Ok, a county sherrif comes to my house and serves a Summons from Arrow...for a Providian account that is not on my reports. All that is there is on Equifax and it is for the collection account by Arrow. I moved this year (just bought my first house after 12 years of renting...^%#$% I knew something would go wrong!) so what do I do? I never validated this because it dropped off all 3 last year when I disputed as "Not mine"...I got a mortgage in May and it wasn't on there. I get nothing from Arrow (not even a call) at my new number and address until this summons. The date to file my written appearance is February 1, next Tuesday. I am the main breadwinner in my house of 2 kids and I don't have money for an attorney, so could someone please tell me what the hell to do? It is for $1,629.11. Will it go to court? Will I have to pay it in full? I don't want my wages garnished, so I need to know what to do. Please help!
Check your statute of limitations(SOL), in California it's 4 years...this may be all you may need to defend yourself. Good Luck!
Arrow seems to have issues about doing things by the book so there might be a chance that you can fight this and win. What is your SOL on this anyways? Hopefully you are out of SOL and this will be easier, but fill us in a bit more on the dates and we'll see if we can help. Artofcredit.com seems to have a lot of people who have gone to court, so you may want to research there as well in case we don't answer fast enough here.
You must file your answer to their summons and serve it upon them and file it with the court. You do not want to mess up now or before you know it they will get their judgment and garnish your wages! Other posters have mentioned the SOL defense....you must make sure that you know when the SOL expires for your debt, and if by moving if you've done anything to toll that date. Perhaps you can get some free legal advice from your local legal aid office? Whatever you do, you must answer the summons, and appear in court or they will win!
The summons states that in Cook County Il if the suit is for less than $5000 (which it is) then you do not have to file an answer. Here's more details: the affadavit says the DOL is May 2001...I am not even sure what this debt is, but I am 100% certain I did not pay on a credit card in 2001. This is not listed on my credit report...I did dispute a Providian account as "not mine" in 2003 and it was deleted on all 3 reports. All that is on my reports is the collection account from Arrow, which appeared on Equifax ONLY this December. My reports were 100% clean in May when I bought my house, and through until Dec when the Arrow thing appeared on Equifax. Also...I moved from one county (Cook) to Will, and I did not receive anything from Arrow from June until I received the summons Monday. Should I contact the law office and state this? The summons affadavit has my old address, but the front page has my new and that is where it was delivered. Is this a valid argument? I did not have time to dispute this or validate it because I did not know of it until the summons! I have very little equity in the house (FHA) and no assets other than my paycheck and 401K...I can borrow from a relative the $1600 they are suing me for, so let's play devil's advocate and say they win a judgement, can I just offer to pay it so they don't garnish my wages? I do not want that to happen, as it will be all over my work. I don't care about the judgement being on my credit report, because my whole point of getting my credit cleared up was to buy a house...I don't care about getting credit cards or loans or whatnot. I am ready to get a lawyer, but my gut is telling me to stick it out...plus, I don't have the money for one. Any advice is appreciated...I tried artofcredit, but didn't find anything.
Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! DOLA is not the same as DOD- Date of Deliquency that is what you need to know for certain I'm sorry, I'm not a lawyer, you need to find out if this is considered valid service. Even if not valid the CA will use it to get a default judgment if you don't show up. Then you need to go to court and explain it to the judge. State that you are disputing the debt because the CA has failed to provide validation. Then either they will have to provide it in court or their case will be dismissed. Probably, but it will be at higher cost including lawyer's fee's etc. The 1600$ may well be 1750$!!! You say that now but who knows what might happen in the next 7 years? What if you need a car or big repairs to the house? Do you have adequate cash to cover emergencies? Is legal aid an option or a free law clinic? You are in Cook/Will Cty's...Chicago must have some free legal resources? PS: how is everything in Chicagoland? I used to travel out that way to Darian, and Downer's Grove / Naperville for my job! Any advice is appreciated...I tried artofcredit, but didn't find anything. [/B][/QUOTE]
Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! You looked in the wrong place. Go back to AoC, go to Essentials and read "They Have an Attorney" in "The Flyingifr Method of Aggressive Credit Repair" In a nutshell, you shoud file an Answer admitting what is obvious (your name and address would suffice), denying as not having sufficient information with which to form an opinion on what is not-so-obvious (Like the Plaintiff's legal standing to bring suit) and categorically denying and demanding strict proof of all other allegations that mention anything about an alleged account or balance owed. Include in your Answer as an Affirmative Defense the allegation that, upon information and belief, the action is time-barred by Statute of Limitations and a Counterclaim for the FDCPA violation of bringing a suit on a time-barred debt (FDCPA Section 807(2)(A). Next I would move the case to Federal Court. That allows you greater flexibility in your Discovery Demand. Finally, I would hiot them witha Demand for Discovery, Demand for Document Production and Demand for Admissions that will keep their lawyers busy for weeks and Arrow's staff busy for months. It is very easy to make suing for les than $10,000 very unprofitable. All this can be found at AoC. Ask Butch and Tower Rat about the Discovery and Lizardking about the Rules of Federal procedure
Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! I looked up your screenename at AOC. Couldn't find it. Be sure we know who you are IThink. AOC IS the place to go when actual lawsuits get started.
Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! You gotta be kidding. I have over 2500 posts over there, screen name is Flyingifr. Neverthekless, here's the link to The Flyingifr Method of Aggressive Credit Repair: http://www.artofcredit.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2743
Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! Better re-read my comment Flying. I specifically addressed ::IThink:: As in IThinkICan. Everybody knows who Flying is.
Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! Butch... I didn't make a screen name there, I just did read-only. I didn't want to sign on there ignorantly. BTW, I have all of the results of investigation letters from the Bureaus stating the Providian debt could not be verified and was being deleted from my file, is that good evidence? I am going to artofcredit now and will sign on. Thanks, guys!
Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! Always keep your records guys. As soon as I throw something away, even when it's 5 years old, that's when I need it. LOL
Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! UPDATE Took Flyingifr and Butch's advice and filed my appearance & answer on this, then will start the flood of papers to Arrow's attorneys. Funny side note...today my spouse got a collection letter from Arrow for a 13 year old Montgomery Ward debt!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! Looks like they are "fishing" for anything they can get. Keep up your work and they will find themselves in the "frying pan"!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! They can't be collecting for Wards anymore--they're out of business. I suspect they're collecting for MCCBG (Monogram Credit Card Bank of Georgia), who owned the Wards accounts.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Arrow Suing me...HELP!!!! URGENT!!! Hedwig, It is just junk debt they bought...this is not on my spouse's credit report, it is like 13 years old!!! At any rate, I filed my answer yesterday with the court and court date is in 2 weeks!!!
