Taken Advantage of! Now my credit is bad.

[pixecat]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida, Broward County

Here is my story. 7 years ago my ex-employer talked me into putting the company Nextel account into my name. At the time I was 18 years old and this was my first real job. In return he said he would pay my phone bill every month. In 2003 he moved his electrical company to Ft. Myers. Last year in Aug. 2007 he asked me if he could close the account because the service was not very good. I told him that was fine. He paid off the bill after being seriously delinquent for a few months, roughly $4000-$5000, but never paid the cancellation fees. Therefore Nextel charged the account each month for several months. When I found out I called him and begged him to pay it. He kept telling me he would and then stopped answering & returning my calls. The total bill is approximately $5300 and it had been reported to the credit reporting agencies as a delinquent account. I began receiving calls from a collection agency. My options were to hire a lawyer or go to small claims court where you can sue someone for $5000 or less. A friend of my boyfriends recommended their lawyer. So in April 2008 I hired a lawyer to sue my old boss. The lawyer charged a fee of $700. He had me sign a one page contract that was written on letter head and told me the official contract would be mailed. Each month I was supposed to receive an itemized bill. To date I have never received an itemized bill or the official contract. The lawyer filed the case with the clerk of court, but he filed it for the wrong amount. When I called him he told me not to worry about it and he’d take care of it after the process server delivered the paper work to my ex-employer. In July 2008, the process server still hadn’t delivered the paperwork because the Electrical Company went out of business. I gave my lawyer my boss’s home address, his father’s home address, the nightclub they had and the Reality Company. Let me say, I had already given him all this information when he was contracted back in April 2008. Also in July 2008, I had been being pestered by the collection agency for months. I told my lawyers that I was able borrow the money to pay the collection agency and get them off my credit report, but the lawyer told me not to pay them and he would write them a letter. Currently it 9/12 and he still has not written the letter even though I emailed the information and hand delivered it to his office twice. The collection agency is still calling every day, the process server still has not delivered the paperwork even though I gave my lawyer all the addresses I had over 1-1/2 months ago and my credit score keeps dropping. I went to the lawyer for help and feel like he is taking advantage of me. He never does what he says he will do and always puts me off. If I fire him I seriously doubt I’ll get any of the $700 fee back and then I’ll still have to got to small claims court and file myself or hire another lawyer. Here are my questions.

1) Should I pay the collection agency? I am trying to buy a house in the next 6 months and credit score keeps dropping.
2) Should I fire the lawyer?
3) If I fire the lawyer should I file with small claims court and automatically loose $300 because if I file in small claims it has to be $5000 or less and the total owed is $5300.
4) If I fire the lawyer should I hire another lawyer?

Someone please help. I am at my wits end and the whole situation makes me sick every time I think about it. Any advice would be extremely helpful.

Thank you,

Pixecat