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My wife got a call from her mom saying that someone came by the house and asked for my wife. They told the lady that she doesn't live there and hasn't for some time.
I immediately thought that she was being served with a court summons. We did some research and found a civil case filing for an oustanding Cap1 balance, which had been sold to CACH LLC.
My wife had been making monthly payments to The Law Offices of Robert Colclough/ACS Billing Services/CACH to help settle this balance. She made 5 payments of $100 on her $1300 balance. Robert Coclough stopped taking payments out of her account and my wife never really followed through.
Fast forward to today when we find out that someone tried to serve her papers. We did the research and are able to read the civil case documents online.
According to the court documents:
"On or about 9/29/2009, Capital One canceled the credit card, for lack of payment, leaving an unpaid balance of $839"
"Plantiff, the bonafide purchaser of this overdue credit card account, did not received any payments from the Defendant and is now due and owing in the amount of $839"
Here are my questions/thoughts:
* Since she no longer lives at her parents house, we will go to courthouse and inquire about the summons/court date. We don't want her parents getting harrassed.
* According to the court documents, she originally owed Capital One $839, and has made no payments since 9/29/2009. We have banking receipts/transactions showing that they have been paid $500. This would only leave a balance of $339. They lied/made a mistake in the court documents.
* Respresent ourselves if it goes to court? Try to get it thrown out for incorrect information?
* Call CACH and play dumb? Ask why payments are no longer coming out and negotiate payment plan?
What should we do?
Continued accrual of interest on an unpaid debt does not terminate based on a consumer's cessation of payment. It is most likely legitimate additional debt.
If you disagree with the amount they are seeking, that is an issue to raise in court. Unless the plaintiff was willfully, with knowledge of the inaccuracy, mistated the amount of the debt, the court would most likely simply amend the amount of the debt should you provide evidence of an inaccuracy. You will have to take that up with the judge.
You can always contact the plaintiff and attempt a settlement negotiation, which, if the debt is legit, might be your best course.
As to representing yourself in court, I you have that right. However, it is wise to cover all the legal bases before trial, and it would be wise to consult an attorney beforehand, and have he or she review the facts. A fairly obvious issue is whether the statute of limitations on the debt has expired. It appears to be somewhere in the realm of 2-3 years delinquent, which may or may not be within your state statute of limitations. It would be extremely detrimental to overlook a potential expiration of SOL defense, if applicable.
Same thing happened to my wife a few year back from cap 1 she neg the payments to $20 a month then she got served......all she had to do was call the lawyers office that were taking her payments and that took care of it
It will probably cost you more money to get a lawyer and fight it through court, you might want to consider calling them to see what is going on, and trying to work it out beforehand.
However DO NOT miss your court date without validating with the court first that the motion has been withdrawn, many times people are told by the CA/Lawyer on the phone that everything is ok, but they still proceed with the court action and get a default judgement. You don't want this to happen.
RobertEG -
We do not dispute the validity or the balance owed on this negative account. I'm sure it's just some legal mumbo jumbo, but the documents state that she has refused to make payments to Capital 1 and has also refused to make payments to CACH/ACS/Robert Colclough. The documents also state that in Sept of 2009 she owed Capital One $839. That balance was then sold to CACH/ACS/Robert and she has not made any attempts to pay this debt. However, she has made 5 $100 payments this year.
My questions/concerns/thoughts are that according to court documents filed by CACH, she originally owed $893. We have proof that she has paid $500. Her outstanding balance would then only be $339. If they amend the judgement down to the $339 balance, can we settle without getting a mark on her credit reports? I'm worried about contacting the collection agency to settle the bill because I have read stories of others who have done this and were told they would dismiss the case, but they collector never followed through. I just don't want this to effect her longterm, if possible.
Beb86 -
Was this with the same collection agency/attorney? Like I stated above, I'm hesitant to contact them in case they take payment and DO NOT dismiss the case.
Pizzadude -
I'm sure court fees, lawyer/attorney, etc will be outrageous. All of this over a $830 debit. Do you know how it works since she hasn't actually been served? Can a court date be set without her being served papers? We DO NOT want to miss any court dates, or miss an opportunity to settle this out of court. We just don't know what to do to move forward.
@cp94550 wrote:RobertEG -
We do not dispute the validity or the balance owed on this negative account. I'm sure it's just some legal mumbo jumbo, but the documents state that she has refused to make payments to Capital 1 and has also refused to make payments to CACH/ACS/Robert Colclough. The documents also state that in Sept of 2009 she owed Capital One $839. That balance was then sold to CACH/ACS/Robert and she has not made any attempts to pay this debt. However, she has made 5 $100 payments this year.
My questions/concerns/thoughts are that according to court documents filed by CACH, she originally owed $893. We have proof that she has paid $500. Her outstanding balance would then only be $339. If they amend the judgement down to the $339 balance, can we settle without getting a mark on her credit reports? I'm worried about contacting the collection agency to settle the bill because I have read stories of others who have done this and were told they would dismiss the case, but they collector never followed through. I just don't want this to effect her longterm, if possible.
Beb86 -
Was this with the same collection agency/attorney? Like I stated above, I'm hesitant to contact them in case they take payment and DO NOT dismiss the case.
Pizzadude -
I'm sure court fees, lawyer/attorney, etc will be outrageous. All of this over a $830 debit. Do you know how it works since she hasn't actually been served? Can a court date be set without her being served papers? We DO NOT want to miss any court dates, or miss an opportunity to settle this out of court. We just don't know what to do to move forward.
This totally depends on your local laws and will be determined by the jurisdiction where you live. In some places, you can be served through the US Mail, or by posting papers at your residence.
I'd advise getting a free consultation from a local attorney to determine your best course of action.
Ok. We spoke to an attorney/lawyer friend and asked for advice.
She told us to contact the collection agency and make an effort to settle the debt. She said after payments have been made to request a statement showing account was paid as agreed. She said we would then file a motion to dismiss, providing evidence of our payments.
We called the law office and made a payment arrangement. The amount due is now $1020 because they have added legal fees. We will be making 2 payments. He said they will dismiss the court case. They are going to send over a letter discussing our arrangement, and will send a letter saying paid as agreed and they said they will update the credit reports to reflect this. They will not be able to delete the negative tradeline, but we will GW the hell out of them.
Our attorney friend said not to avoid getting served. We have given them the new address and will await being served if it happens. If they do not dismiss the case, and we have made the payments, she said we can just file the motion to dismiss and all is good.
Thank you for your help and input!
That's great that you are getting this resolved, but I would REALLY recommend that you push them to delete in exchange for payment. You don't want this sticking around on her until 2017 or whenever it will fall off.