Help! I’m being sued?
(Washington state) debt bought by a debt collector, needing advice!
Okay so in 2021 I took out a 5K loan with a bank apparently called ‘finwise’. It was set up for automatic withdrawals but somewhere in 2022 it stopped taking out money or maybe I missed a payment idk? (My mom had just died and I was grieving). I didn’t hear about this debt until summer 2025 when I received a phone call from this guy trying to deliver me papers at an old address, I said I don’t live in that county anymore and he said okay cool don’t worry about it they’ll find you. Didn’t tell me what it was for and we left it at that. So then fast forward to June 2026, they find me. And all they say is it’s from a company called ‘velocity investmwnts’. Now from 2021-2026 I have not talked to anyone about this loan/debt. Completely forgot about it so I search velocity investments in my email and found an email in October 2022 from “finwise” saying they sold my debt to “velocity investments”. then 1 email from velocity investments saying that I owed them more than the original balance.
I have not been served the papers yet, but they are trying HARD. So I know it’s coming.
I’m just looking for advice on what to do once I get the papers.
Question 1. Is this debt really owed if I never signed a contract with velocity investments?
Question 2. Do I need a lawyer?
Question 3. What’s the best route to navigate this without being ran over by this agency?
Thank you in advance.