Hi and thanks to all who respond- I'm a newbie and have been browsing the site all day. Yesterday I rec'd a letter that said "District Court Information" on the outside of the envelope, and had a return address that included the words "Court House Annex." Seems legit, right? I open it up and the heading is: Credit Foundation USA Inc. A True Non-Profit Consumer Advocate (address) (888) KNOW DEBT Then it says: Dated Material- Open Immediately (my old address- I just moved 2 weeks ago) Re: Discover Bank vs. Me Case Number: ########-03 Dollar Amount: $2,605 (this is correct) The named plantiff Discover Bank have, by their attorneys, filed a lawsuit against you, (my name), in the court for the amount of $2,605 plus interest, court costs, and attorney fees. Our professionals can help you with this matter. We cannot represent you in court, but we can negotiate with the creditor to try to stop the trial from occurring. However we cannot help you unless you call immediately. (boldface) Time is critical to stop this trial before the court grants a judgement! Toll free number: 888-###-#### Call and talk to one of our professionals while there is still time and money. We can help: Stop lawsuits, stop wage garnishments, stop creditor harrassment We are a true non-profit, we are here to help. (phone number again) Sincerely Yours, Terry Hart U.S. Government Certified Credit Counselor Proposal So is this real or not? How could Discover have filed a lawsuit without informing me? Why didn't I receive a trial date or request to answer? Wasn't I supposed to be served by the Sheriff? If it's not real, who are these people? Am I going to have to go to court? Help! Btw, I am 22 years old and got this card in college- it had a $1,000 limit, and I only spent $500- the rest is finance charges. I paid it for a few months, couldn't pay anymore and it went delinquent for 9 months, then I tried CCCS for 3 months to get current and quit when I realized they were ripping me off and haven't paid since, so it was charged off. What do I do???? Should I file bankruptcy to stop the judgement? I have 2 other charge-offs and a lot of inquiries from when I bought my car (had to shop around for a company that would finance me- 24% interest).
You never know with these types of things. Since you have moved, they could have mailed you at your prior address and you never received it. HOWEVER, the first step is to contact the court listed (or if not complete information, the court in the county where you lived) and confirm that a lawsuit has REALLY been filed against you.
No, you do not file BK and F* Up your credit for years to come First things first...check the case number they gave you with your local civil court and see if they have any info about it. You should also be able to search their records to see if you are named as a defendant in any pending action If you were never served any papers this does not sound legit
There isn't even a district court in Glen Burnie, MD- I checked. Unfortunately I won't be able to call the Clerk until Monday morning. This is just really worrying me. I barely make enough to cover my living expenses as it is (I couldn't even afford Christmas presents for my family!) so if my wages get garnished, I'm screwed.
What you received isn't a summons, but chances are a summons was probably filed and mailed (or filed for, and for some reason not served, yet) My sister received a SIMILAR letter from J. K. Harris & Associates 'Financial Recovery Systems' (or Services); and she wasn't served, yet. In fact, she went to the district magistrates office and asked for a copy of the summons before they tried to serve, but they never tried to serve (and there wasn't a court date on the summons that she received) until a half week AFTER the first court date was scheduled for. What these 'negotiation' companies do, and I don't know if they do it at the request of the plaintiff (or if by chance they just pick random 'cases' to send these solicitations on.) Is send solicitations for their negotiation services to people who have been sued, and then try to work their way into the $ by helping to negotiate a settlement to the suit.
What these 'negotiation' companies do, and I don't know if they do it at the request of the plaintiff (or if by chance they just pick random 'cases' to send these solicitations on.) Is send solicitations for their negotiation services to people who have been sued, and then try to work their way into the $ by helping to negotiate a settlement to the suit. jam237 ============ They may also just be a pawn for the creditor to collect from you before they have to go to court. >------------>> LB59
Re: Re: HELP: Is this a REAL court summons? No, because she had called the district magistrates office to (a) inquire if the case # on the letter was legitimate, and (b) said that she had not received anything. They told her to write the company who sent her the letter, so I wrote a DV letter to them; and then on Monday she went in to the DM's office to request a copy of the summons, which since that didn't have the court date on, apparently when they realized that she had to come to request it, with a copy of the letter that she got, as the only thing that she received, the original court date was continued, but she wasn't served until about a half-week AFTER the original court date.
Re: Re: HELP: Is this a REAL court summons? Also, if you CALL, do not call from your own phone There is always the chance that this company is acting to obtain your phone number for the lawyer or the OC. Which would be Indirect Collection Activity. -- making this company a CA; even if they don't acknowledge this fact. I wrote a standard validation letter for my sister and mailed it to the address on the envelope. And since they put the lawyers name as the Plaintiff, we truely never heard of anyone by that name.
All the advice for this one is good advice. Don't worry yourself over this though. In order for the plaintiff to get a default judgment, you would have to have been served a summons and then not show up in court. And for them to have gotten a judgment period, you'd have had to have been served. AND SERVED PROPERLY FOR YOUR STATE!! Check with your court to see what your state says is properly being served a civil suit. I bet it's a ploy to get you to pay! Keep us posted. AND DON'T ATTEMPT TO FILE A BK OVER A $2600 DEBT! NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WORTH IT!
