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Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

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golby260
Valued Member

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons


@tipofthespork wrote:

Please don't take my post as disrespect or anything of that nature, but i'm going to say what i'm pretty sure most of the experienced guys are thinking.

 

You are more than likely stuck.

 

You have a valid debt and it is within SOL.

You want an attorney but can't afford one.

The attorney wants you to find something to counter-sue them on and you can't. the reason he's saying this is if he counter-sues instead you you paying him his fees he can request BoA pays them.

 

Realisitcally they have you right where they want you. The have a valid suit and you don't have a defense. You have to ask yourself, why would they settle with you for a lesser amount at this point?

 

I would think your BEST course of action would be to contact them and request a payment plan and keep it out of the courts hands. This may be the only way to keep a judgement off your credit report.


 

Well, if the payment plan was an option, I wouldn't have been in this predicament to begin with.  Before all this, I was paying BoA under a payment arrangement of $130/month at 6.25% APR for 5 years, and a year into it, (October 2010), Mom stopped helping me pay, which was when my problems started.  It's all in the thread I linked to in the OP; I'm not going over this again.

 

I have no money because I don't have a job, yet, (the Post Office is taking its sweet time hiring me), and I have no one to borrow anything from, and these people want the whole thing at 23.24% and extra interest.  I haven't even had any emotional support from anyone for the past two weeks.  I've had no one to seek help from or even confide in because I'm surrounded by selfish people who don't care about my problems, yet want me to hear all about theirs, including one person in particular who has been pretending to care (Mom) but keeps trying to hold me back on the case, like she's been doing so in everything else in my life, including getting gainful employment, by trying to force me to delay answering it one day at a time for one stupid reason or another (she's the one with the car; she forced me to get this Answer out on Wednesday today when I was ready *last Friday* because she was messing around).  Because I don't have any options, I guess I should just roll over and take it, right?  Forget even trying to fight it?  Just let the garnishment commence?

 

Sorry if I'm annoyed here, but your post helped bring down the rest of my day.  It wasn't helpful.

Message 11 of 25
llecs
Moderator Emeritus

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

OP, if funds are tight, then don't worry about a PFD or reporting. Also, don't worry about a garnishment. They cannot garnish without a judgment. You did good by answering it as that'll buy you some time. The next step would be to wait to see when you are scheduled to go to court. IMO, your #1 goal should be to prevent further damage and that damage is an added judgment. I would do whatever it take to get funds together to offer a payment plan or to pay it prior to that court date. I think you'll be gainfully employed with money in the bank prior to that date.

Message 12 of 25
golby260
Valued Member

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

Alright.  It's been about four weeks and I have a new question.

 

I've since been finally hired at the Post Office as a temporary mail handler from the 28th.  I make $10/hour sorting mail all night.  My first real paycheck will be tomorrow.  I'll be making about $600-$800+ a paycheck.  I've gotten about three calls from CACH, LLC since then within the past couple of weeks: two of them were badly made by them and the audio is terrible; the third one was made today, and the lady claims it's "imperative" that I call them back concerning the legal matter.  I'm aiming to save up for a cash car since I've been using my mother's Camry to get to work.  I'm on a 90-day probation period which could end altogether on September or continue on from there depending on how well I've been doing at work.  Which should I do first, call them and decide to start paying it now or just save up for the car?

Message 13 of 25
rootpooty
Valued Contributor

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

call them and work out a payment agreement. you had the chance to pay them 130 a month and you blew that chance. try again. if you need a method of transportation now buy a scooter. a nice one can be had for dirt cheap. im not kidding you have a problem knocking at your doorstep and you need to face it cause its only going to get bigger

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Message 14 of 25
golby260
Valued Member

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons


@rootpooty wrote:

call them and work out a payment agreement. you had the chance to pay them 130 a month and you blew that chance. try again. if you need a method of transportation now buy a scooter. a nice one can be had for dirt cheap. im not kidding you have a problem knocking at your doorstep and you need to face it cause its only going to get bigger


1) I had to quit paying $130 a month because I couldn't find a job in time and my mother stopped lending me the money.

2) I could get a scooter, but I'd have to get a motorcycle license and I'd have to learn how to even drive a scooter to begin with, and my job has me working six days a week.

3) My job is about 25+ miles from home one way.  I have to take the interstate to get up that way.  Any scooter 150cc and over is not really dirt-cheap: for one that isn't Chinese, and thus, reliable, it'd take me about as much as a month and a half to save up for, in which time the court date could be set already. And I'd be better off getting a car instead anyway were it not for the admittedly much higher insurance and the much lower gas mileage. 

4) I work the graveyard shift.  Driving north of town (Atlanta, actually) with a scooter is dangerous enough without having to drive late at night and then, back home all tired in the middle of the better and relatively more generous half of rush-hour traffic.

 

Regardless of all that, I might call them.

Message 15 of 25
golby260
Valued Member

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

Alright.  I called them.  I called the number with the extension number of the lady who had left the message.  She proved to be a rather friendly, cooperative woman.   She said they were about to enter a default judgment on me, but I reminded them of the Answer I had sent them back on June 21, and they saw that I argued that I wasn't entitled to give them all of that extra interest and principal that they wanted before.

 

The law firm agreed to choices between a lump sum of $4314.86 or 5 payments of $999.73, since I told her my job was temporary, and I'm on a 90-day probation period, so I want to be able to pay off as much as I can within those days.  I agreed to the 5-payment plan, since it was all I could afford.  I have to postdate checks on various dates on the calendar to "prove to the courts that they'll be paid" -- probably a bad idea in the long run, but I'm on my own here, as I've always been -- and I'll get a written consent letter detailing what we agreed to in a week that'll have to be notarized on my end and sent to them and to the State Court.  I should also get an emailed copy of such tonight.

 

What do you all think?

Message 16 of 25
rootpooty
Valued Contributor

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

you should call them and work out a payment agreement

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Message 17 of 25
golby260
Valued Member

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

BUMP
Message 18 of 25
rootpooty
Valued Contributor

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons

i dont agree to the post dating of the checks. cant there be an agreement of payment on a certain set date of the month. post dating checks can end in a bad way. also did your employer advise you that sorting mail was just temporary and that you will indeed be let go after 90 days? other than that i see no problem with you paying those 5 payments as long as your income stays tact

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Message 19 of 25
golby260
Valued Member

Re: Question about Answering a Debt Collection Lawsuit Summons


@rootpooty wrote:

i dont agree to the post dating of the checks. cant there be an agreement of payment on a certain set date of the month. post dating checks can end in a bad way. also did your employer advise you that sorting mail was just temporary and that you will indeed be let go after 90 days? other than that i see no problem with you paying those 5 payments as long as your income stays tact


Well, I probably shouldn't have agreed to the postdating, either, but I did offer up mailing in checks through certified mail, but since I lack mobility (I only have my mother's car to get around town, and she only really lets me drive it to work), that was perhaps ultimately undoable.  I don't know if I might be able to modify the agreement back to that, though.  I should've done more research and sent the payments through money orders.

 

As far as work goes, it's a 90-day probationary period.  I have to be evaluated on my performance before they decide to keep me any longer.  I've been stressed out lately, so I don't know if I'll make it...  In any case, of course, if I can keep the job, I'll be able to pay them off by the end of November.

Message 20 of 25
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