LVNV cases, Section 392.307(d) imposes a categorical no-revival rule on debt-buyer plaintiffs that is stronger than the equivalent rule in any other state.

The TDCA provides a private right of action under § 392.403 with actual damages, attorney’s fees, and either injunctive relief or, on certain violations, additional damages. A successful TDCA counterclaim can convert a small debt collection case into a substantial liability for LVNV.

The federal FDCPA 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.

The combination of TDCA fee-shifting, FDCPA statutory damages, and the categorical § 392.307(d) no-revival rule means LVNV faces real downside risk in Texas cases. This is the central reason many Texas LVNV cases settle or get dismissed once a real Answer is filed.

After you file your Answer with the Texas court clerk and serve a copy on LVNV’s attorney, the case moves into the next phase. In Justice Court, where most LVNV cases are filed, discovery is more limited than in District Court — but you still have important rights under Tex. R. Civ. P. 500–510.

In an LVNV case, the chain-of-title defense gets tested through requests for production and discovery responses. You can demand every assignment document, every bill of sale, the original cardholder agreement, and the complete account history. If LVNV cannot produce a clean chain of title and an authenticated account record, their case is in 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 — and who has Texas’s strong no-revival SOL rule, Rule 508.2 disclosure defenses, and a potential TDCA counterclaim on the table. Texas 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 trial date. Justice Court trials are simplified — you do not need a lawyer. District Court trials follow full Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

A meaningful share of LVNV cases get voluntarily dismissed in Texas after Answer, especially when the SOL defense is strong or when chain of title is weak. 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 Texas playbook was reviewed by a Texas-licensed consumer-rights attorney and is built around the specific statutes and rules that govern LVNV cases — Tex. R. Civ. P. 505.3, 508.2, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004, Tex. Fin. Code § 392.307(d), and the Texas Debt Collection Act.

When you upload your summons and complaint, Answered does the following: it extracts your service date and your 14-day Answer deadline (or the longer deadline for District Court cases); it scans for the procedural defects most commonly found in LVNV petitions, including missing chain-of-title documents, defective Rule 508.2 disclosures, and missing post-charge-off itemization; it identifies whether your debt may be time-barred under the four-year SOL of Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 16.004 with the categorical no-revival rule of § 392.307(d); it checks whether an arbitration clause is likely available; it analyzes whether a TDCA counterclaim is supported; and it generates a court-ready Answer with the affirmative defenses that apply to your case.

The Answer document is formatted for Texas Justice Court or District Court, includes the proper caption and case style, and contains the affirmative defenses and (where applicable) TDCA 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. If you also want Answered to print, sign, and mail your Answer to the court via certified mail — Texas is one of the states where Answered offers this service — that is available for an additional flat 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.