topic Re: Being sued by Capital one in Rebuilding Your Credit

Being sued by Capital one

need2improve — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:24:39 GMT

Hi all,

I need your help and advice once again. i came home from work last night to find paperwork taped to my door from a local court stating that I was being sued by Capital one. According to the letter I have 21 days to respond. Honestly I do owe the debt, and for those of you who are not familiar with my posts I had fallen behind on bills due to the economy and health issues and simply did not have the money. I have been working my way down the list of those to pay starting with the smallest balances first, but Capital one is at the bottom since it was the biggest. I originally had a balance of $2500, but they snowballed the interest and fees on me at the last minute and the bill is up to $4,627. I do not have the money to pay this right now, seriously. I don't even have the money to pay my student loans even and am trying to work something out on that. My hands are completely tied. I've never been in this situation in my adult life. What do I do? By the way the account shows as a charge off on my credit report.

Secondly, I had a second card with Capital one which they closed as charge off, but are still sending me emails directing me to a special website to make payments. I have not paid this either because again I have not worked my way to it on the list. I don't want this card to escalate to the same point as the first one so should I go ahead and start making payments for this card on their special website even if all it is is $5 or $10?

Thanks in advance....

Re: Being sued by Capital one

MarineVietVet — Thu, 13 May 2010 17:52:10 GMT

I'm sorry to hear about your continued troubles. I've never had a summons but there are many here much more knowing that I am about this subject and hopefully they can give some good advice.

Good luck to you.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:11:10 GMT

What is the DoFD of the account and your states SOL?

Re: Being sued by Capital one

need2improve — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:25:17 GMT

Thanks so much for the responses. For the one I'm being sued over, the sol in michigan is 6 years. Date of last activity was May 2009, and the account was closed in August 2009.

any suggestion on what to do about the other cap account?

Re: Being sued by Capital one

BIRDWRITER — Thu, 13 May 2010 20:41:58 GMT

Hi,

My sister was sued by Crap1. Like you, she honestly didn't have the money to pay. Her husband had died, her home was foreclosed, and she was working barely over minimum wage, trying to survive. The day she went to court (in IL) she noticed that the vast majority of the cases involved Capital One. When it was her turn to go before the judge, she told him that she knew she honestly owed them some money, but not what they were demanding. She explained that she had a $1000 limit on the card, and it was now up to $5000 with fees and interest. The judge asked the Cap1 attorney if he had paperwork to substantiate all the ridiculous fees. Judge wanted a ledger showing each fee, and why and when it was assessed. The attorney told the judge he had nothing. The judge threw the case out of court, and told my sister she didn't owe them a dime!

Later, she saw the attorney in the hall, and went up to sort of apologize, and to tell him that she would have tried to pay something if they had played fair and not buried her with extra charges. Here's the interesting part: the attorney told her he was basically glad she got off, and said he had felt sorry for her. He said that Crap1 usually hired local attorneys in each market, had them sue people for huge amounts of fees and stuff, and rarely gave the attorneys any meaningful paperwork to back up the suit. He hinted that the lawsuits were really meant to scare people into paying, and that those who showed up in court were usually those that really truly had no means of coming up with the money. She got the feeling that this judge at least was fed up with Crap1, and would reduce the amount owed to actual purchase charges, or even throw it out of court completely, provided the person seemed to be honestly concerned about the debt and struggling to manage.

Now, I'm not saying this will definitely apply to your situation, but if you go into court honestly and politely, and explain you know you owe but object to (or are confused by) all the extra fees and penalties, you might get a sympathic judge too.

good luck!

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Fri, 14 May 2010 01:36:03 GMT

@need2improve wrote:
Hi all,

I need your help and advice once again. i came home from work last night to find paperwork taped to my door from a local court stating that I was being sued by Capital one. According to the letter I have 21 days to respond. Honestly I do owe the debt, and for those of you who are not familiar with my posts I had fallen behind on bills due to the economy and health issues and simply did not have the money. I have been working my way down the list of those to pay starting with the smallest balances first, but Capital one is at the bottom since it was the biggest. I originally had a balance of $2500, but they snowballed the interest and fees on me at the last minute and the bill is up to $4,627. I do not have the money to pay this right now, seriously. I don't even have the money to pay my student loans even and am trying to work something out on that. My hands are completely tied. I've never been in this situation in my adult life. What do I do? By the way the account shows as a charge off on my credit report.

Secondly, I had a second card with Capital one which they closed as charge off, but are still sending me emails directing me to a special website to make payments. I have not paid this either because again I have not worked my way to it on the list. I don't want this card to escalate to the same point as the first one so should I go ahead and start making payments for this card on their special website even if all it is is $5 or $10?

Thanks in advance....

I think BirdWriter has provided a lot of food for thought.

Now, looking at this logically, if you don't show up they will get a judgment against you for about $5k. That's a given. If you do show up, you have a chance that you will pay either nothing or significantly less.

If you can afford an attorney, I would seek local counsel. If you are unable to retain an attorney, I would go to court and explain to the judge more or less following BirdWriter's suggestion. There is a chance that the judge will render a judgment for less than what Crap 1 is demanding and maybe even hold off on a judgment while you make payment arrangements.

Other factors to consider is how bad a judgment can actually hurt you. Do you own property? Do you have money in the bank? Do you have income that can be garnished? Perhaps bankruptcy is an option.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

RobertEG — Fri, 14 May 2010 03:15:48 GMT

Great thread!

The advice of both Birdwriter and O6 are both on point, and very practical in approach.

I have very little to add, other than to push you to absolutely, postively show up in court, with or without an attorney.

Different states have different laws on additional interest and fees a CA can attempt to collect, so getting an attorney would be wise if you want to argue specifics.

If you go into court without any attorney, I suggest that you investigate, as best you can, what is legally collectible before you go to court.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Boonie — Fri, 14 May 2010 22:13:06 GMT

Did they DV before filing or did they just file suit?

I think it is pretty bold for a credit card company to do this considering the current environment of anti-credit card/anti-bank right now. Sympathy is most likely not in favor of a creditor with questionable practices.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Fri, 14 May 2010 22:57:09 GMT

@Boonie wrote:
Did they DV before filing or did they just file suit?

I think it is pretty bold for a credit card company to do this considering the current environment of anti-credit card/anti-bank right now. Sympathy is most likely not in favor of a creditor with questionable practices.

Look through some of the threads on the mechanics of DV. DV is probably not applicable in this case. As such, there is nothing questionable. You borrow money from the OC, you don't pay, and they sue you. It really is quite simple.

DV generally only applies with CAs and not OCs. Besides, you have to make a timely request before even a CA is required to DV. There is no requirement that a creditor take it upon themselves to send you DV before suing you absent your timely request.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

need2improve — Sat, 15 May 2010 14:23:13 GMT

DV? I would probably have to say no they didn't.

They are pretty much doing what someone has already mentioned here. I'm in Michigan, so Cap 1 got a local attorney and just filed suit. I must admit that they have been calling, and I even received a phone call 5 minutes ago from Cap 1 attorney. My vm just has an automated voice recording and doesn't state my name, so they could have been dialing the wrong number for all they know. Should I call them back and try to negotiate I wonder or just see them in court? Cap 1 did have a CA call me in the past, but I ignored those calls because again there was nothing I could do at the time, and again because I've been working my way down the list of debtors.

Anyone have any suggestions on what to do with my other Cap 1 account? That one has not reached the point of a law suit although it is charged off and closed. Cap 1 sends me emails to to make payments on a special payment website of theirs. Should I start doing this then even if it is only for tiny amounts but on a regular basis at least?

Lastly, I thank everyone for their words of advice and encouragement! You all rock!

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:46:39 GMT

hi, I've been where you are, and it does suck. I was sued by citibank back in 2005. I ran into severe financial difficulties beginning in 2002. In March, 2005, I started sending Citi $10 or $25 every month with a letter explaining the situation. All I ever got from them was more bills with higher interest rates and fees. Then, in November, 2005, they hired a local attorney to sue me. I tried to call them, but got no response to my voice mails. So, I sent them 4 letters (each 2 weeks apart) stating my situation and copies of the letters, etc. i sent to citi, asking if I could make payment arrangements. It made no difference, they sued me and as I was intimidated by it all, I didn't go to court. I realize that was a mistake, but they got their default judgment against me. I finally paid that off last August.

I would not start sending Capital One any money now. Please go to court, even by yourself if you can't afford an attorney. You may get a sympathetic (or overworked) judge that will throw your case out. After my judgment, I heard of people that did go to court, and either got the case thrown out due to the credit card's attorney not having documentation (as per that link in an earlier message) or the judge cut the amount owed, based on what the debtor could afford to pay. let us know how it turns out for you, and I'm try to send good karma your way!

Re: Being sued by Capital one

need2improve — Wed, 19 May 2010 18:53:16 GMT

Thanks so much for your kind words! I'm definitely going to go to court :-)

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:34:32 GMT

I would definitely go to court - you could end up owing nothing. Worse case scenerio you still owe the entire balance. Remember that the burden of proof is Cap1 not yours. I would not admit any of those charges are yours in court UNTIL they furnish the court with documents of proof.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:41:22 GMT

Make sure you file the response paperwork with the court clerk on time.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

need2improve — Wed, 19 May 2010 19:45:33 GMT

You have a point there. i just pulled out the paperwork and i have 21 days to respond. It has an issue date of 5/12/10. and teh summons expires 8/11/10. What should I say in my response?

Re: Being sued by Capital one

need2improve — Tue, 25 May 2010 13:58:40 GMT

bump

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Tue, 25 May 2010 18:21:27 GMT

You need to file an answer to a complaint. Google "draft an answer to complaint" and you'll get several examples. That needs to be filed with the court in which the suit was filed. Then, after the Cap1's attorney gets that from court, they will probably still follow through with the suit, but at least you've responded. If you don't answer, they will automatically file a judgment against you. As you intend to go to court, this answer will trigger the 'calendaring" of the hearing. You should receive a notice of the date and time of your hearing. Then, you go to court, and let the judge decide how much Cap1 will get from you! Start gathering any correspondence you have, print off any e-mails, etc. in case they try to change the amount of the original debt. When my judgment was filed against me, the attorney that got the judgment try to up my debt owed to the OC by almost $500. In my answer, I put in the outstanding balance as shown on my last statement.

You will need to file that answer within the 21 days, which would be by next week. Keep us updated, and again, I'm sending good karma your way!

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Carbusys — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:49:03 GMT

I sympathize with your situation, but, I do not agree with your plan of paying the lowest off and ignoring the rest until you can get to them. Because now in addition to having a derog from Cap1 and the CA, you also have a public record that must be taken care of. That's three derogs now and the if the small claims action goes against you, it will incur interest until paid and it must be paid to the court.

A lot of people use a method similar to what you did to get out of debt, but they pay every bill every month and if there is anything left over, they apply that to either the lowest debt first or the largest debt first. But, they do pay every bill every month.

I suggest you go to court with documentation to prove your side. This include your last Cap1 statement that shows your last purchase, your pay stub to show what you actually earn, and proof of all your debts and obligations. If you are honest with the judge, he may be sympathetic.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

Anonymous — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:47:00 GMT

I was issued a summons for suit by a collection agency for a debt. I hired an attorney to represent me in this suit. This attorney was very good and the doumentation that he asked the collection agency to present during discovery was so extensive that the collection agency dropped their case and all negatives were removed from my credit report by them. I also received 1000.00 because they could not justify the balance owed due to extensive fees. This attorney later told me that almost 99% of cases are dismissed if the plaitiff files a response with the court, either with an attorney or not. Do not ignore it and let them get a default judgement against you.

Re: Being sued by Capital one

fused — Thu, 27 May 2010 05:13:48 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

I was issued a summons for suit by a collection agency for a debt. I hired an attorney to represent me in this suit. This attorney was very good and the doumentation that he asked the collection agency to present during discovery was so extensive that the collection agency dropped their case and all negatives were removed from my credit report by them. I also received 1000.00 because they could not justify the balance owed due to extensive fees. This attorney later told me that almost 99% of cases are dismissed if the plaitiff files a response with the court, either with an attorney or not. Do not ignore it and let them get a default judgement against you.

Excellent! Power to Americans, Power to Consumers!!!!!!!!