I've put my credit histoy out here many times, and it's not too bad now, so this most definately not a question for me. This is trying to help a friend in this situation, and maybe it will help others too. He owed a cc approx.$1500 about 1 1/2 yrs ago, (not sure which cc, maybe Chase) and has gotten letters about this from CA's. The latest one wa about 1-2 months ago, and it looked like it was from a local lawyer which now had the amount due to over $2000. (I'll have to get the exact details/amounts from him later) Later he got a summons to appear in court about this. At that point, my friend sent the lawyer a C&D letter. (probably too late, we realize, but that's what he did, hoping it was a bully CA or JDB that would go away) Friend never showed up in court. Just yesterday he got a notice from the court that he now has a judgement against him. Today he got a letter from lawyer saying what all the total is with all of the fees - over $5000. Since this is fresh and new, what is his best course of action now? He also wants to know what can happen now? Can they garnish wages? Can they come to his house for something? Can he negotiate a settlement at this point and get the judgement removed? If he can negotiate, can he get it back to the original amount? I told him at this point he'd probably need a lawyer, but the cost of that and the cost of the just paying the total amount may end up being close to the same, and he can't get the money from anywhere anyway. Is this something that after a period of time he can remove from CR, before the 7-10 yr time frame? If so, how? He has talked about filing for BK, and though I have tried to tell him not to do that, this may push him into doing that. Thanks.
Interesting that this sounds like a revived thread called "Summons served, please help", which I read with great interest. There is a big difference though. Here in NC the SOL for cc is 4 yrs, and my friend is inside that SOL. That will make his action plan different from the other thread's action plan. I will keep reading, but I do hope someone will advise.
This is probably going to sound harsh, but what the hell was he thinking? What gave him the idea that a C&D letter would stave off legal action? While negotiating a settlement now isn't impossible, it certainly going to be more difficult than it would have been if he had answered the lawsuit. I would say your friend got some just plain dumb advice from someone.
I would recomend consulting with a attorney (for free) to see about getting the judgment thrown out. If he doesnt hire the attorney it may give him a course of action to take. Bad advice or not on the C&D , good advice is now needed any ideas? Surely someone has had to deal with a failure to apear judgment, with inflated cost added on, what is the law concerning fees?
Check your state's attorney general's office website, it should state under debt collection whether they can garnish wages and file a lien on the homestead.. otherwise, yes, the attorney would be a good idea, if he can afford it, argueing proof of assignment of the debt and/or its validity, but it may be too late. If he can't afford it, I'd try to come to an agreement with the CC's attorney and work on a payment plan. IF they can't garnish wages, I'm not sure what they can do to enforce the judgement, other than work with him.. This may just turn out to be one of those "either pay the debt now, or pay your attorney plus the debt if you loose anyway later", yikes. Good luck.
Yes, the C & D was not a good idea, and for the record it was not my idea. He has another male friend who really does know a lot about this stuff, but I don't think that guy advised him to do this either. I think it's something he's heard of along the way, and I think his general feeling was that he wanted it to go away and decided to send the C&D. His other friend told him he wouldn't have let it get that far - he would have done something long before then. As I stated in the 1st post, when he got other notices, before the summons, he thought it might have been the usual CA's, maybe even a JDB, and ignored other notices. When he got the summons, he said he wasn't sure it was even real - thought maybe it was another tactic by someone who appears to be a lawyer when they are just a CA. He sent the C&D thinking he was sending it to a bully CA. But it's all hindsight now. I think everyone made mistakes in their actions dealing with credit. He is hearing all of this info and he is becomeing aware, but in the early stages of it and made this mistake. He doesn't even have a copy of his CR - he knows it's bad. I think he feels it's so bad there's nothing he can do so he doesn't do anything. He feels hopeless about his credit and potential to correct it. He feels it's so bad, he thinks he should file for BK and start all over. I'm trying to encourage him not to do that just yet, to get a copy of CR and if he wants, I'll help however I can. But this particular account I do think has gotten too bad. Since this account has been agressive, it seems, I wonder what will or what CAN happen next. Ideally, it might be a good idea to leave it alone and let it age for a while. In the meantime, he can deal with other credit issues before they get to be a problem. We all know credit repair takes time, so I thought if he let this one just stay on his CR while he deals with the other issues, maybe laterhe may be able to do something that can have him remove it from CR. Or, since it's a fresh thing, maybe he could find a mistake that might have it overturned? or some kind of action he should try? Thank you for the advise so far. Please, more thoughts and advise?
Something simple, and free: Go to the courthouse and request a copy of the judgment, also ask to see the papers showing he was served. Is the description correct for the person served?(address, date, time, etc.) he may have been at work when they say he was served, may be the wrong address, person, etc. Was it filed in the county he resides in? If they made a obvious mistake, it may get thrown out. If not he can look at other options. I'm not a expert, so further input from other members is appreciated.
He was served, so I doubt you can get it vacated for improper service. The only thing I can suggest is to see if he could find out what was offered up as proof of the debt. Even for default judgments I believe there has to be some evidence presented. If there wasn't, he might be able to have it vacated that way. You'd have to consult an attorney about that.
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I have passed this on to him today, and we'll talk again tomorrow, so if there's more I can tell him, great. We were wondering in our talk today... Can a CA or a lawyer collection company take you to court and get a judgement, or can only the OC do that? Usually CA's pass along the debt to another CA. I don't hear of CA's taking someone to court, in fact just the opposite. In part of getting the litigous mindset, part of the idea is that CA's DO NOT want to go to court and will often settle out of court. This was just a $1500 cc bill, that had already been through 1 CA and was passed along to this lawyer CA. In one of the lawyer's letters he says he bought the debt. So with all of this in mind, it seems odd that he would get a judgement, and my firend and I were wondering if he could really do it. I know it's already done, so it may sound like a silly question, but we don't even know if the lawyer showed up, and we wondered if no one showed up, does my friend lose because the case was against him, even if the other party doesn't show? I know if the other party showed up, my friend would lose by default for not showing up, but what if neither party shows up? I told him he should get all of the records from the court and take it to a lawyer for free advise. I also read in the FAQ's about going to court, and about subject-matter jurisdiction - maybe another point to bring up to the free lawyer. So we are gathering info to take to a lawyer for advise now. Other advise appreciated. PS: I am hoping, pleading that someone advise me on my other thread about 2nd round of disputes. I got one of my green cards back today, and I really want to file my CRA disputes ASAP, but I need to be sure of those few items before I make that move.
All records of service will provide the answer.(the circuit clerk has them) It will list the server, who hired them, and who was served. Recieving a summons in the US mail is not proof of service. It must come from a knock on the door, and "You have been served" Keep in mind if he owed Wal-Mart, they may hire John Smith attorney to sue him. The records of service will say John Smith as the person suing you in court, the judgment will say Wal-Mart and will not have Mr. Smiths name on it.
Another thing is that by FDCPA law paragragh 808 (c), " the failure of a consumer to dispute the vailidity of a debt under this section may not be construed by any court as an admision of liability by the consumer." So there MAY still be hope to dispute the original debt, but he really really needs to have his ducks in a row or get the attorney. But again, attorney's will only work for free for so long, so ask about how much it will be to represent him, or work on a contingency basis, and that still does not mean the case will be won, unless there are some blatant violations..
Sorry, but you are wrong here. Unless the judgment is vacated or void, the original debt no longer is in play. The judgment is the debt.
Please explain this, (something new for me) If the judgment is void, then can the creditor still report the original debt? I mean if the CRA's remove the judgment, and still report the original debt by the creditor, how do you get the original debt removed by the CRA's?
He wasn't home when this happened, but he said a Sherriff came to his door and served the papers to his mother. I haven't seen the papers yet, but I've asked him to look at them. When I see them, I'll look for more info, as mentioned here - who was sueing him, this lawyer or the OC, and I'll try to look for mistakes, proof of the debt, etc. I have told him to gather documents and talk to a lawyer for free. Does anyone know... Can a CA sue? I'll look at his papers to see what I can get from that, but has anyone heard of a CA suing? I can't imagine this is the OC. It had already been to one CA 1st, then this "lawyer" said he bought it, so I don't think this is the OC suing. Can a CA sue? I've never heard of that.
