Being sued by Portfolio Recovery?!

[A1Credit]

Does the credit card terms offer arbitration preferably with JAMS?  If so, you can elect arbitration which would forced them out of the courts and instead deal with an arbitrator to come to a settlement agreement.  

[nupey10]

Lily, Scenaria and others have some really good tips you need to take in.  One important point is DO NOT IGNORE THIS.  I did on a suit about 8 years ago and let the company get a judgement against me.  They were able to get the full amount and garnish the judgement.  From that experience I learned that I would not let that happen again.  Several years later I had a couple of suits come up against me and I hired an attorney that specialized in this arena.  He was able to get both cases thrown our somehow.  I ended up paying a little less than 30% of what I was being sued for in attorney fees.  An attorney can also work out a settlement for you but that is something you can do yourself and save attorney fees and get them to settle for less of what you owe.  Bottom line, DO NOT IGNORE, some people here have already given you some really really great advice that I wish I had the first time and could have saved myself $7K.  Good Luck, I'm sure you will be fine.

[Anonymous]

Maybe I missed it in one of the posts but how old is this debt? Is it within the statute of limitations for your state or out of it? Portfolio is famous for suing outside the statute and hoping noone calls them on it. Second, curious as to the name of the attorney that contacted you since, having dealt with Portfolio before, I would not be surprised to find out it was one of their contracted attorneys.

[Anonymous]

The debt is 2, maybe 3 years old. Unfortunately it looks like Missouri has a 10 statute of limitations so no help there.
I don't remember the name of the attorneys. I threw the letter away because I figured I wouldn't to hire them.

[Anonymous]

Forgive me for being dense but this is all Greek to me and I'm not understanding.

So I need to respond...but what do I respond with if it is my debt? Will we actually have to physically go to court or just send something?
My first instinct is to call them and beg for a payment arrangement to see if they'll cancel the case...but I shouldn't do that?

I'm just so scared and wanting to do whatever won't hurt us more.

[Anonymous]

They are counting on the fact of you being scared.

You will need to get the summons. They will serve you. When you read the summons you will have to prepare a response.

Even if it's your debt you can respond with a request for additional documentation to prove it's yours. Google is your friend when finding a good example of a written response.

You might be able to search the county court records for your case and get a jump on it before you receive the summons.

Basically your going to demonstrate to the attorney that your going to fight it and not just roll over.

Go back and read my previous post. All the information is there. Just stay calm and approach it professionally. You will end up prevailing

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much, scenaria. I'm still terrified but feeling a little better.

I've found some stuff online but it's hard to prepare since I don't know exactly what the court papers will say. All the legal talk is really intimidating.

So my chances are good at getting it dismissed? I'm worried I'll do all this and still lose in the end. Haha.

Why happens if I win and it's dismissed? Does it just go away? Does it still stick around on my credit report but they can't collect? Can they still come back at me?

[Anonymous]

You will respond to the summons with a request to
Dismiss with prejudice due to lack of
Documentation ( this is why your requesting the documents, they still need to prove how they arrived to the balance they claim you owe. For example, in my case my original balance was $1230 but they were suing for $2749. I know they were taking on all kinds of fees and could not show how they arrived to the total.

With prejudice if granted prevents them from suing for the same thing again. Without prejudice allows them to
Come back at you. This approval depends on the judge. I did not get with prejudice.

Which brings me to last point. If you have access to cash and you can pay a solid settlement. For example say they are suing for $8k, you could probably offer $6k and make
It all go away including the reporting.

But the original creditor will continue reporting the negative which will be hard to remove.

[Gonzozap]

I want to be very honest with you and say the FIRST thing you absolutely must do is get that fear out of your soul.  We can read it in your words and PRA will hear it in your voice. And when they hear it, they will try to roll all over you like the pigs they are.  I know it is not easy, especially if this is your first time dealing with this and it sounds like it is.  If you choose to attempt a settlement, can you get a good friend or family member to speak on the phone for you?  That person would not be nervous and might be more forceful with negotiating.  Trying to settle will do you no good if you simply settle for whatever they say.  Keep in mind, PRA does NOT have all the records of your purchases/payment/returns, etc. Most times, all they will have are your last 1 or 2 statements.  These "junk debt collectors" know that 98% of the time, the defendant will not show up and they will get a default judgment. The vast majority of these  lawyers are unprepared to fight back against a defendant who takes it all the way to the end.  I beat back every one of the JDBs that came after me - all 7 of them.  Three of them had the same attorney and I showed that attorney the sidewalk 3 times.  Pitiful, right. Has little to do with me being good.  It was me being persistent and them being awful and  unprepared. The only case I lost - kinda - was a case involving an original creditor. But when I went to file an appeal, they quickly agreed to settle for an astoundingly low amount. And yes, I owed the money every time but one.

I say this to encourage you not to sit back and do nothing. You don't seem comfortable  moving forward on your own, so try to get a free consultation with a "consumer attorney" in your area. Or try to get consultations with 2 or 3 attorneys.

As foir arbitration, I didn't mention that earlier because nothing about motioning for arbitration is simple for the novice. It's something else you would have to learn.

As an example of how incompetent the JDB's lawyers are, I had one file a motion for summary judgement (MSJ) against me. I filed opposition & requested oral argument. Show up for argument. Our case is called.  The lawyer was one of those "rent-a-lawyers" because the lawyer's office was 150 miles away from the court. The 1st thing the "rent-a-lawyer" says is she motions to withdraw the summary judgment.  Huh??  I was disappointed because I was ready to argue their nonsense. They had put together a MSJ with affidavits that had NOTHING to do with my debt.  The application, the statements, the amounts due, etc., were all about somebody else's account.  After seeing that, I vowed I would never let one of these cases just slip by.

I asked who the creditor is because creditors have different behaviors.  I don't know anything about US Bank in regards to credit cards though

There are other forums that deal more specifically with fighting debt collectors. Try this one.  It's where I first got a lot of info.:

http://www.debtorboards.com/index.php?topic=29746.0

[Anonymous]

Ok, we were finally served papers today. It was much less dramatic than I expected it to be. The guy was really nice and didn't even say "You've just been served." Lol. He just said he had some court papers for us and told me to have a nice day.

I can definitely see why so many people do nothing. The papers he gave us don't say anything about us responding. There's just a paper telling us to come to court and papers saying what it's about. There's also "exhibit 1 & 2" which is a copy of a credit card statement and something saying that my husband isn't in the military. I just assumed there'd be some sort of directions for us to respond and maybe a form to fill out.