Just served a summons. HELP!

[marcuscan]

Greetings,

I've been on my bestest behavior for the past year and things are looking up as i am soon to graduate from my BoA prepaid CC.  Great right?  Well, turns out an old CC from the past is coming back to haunt me.  I just got served a summons.....on my day off mind you....from Chase.  Of course it's no longer on chase's radar, instead i got some attorney on my arse now.

They have filed a civil suit and I don't have the money to pay them in full.  What should i do?!?

 Thanks in advance.

mc

[Anonymous]

First thing you must do is check your state's SOL. Is this account within or beyond SOL?

Next, you need to make certain what your court date is and don't forget it.

Then you need to ask the county clerk if you are supposed to file an answer to the summons and how to do so.

You state you can't PIF, can you come up with enough to try and settle? Can you possibly have the money to PIF before court? Remember, most courts let you postpone one time without any problem. This may buy you some time.

[marcuscan]

first off, thanks for the immediate reply SW. 

I've checked and it appears that OH's SOL is 6 yrs and this acc't falls under it by 3 months.  basically, they got to me in just the "right" time.  I honestly was hoping to have this slip by.  No such luck.

I have no way of PIF.  I'm recently laid off and unable to produce that sort of money within a month or so.  The full amt is just shy of 3,500, so maybe they'll accept less [?!?] in which case there may be hope.  Is there any chance they would allow me to make pmts in your estimation? 

Thanks for the next steps, I will be sure to contact the county clerk.

mc

[valley_man0505]

It may be worth contacting the law firm to discuss payment plans if you feel they will win if it goes to court.  I have received 3 summons this year for various accounts.  With the first two, I contacted the law firm and set up payment arrangements and they dismissed the cases before they ever got to court.  On the 3rd one, I thought I had a case in court and took my chances but they got the judgment (it has since turned into a big legal battle that I think I will still win, but, in the meantime, the judgment is still there).  One way or another, it looks like you will end up paying, so you may as well try to settle before court--once that judgment shows up on your record, it stays there for a long time (I believe it is 7 years) even if you pay it.  However, if you set up payment arrangments, the OC tradeline will still fall off once the CRTP is up and this is determined be the DOFD and not DOLA/DOLP.  That is what really makes me upset about the judgment that I received--the original debt had almost reached CRTP, but now this debt will still be able haunt my CR's for another 7 years in the form of a judgment. 

If you try to set up payment arrangements, don't be afraid to propose something on your own terms.  In other words, say you will pay $200/month for 13 months.  This will only total to $2600 total paid instead of $3500.  Also, be sure you try to tie some other stipulations on there (such as having them report as "account paid in full" once it is paid rather than "account settled for less than full amount" ).  The worst they can do is say no, and then you could keep trying for terms that are increasingly more favorable to them until they accept.  Be warned, they will likely try bullying you into paying monthly payments that are close to what they could get from you through wage garnishment (which I believe is up to 20% of your TAKE HOME pay--at least in my state).  However, they will likely accept less than that if it means two fewer trips to court for them (one trip for judgment hearing and another trip for wage garnishment).  With one of the debts I made arrangments for, the CA required a "court stipulation", which was basically an agreement saying that if I missed so much as one payment, they would go to court and get an automatic judgment since I defaulted on the agreement.  While that is a pain in the rear--at least they gave me a chance to avoid the judgement (which I did--it has since been successfully paid off and I never missed a payment) and they kept themselves protected at the same time, so they were okay with it.

Hope this novel I just wrote here helps.

Message Edited by valley_man0505 on 12-10-2008 08:48 AM

[Anonymous]

another way to deal with this is possibly to countersue if there is any violation of FDCPA and\or FCRA - even minor violations, a wrong date, or a wrong type of account.

good luck!

[marcuscan]

Valley Man, thanks a bunch for that personal story.  It is actually very conforting to hear personal accounts about how someone managed a similar situation. 

I don't really see how I have much of a case here.  I think it may be worth a shot to call these guys and try to work on some sort of pmt arrangement.

mc

[valley_man0505]

I wish you the best of luck.  Most likely, it won't be a pleasant conversation, but it could be worth it in the long run.

[Anonymous]

unfortunately, these scoundrels count on the fact that nobody fights back.

reality, there is plenty to catch them flat footed, and armed with patience, a GOOD attorney and some information, one could get at least 50% of the cases dismissed or settled for much less or even nothing.

A FCRA or FDCPA violation is $1,000 - normally is possible to catch every CA (or even OC) guilty of a 3-4 violations - enough to force a settlement of many collection suits.

good luck!

[Anonymous]

Yes, as the others have said, do whatever it takes to settle before the court date. Contact the law office and see if they will arrange payment in exhchange for dropping the case. If the won't, you will have to pay in full. $3500 is a large chunk but its not all impossible. Go to the court, and ask for the longest continuation possible. First continuation is never an issue. This can be a month or several months. If then you still cant get the cash together then ask for another continuation. Make sure to check with the court for the due dates. More then likely you have to ask 2 weeks prior to court date. Do NOT procrastinate. Take a second part time job delivering pizzas or at a restaurant. Most servers or pizza delivery people pull in $60-$100 for a 4-5 hour night shift. Whatever you do, do not put it off. Call the law office today and go to the court and see what your options are. I really wish you the best and I hope you can settle this as you do not want a public file on your credit report.

[Anonymous]

Are you absolutely certain of your date of default? Or, are you going by either the DOLA, or the date the account was last reported, or what the CA/Attorney is telling you? When, exactly, did you default-- stopped making payments and never became current on the card? Count six years from that date.

Make certain that you're not being sued by a junk debt collector who is praying upon your ignorance of the actual date of default. Check the current ownership of the debt. Check that the attorney suing you is licenced to practice law in your state. You may find that the debt is time-barred after all.

At any rate, answer the summons no matter what.