Sued by Cavalry Portfolio in Arizona? Next Steps
Arizona debt lawsuits from this company usually name Cavalry SPV I, LLC as the plaintiff, while the letters and calls beforehand may have come from Cavalry Portfolio Services. They are parts of the same operation: Cavalry SPV I holds purchased accounts, and Cavalry Portfolio Services collects on them. Neither company was your original lender. Cavalry buys portfolios of charged-off credit cards and loans from banks and other creditors, then pursues the balances — through collection efforts first, and through the courts when those do not resolve the account. If a summons has reached you, the case is real and the timeline is short, no matter how little you recognize the plaintiff's name. This page covers the deadline on your summons, who Cavalry is, what it has to prove to a judge, and the practical options you have. It is general information, not legal advice.
First: check your response deadline
Look at your summons and confirm your deadline there. The standard rule in Arizona is 20 days to file a written Answer when you are served in the state, and 30 days when you are served elsewhere. Service is what starts the countdown — the weeks or months of collection contact before it do not count.
Letting the deadline lapse invites a default judgment, which converts Cavalry's allegations into a court order without any test of its evidence. Judgments in Arizona can be enforced through wage garnishment and bank account levies, which is why the Answer is the single most time-sensitive step.
Who Cavalry is
Cavalry is a debt buyer. Its model is to purchase charged-off accounts in bulk — often long after the original creditor gave up on collecting — and then recover what it can. Cavalry SPV I, LLC is the entity that typically owns the accounts and appears as plaintiff; Cavalry Portfolio Services handles the collection work.
Because the account may have passed through one or more owners between the original creditor and Cavalry, the paper trail can be incomplete by the time a lawsuit is filed. That history is background you can use, since ownership is Cavalry's burden to prove, not yours to disprove.
Debt collection complaints in Arizona
Arizona consumers have filed 16,144 complaints about debt collection with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau since 2023. Complaints reflect what consumers allege, not what a regulator has proven, but they show how common disputes with collectors are here.
The most frequent complaint statewide is being pursued for a debt the consumer says they do not owe — a problem that grows more likely each time an account is resold. It is one more reason that insisting on documentation before paying or admitting anything is a reasonable position.
Making Cavalry prove it owns your debt
In a contested case, Cavalry must connect your specific account to itself with a chain of assignment: records showing the original creditor sold the account, identifying every intermediate buyer, and ending with Cavalry SPV I. Generic sale agreements that never mention your account do not close that loop.
Cavalry also has to produce the terms that governed the account and support the balance it claims, including how interest and fees were calculated after charge-off. Holding a plaintiff to its proof is standard, legitimate litigation practice — courts expect it.
How you can respond
The foundation is a timely Answer that raises every defense you may have — including the statute of limitations, which Arizona law treats as waived if it is not raised in the Answer. The limit is six years for credit cards and written contracts (A.R.S. §12-548) and three years for oral agreements (A.R.S. §12-543), running from default, meaning the first missed payment or the last payment made. A partial payment or a written acknowledgment of the debt can restart that clock, so check the account's full history.
From there, you can request Cavalry's documentation, dispute amounts that do not add up, or negotiate a resolution for less than the face value. This is general information, not legal advice; the strongest combination depends on the details of your account and your service date.
Attorney review pending. This page is published as general legal information and has not yet been reviewed by a licensed Arizona attorney.
Important
- This is general legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship.
- Deadlines are strict; confirm your specific deadline on your court summons and do not rely on general timeframes.
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