I've said it before and I think its time to say it again. This stuff works. Its a long sad story and I won't bore you with it but I found myself, five years ago, with over $140,000 in credit card debt. Yes you read that right. I had one card with a $65,000 limit, one with $30,000, two with $20,000 and one $5,000. Can you imagine that? I'm not rich. I'm no rock star or celebrity. Why does anyone need a card with a limit high enough to pay for a Mercedes Bezn E Class? I never once asked for a credit increase. It just kept creeping up on all of the cards. Once I started to fall behind, the overlimit, late fees, and high 28% interest started to add up real fast. By the time they were wrote off, I was up to $160,000. I considered bankrupcy but had assets that I didn't want to risk loosing. I tried to negotiate a settlement and could have ended it all for $40,000 but couldn't come up with the cash. While looking for information online, I stumbbled across the art of credit board. I never tried to claim that they were not my account or that I didn't make the charges. I never lied to anyone. I was aggresive and persistant. I demanded my rights and went after anyone who didn't respect them. I refused arbitration. I demanded validation and refused to accept anything less. I created doubt in the minds of the collectors as to their ability to get any money out of me and the validity of the debt. I became their worst nightmare. Almost all of them moved on to easier pickings. Some of the debts must have been passed off to five or more colection agencies. Only one tried to sue me. I had the case thrown out. It seems that to sue you need to provide proof (validation) that a debt exists, they you have authority to collect on it, and that the person named owed the debt. All that they were able to come up with was the same documents that they had tried to pass off as "validation" of my debt over and over again. In the end, I beat out five creditors and a long string of collections agencies to the tune of $160,000, all out of the SOL now and on my way to 800+ credit in less than two years. Read, listen, learn, ask questions, enforce your rights. Don't feel guity. I used to but stopped many harassing phone calls ago. The people responsible for the predatory lending practices are the ones who shouldn't be sleeping at night.
Those are some great comments, but how did you get yourself in that position in the first place? To get that kind of limits you must have had a high paying job or source of income. People who are in the lower income brackets just don't get those kinds of credit limits. Apparent or real, only people who have or seem to have a great source of income can run up that kind of debt. Then the question arises as to how you learned court procedures well enough to present winning arguments in court. AOC didn't teach that and no other board that I know of puts out that kind of information. I make heavy use of RSS feeds in a variety of ways so I can keep track of just about every board out there and not one will actually tell you how to go to court and put up a workable defense. If there is a board or newsgroup out there that does teach how to defend in court I'd like to know about it. If you wade through the feeds in my signature line you will find blogs, web pages, and newsgroups that are operated by a wide variety of courts from small courts all the way to the United States Supreme Court. You will find blogs from lawyers who specialize in debt collection as well as those who specialize in consumer protection. I also have lots of private feeds that are not in my signature line and with all that information coming my way I have yet to find any board or blog that will tell you how to do what you say you have done. I have no doubt that you were able to be successful in court. I'm not doubting your word. I'm only asking how you learned to do that. I know of several people who have learned the law really well and who claim to have won many cases in court but I've never yet seen anyone who claims to be so good who will actually give out the names of the courts and the case numbers so others can actually verify their wins. Will you do that? Will you tell us what state and county you won in and the actual case numbers so we can go check it out and see how you did it?
I would like to give you my cases that I have won but then I am outed AND I don't want that! I will tell you that I owed almost twice the $160,000. I also will say that I did get a lot of help on how to win in court,but got the help privately thru the various boards. It can be done and the rewards are sweet! One of my finest hours was wehn I wa being sued 30K and I won the case and the plaintiffs lawyer actually congratulated me! : ) : ) Woofer
"how did you get yourself in that position in the first place? To get that kind of limits you must have had a high paying job or source of income. People who are in the lower income brackets just don't get those kinds of credit limits." I made $140,000 last year. The 65k card originally issued with a 20k limit but whenever I got close to the max, they upped it another $5,000. It had a low rate and the minimum payment due was just interest. When I would send extra, they would deduct if from the next months payment! "Then the question arises as to how you learned court procedures well enough to present winning arguments in court." I suspected, from what I had learned on AOC, that the evidence was insufficient. It was the same old crap that they had been presenting a validation for years. I think that they just rolled the dice with the hope that I would be intimidated into paying. They filed just a few months prior ot the SOL. I had no idea as to how to defend in court (actually I had an idea but I would have been wrong). I did an online search and found a local consumer lawyer who took my case for $530. He said that he defends cases like this all the time and the collectors are never able to come up with the evidence required by the court. The complaint was dismissed. This was in PA. There were five OCs. This was the only one who took me to court and the smallest. The original debt was for $5,000. They went after me for something like $16,000. The law firm would have got 1/3. As a matter of information what they presented was: a couple of statements, a letter from the OC showing transfer of a sum in the million of dollars of debt sold but with no names, and the ususal printout with my name, the amount, etc. I did spend a lot of time researching and fighting. it was a lot of hard work.
Can you please be more specific. I am getting ready to start validation of some credit debt. I would appreciate any help you maybe able to provide. Anna
I have no doubt in my mind that what Anna has said is the whole truth and nothing but the truth. On the other hand, that's not the way it usually works, and especially not for someone with that much debt. The normal pattern is that people who owe debt end up getting sued if they don't pay up. The normal pattern is that the average person gets sued, ends up with a judgment, a garnishment and more.
Well, there are a lot of possible answers, depending on your circumstances. A friendly suggestion: Create a new thread detailing what's happening with you (how old is the debt? What state are you in? What kind of debt?) and we'll be happy to help. General advice, assuming you haven't already been sued: Keep your letters as short as possible. Ignore every single "sample letter" you see out there. Most communication can be one or two sentences. Admit nothing and offer no information. Send everything certified mail with a return receipt requested. I just had a major victory against one of the more notorious JDBs. As much as I'd love to post all the juicy details, I'm going to hold off a while longer. Even though I'm well past the SOL, a few more months (years?) can't hurt...
Good for you! Keeping a level head is paramount to navigating your rights and the CRAs / CAs / DCs / OCs obligations. Once I learned that my case is not unique and that being scared was pointless, I was able to clear everything up in a hurry. Congratulations!
