Please Help Me!! Over $20,000 In DEPT!!!!

[Guardian]

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@fishbjc wrote:

Welcome to the forum.  I hope you won't take offense, but you need to get those child support arrears taken care of.  It's your responsibility to feed and clothe that child you helped create.

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Although I agree with you in theory, I think it is presumptuous for you to criticize or lay guilt on someone for their arrears when you have no idea how they could have come about. I know alot of people who are responsible, loving people who owe alot because someone decided to file for childsupport 14 years after a break up and 8 years after marrying someone else and when the judgment is entered, it is entered for a huge sum in arrears. That doesn't make that person bad or irresponsible as I know they have been paying the mother cash all the years and are getting screwed as a vengeance by the ex nothing more. I am not saying everyone is that way but to make a statement like this without knowing the circumstances is pure and simply wrong and frankly ignorant.

[mymoneynow]

Jason, sorry for your situation, but you need to know your options right away. Most lawyers will give a free consultation- take a family member or friend with you- take notes, lots of them.  You need to face your situation with an open mind- yes, it will be difficult, but you will see the sunshine again soon.

First, you do not mention your living quarters. Do you live on your own? With family? This is when family needs to be aware of your situation. Parents, siblings, cousins, etc. It is tough to move in with family, but that is being done now more than ever. Perhaps they can loan you money to do what lawyer recommends.

Second, keep an open line of communication with everyone-your ex-let her know you are looking for employment, your creditors as well- some may be willing to help you in some way, others may not, but you do not know until you try.  The lawyer can advise you as to the best solution here.

Third, You need to search for work right away, as mentioned before, maybe two, three, four, part time jobs for now. Keep a journal of your contacts, names, dates, phone numbers, addresses, whether contact was by phone or in person, then follow up on each one later.  

In November, I found a flyer in my paperbox from a neighbor who was laid off from banking industry, he started a new venture doing odd jobs- carpentry, repairs, car washing and waxing, window washing, drive pressure washing, pet walking, attic and basement cleaning, even grocery shopping. I noticed his flyer at a beauty shop and a local restaurant. When my storm door wouldn't close correctly, I called him, he was at my house in under 2 hours, fixed the door in about 10 mins, charged me $10. I thought it was reasonable, door works great, and I have referred him to probably 5 people in the past week. One was a $500 job.

Marketing yourself is very important.  Make up some business cards or contact cards on your computer. You can even use the heavy-weight paper instead of the expensive card stock, then just cut out the cards yourself.

JOB ALERT!- The US Census is currently giving the test for workers. The pay is around $11-$15 per hour I have heard. Several people in my town have taken the test in the past week. This is a part time job that can coordinate with other part-time jobs. Google the US Census "your town" for local info in your town.

Check with the temp services in your town, if you haven't already. Sometimes they have jobs for just the day, week, or month. We used a temp service one time to move an office. It was great!

When you do find work, remember, you take as much as possible and pay your child support. Too many times when a spouse is behind on child support, they stop seeing their kids- do not let this happen to you. Your time is very important to your kids, let them know you are having a rough time right now but you still love them.

A Judgement from a CC would be my choice over Jail for not paying child support. Child support is a necessity as far as the kids are concerned. 

Good luck! I will keep you in my thoughts!  

[Guardian]

relavent, helpful and understanding. thank you.

[Anonymous]

Okay thanks for all your replies!

As for people saying pay the child support its hard when I just went to court and they back dated it. So right off the bat I owed $6,500. And yes I cloth and feed my kid. I know what to do for the child support I owe that's the easy problem get a job! I will have one here in a week hopefully, been going to interviews all day, everyday, applying at night online, and trying to go to school, probably going to get kicked out because I haven't been going a lot do to finding a job.

And, yes I've asked everyone, I know including my family. Lets just say I never have had any help whatsoever from them, beside a roof over my head. I live at home for now, really can't afford to live on my own. 

So, I've been searching on this forum and online trying to find the best way to go about solving this credit card dept. 3 of the 4 credit cards already have sent me a letter stating, unless I notify them  within 30 days disputing the validly of the dept, there office will assume this is a valid dept. Chase has not been charged off yet but the other 3 credit cards HSBC, Capitol One, and WaMu have been charged off. So the collection agencies that bought the dept from them are stating unless I pay very quickly they will take me to civil court and sue pus attorney fees and interest. I have talked to them all saying I have no money to give them, I really want to but they all want ether $300+ payments or to settle. I can't afford that maybe if it was just one credit card I could plus the child support I owe this would be possible but $300 x4 plus the $400 child support a month that's $1600 a month...

So, my question is this...I read that if I dispute the money they say I owe and ask for a hard copy of my original contract with my signature or recording of me agreeing with the contract, that it might by very hard for them to respond because most credit card companies do not have those records on file? Making them impossible to collect the dept cause it will be past the 30 days and they didn't respond? If so how would I word it? I've seen samples of letters but none were word from word ..and I'm pretty dumb with wording stuff..and I dont want to mess it up.

Also, if they were just bluffing, and I'm asking that also think they are? I pulled my credit report and I see the charge offs but no collection agencies at all on my report. So, if I write these disputes and they werent really going to take me to court will this force them to do that, or piss them off into doing so?

Thanks,

Jason

Message Edited by panto on 01-14-2009 05:45 PM

Message Edited by llecs on 01-14-2009 09:06 PM

[llecs]

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panto wrote:

So, my question is this...I read that if I dispute the money they say I owe and ask for a hard copy of my original contract with my signature or recording of me agreeing with the contract, that it might by very hard for them to respond because most credit card companies do not have those records on file? Making them impossible to collect the dept cause it will be past the 30 days and they didn't respond? If so how would I word it? I've seen samples of letters but none were word from word ..and I'm pretty dumb with wording stuff..and I dont want to mess it up.

Also, if they were just bluffing, and I'm asking that also think they are? I pulled my credit report and I see the charge offs but no collection agencies at all on my report. So, if I write these disputes and they werent really going to take me to court will this force them to do that, or piss them off into doing so?

Thanks,

Jason

Message Edited by panto on 01-14-2009 05:45 PM

Message Edited by llecs on 01-14-2009 09:06 PM

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You are referring to a DV letter, not a dispute. I personally would not talk to them and would ignore every call and letter that comes to you, with the exception of any judgment or court doc. If you go firing off DV letters to the CAs or respond back to the OCs, you'll wind up putting yourself in a position to be sued. You don't want that. Increase your income (great suggestions so far), stop school (to free up time and/or money) and ignore the calls. Once income comes in, then save up to pay off your smallest debt (CapOne) and when you have the $$$ to PIF, then either send a PFD for deletion for PIF or settlement or call them and negotiate a settlement (not known for helping you). Then repeat for the next and so on. Get a full-time job now with a part-time in the evenings. Heck, a cheap job(s) earning $7/hr at 12 hrs per day would roughly net $1500-$1600/mo. And I know you can do a lot better than that. BTW, check the orange envelope thingy at the top right corner of this page.

[Guardian]

As I said before, I know what you are going through and it is hard. From the outside its easy to pass judgement without walking a mile in someone's shoes but for reasons not quite like yours but not entirely unlike yours, I have been through similar situations in the past, just stay at it and it will pass, it did for me. I know someone else who had that happen to them and that's why said in my earlier post, its easy to pass judgement without knowing that arrears are created very easily when the duration of the trial is considered back pay.

Anyway, as to your idea about disputing the debts and so on, that's a choice you have to make but let me tell you a few things I know for certain. 1. Even if you manage to convince one collector and they get off your back, there is always another who will try again, could be in a matter of weeks or even years later. They bank on the hope that they can get you off guard to miss court and they get default judgement. 2. Even if they don't pursue it with you, they can and often do keep reporting it which hurts you for years to come. Decide carefully, good luck.

[Anonymous]

So when should I dv.Does that mean dispute validated? Does that only matter for the first 30 days? Or first 30 days from the summons to court if they do that? Sorry this is new and confusing to me.

I read this from a post

There is some confusion regarding the 'first 30 days' clause of the FDCPA. You can DV the JDB/Collector at ANY time. If you do it in the first 30 days of the initial communucation  from the JDB/Collector, they can NOT continue with ANYcollection activities until they validate. After the first 30 days has ellapsed, the JDB/Collector still has to provide the validation, however,  they can still call you, etc to try to collect. Regardless of when you ask for the validation, the JDB still has to prove what they say you owe.

 They haven't tried to summons me to court, but I'm afraid they will as so they say their going to. If I send a dv to all of them will this do anything? Stop them maybe all together if they can't validate the dept, keep them from suing me, and collecting? Or just piss them off or obligate them to take me to court?

[mymoneynow]

dv is debt validation. The post you are referencing is by Lonnster "proper dv". In my opinion, his dv letter is right on the mark,  You would just have to customize for your own situation.

If you dv the collection agency within the first 30 days of their initial contact with you, they must respond to your dv letter with validation, in other words, they must provide proof that the account is yours with all info you requested. The collection agency must cease any contact or communication with you until they have validated the debt. If you wait until after 30 days of their initial contact with you, they still must validate the debt, however, they can still call, mail, or communicate trying to collect on debt, while processing validation.

Simply stated, they cannot harass you until they validate the debt, IF you send dv letter within the first 30 days of their initial contact with you. If you dv later than 30 days of first contact, they will continue to harass you while they work on validating the debt.

Be aware that you can only dv the CA, you CANNOT dv the OC.

As far as them taking you to court, your guess is probably as good as anyone else's. They want their money, you owe it, and they will take every avenue available to them to get it! There is a lot of posting on these forums of suits brought prior to SOL, usually not prior to 12 months after debt goes south. In this economy, it is anyone's guess. It will cost them court fees to sue, but if they think they can win, they will. I never consider the threat of a lawsuit as a bluff. You can search each CC on these forums to see what other experience myfico users have had with each credit card co. 

Back in 2004, I was threatened by Crap One to sue me for account in charge off mode. The first letter just mentioning a lawsuit scared me to death. I borrowed money from a family member and paid it in full, not knowing anything about PFD at that time. If this happened today, I would not be so quick to respond to their threats. Just hearing or reading "lawsuit" makes good, law abiding citizens like us a bit unnerved! Now, I know nothing can happen overnight with the court system.

I recommend you read Tuscani's post "Frequently Requested Threads" on the Understand Fico Scoring Page. Lots of great info is found there.    

[Anonymous]

So, lets say I write the DV after the 30 days they first made contact, what will happen if they can't validated it? Nothing? And, after the 30 days since I sent the DV if they don't validate all of it, can they still collect or take me to court?

I might be wrong but this is what I'm understanding and dont understand:

- The first 30 days a collection agencies contacts... If you send a Dispute Validation Letter they have to stop all contact and validate it to collect the dept? If they can not validate the DV they can not collect, and that's the end of it?

-  If its after 30 days a CA first contacts...you can still write a DV, but the only difference is they can still contact you trying to collect, including taking you to civil court? After the 30 days since you sent them the DV, if they can not validate it, can they still collect or can take you to civil court, just because the first 30 days is up since they first made contact or it doesn't matter?

[fishbjc]

Sorry Guardian, but this is about the OP..not somebody you *know* , that's irrelevant.  I stand by my post.  It's my opinion and I'm entitled to it.  If it's on the *books*, it's on the *books* and needs to be taken care of.

Please re-read my post and tell me where I said the word *irresponsible*.  If OP doesn't take care of these arrears, he may find himself in jail.