hello i am being sued by citibank. to make a really long story somewhat short... in 2004 we were hit by 3 different hurricanes in a matter of weeks. our roof took the worst hit. over the next year, we tried (in vain) to repair this roof as it was a beautiful asbestos tile roof that my daughters describe as fish scales. unable to repair the damage, we filed a claim against our insurance company, all the while repairing our plaster walls and ceilings, patching our roof, dreading the rain. in the fall of 2007, we were able to reroof, but between having our insurance cancelled (our mortgage went up $800 a month due to expensive force placed insurance) and our out of pocket for the roof, something had to give. this was our citi card. after about 3 months of not paying them, they sent us a letter to offer us a settlement. the letter told us that we had until a specific date, gave us the amount we owed, the settlement amount, and their hours of operation (6:30 am - 11:00 pm). we scraped together the money and called them. this was at 6:05 pm on the expiration date. when we called, they told us that the offer had expired at 6:00. nowhere on our letter did it say that. we spent the next month trying to either get citi to take the settlement amount or place us in their hardship program. this leads me to yesterday when a process server delivers a summons for a notice to appear for pretrial conference. can i use the settlement offer (the letter and my cell phone call record showing when i called, many, many times) as a defense? should i call the law firm representing citi to discuss this or would that not be a good idea? since i signed up for this card in my hubby's name, without him signing any sort of agreement, can i use that to force them to take the settlement amount or would that get me tossed in jail? thanks so much for any help. i really appreciate the time that you guys put in to help people like me. suz
I would not tell him that it was YOU that did this as this is considered fraud. Don't make trouble for yourself. You talking abut settlement is not a defense. HOw much do you owe? WHen did you last pay on the account? Citi will have all their ducks in a row. You can call up the attorney and see if they will do a payment plan. Bottom line if they win and they most likely will (this debt has not been sold right)?then they will deal with you for a lessor amount IME. Woofer
HOw much do you owe? about $4200 WHen did you last pay on the account? august or sept of 2007 we only went 3 months without paying when they offered us a settlement. granted our payment history wasn't pretty, but we did pay. i'm guessing by your comment about citi that they are one of the few credit cards who keep good records? so catching them on technicality is probably out of the question. and with my extremely limited knowledge of the law, if there was something to catch them on, i probably wouldn't be able to do it. are there any other options? and thanks so much for the help! truly.
What was the settlement offer? In my opinion and experience they do, keep good records, HOWEVER if it has been sold and even if it has just gone to a CA then you may have some leeway. If it were me, I would WAIT it out ,as I have found MANY times even if you do nothing, you will be able to deal. ESPECIALLY if they think that you do not have much to attach. Also, when they sue, and if they win, the judge might find that you only have to pay then $20 bucks and everything will be written up in court so they cannot stick you later. You can ALWAYS deal, even after a judgment, and also money is so hard to come by now, KEEP what you have at least for now, as you may need it for something much more important, like food. <sigh> Of course this is only my opinion not meant to be law advice. Woofer
our settlement offer was for $2300. i don't think it has been sold as it reports under citibank on our credit report and it is citibank (south dakota) who is suing us. so you are saying wait it out until the pretrial conference and see where our cards lie. it does make sense as we don't really have much of a defense. what did you mean by "ESPECIALLY if they think that you do not have much to attach."? and as before, thank you so much for your time.
Assets, such as car, bank accounts, home, employment. You said settlement was $2300 and they reneged on this? How much was the original amount? As for the suit, although it is citibank as the plaintiff WHO is the CA? I would not pay them until I HAD to and then the court is going to work out a payment plan which at least will all be kosher with the courts and the plaintiff will not be able to do something devious, as they have already done in the past to you. Bottom line I have found if you want to deal, and give them ALL in one lump, say tell them you will give them $1200, and be firm and not go much more, then be done with it they will take it. If you cannot afford a lump sum, it wil have to be on a monthly payment plan and or several amounts till the deal that you agreed upon is done. I really want to tell you to %^&*() then and let them eat cake,as they are far too greedy and underhanded. Do you have any violations on them? Hopefully if handled correctly,they will not get much, and you will get more : ) Woofer
Assets, such as car, bank accounts, home, employment. oh, we've got assetts. we owe about 25% of what our home is worth. we own my hubby's truck and have 3 payments left on my truck. have a boat that we own outright that we got by doing trade with the dealer. but bank accounts, not so much. You said settlement was $2300 and they reneged on this? yep. i deposited the funds about 2:30 on due date, called them at about 3 to make the settlement, asked if i should call back later so that it definitely wouldn't clear that day, they said yes, called back at 6:05, was told offer expired at 6:00 and i was out of luck, even though settlement offer letter didn't have an expiration time, but did have hours of operation until 11pm, called back 2 more times, trying to get someone who would take the $$. have bank records and cell phone records to prove all of this. How much was the original amount? $4200 was original amount As for the suit, although it is citibank as the plaintiff WHO is the CA? Zakheim and ass. (c: out of south florida i am a little nervous now about my "attachments". but our salary is not much and our mortgage went up $800 (from just over $1500 to just over $2300) recently due to force placed insurance when allstate cancelled us and we couldn't get coverage because we were in the middle of a 9 month reroofing project. so what we are left with each month ain't much!
hey woofer i wonder if my settlement offer could be considered a contract and i could get them for breach of contact? and someone had mentioned that i had 20 days to respond but they only served me 13 days before trial. this might be a violation, but i'm not sure. any thoughts? thanks!
You have not gone to court yet,, right?Have you answered anything in the suit? Have they been calling you? If it were me I would not give them anything, I would play out the court route and let them try to get the money. Each state has different laws so not sure about the contract. I will say though this is WHY I NEVER WILL DEAL WITH ANYONE, unless I have a date ,amount and spelled out exactly, and I feel that the best way to get anything all locked up is hiring a lawyer, which I have found saves a lot of money in the long run. I say this as they have already reneged, so who knows what they will do another time. Now if you don't hire a lawyer and you go to court, at least if there is an offer and an acceptance it will all be kosher and on the books for future if there is a problem. If they have your bank account numbers, either take the money out or get another bank, just in case. Again I would just wait it out and respond to the paperwork. Any time this has happened to me, they always want to settle even after they get a judgment, and always for a lot lot less. Think about keeping your money for now.. : ) Woofer
taking the money out of the bank isn't an issue. we were ready to settle with them back in december and haven't spent the money that we were going to give to them, although it has been tempting! (c: hiring a lawyer really isn't an option here either. it will probably cost us a grand and there really isn't any way that he could save us that amount on our settlement. i just want the judge to hold them to their offer. could that letter be considered a contract since they signed it? thanks
I would take the money out of the bank NOW. This way at the pre trial conference if they ask you about your accounts you can truthfully say you do not have such and such amount in them. A lawyer CAN negotiate a good deal., and so can't you. I am not a lawyer so I cannot say , BUT I do not understand your insistence to pay them. Woofer
i know. after all of the headaches and sleepless nights that this has caused, not to mention the hours that i have spent researching this to not feel like i am one bit closer to knowing what i am talking about. but i just don't feel like i have any defense in this matter except holding them to their settlement amount. i am reading the fdcpa (in small doses. it is giving me brain bruises) to try to see if there are any violations, but the only one i can come up with is calling my husbands business partner's wife. evidently they told her that they were trying to find me and that i owed them money, but that would be her word against theirs, right? and that was the first collection agency that they hired (united recovery systems) not citibank directly. i will keep you updated to let you know what i can find in the fdcpa. and... i will take our monies out of our account. (c: btw, what were your thoughts on whether their settlement offer could be considered a contract that they breached? thanks!
I donot have any thoughts on this that would apply legally. As for the CA contacting someone to find you, well of course we know this is BS BUT it is not a violation. HOWEVER the fact that this company told this person that you OWED Money THIS IS A VIOLATION. You can go after them for that, and all you need is an affidavit from her statting time and what was said in the conversation. This is WHY though I believe you getting a lawyer or just going in for a consultation would be wise. If you do decide to fight this with or without a lawyer you need to have all your facts in order. Copies of ALL your contacts with CITI and the CA and how many times they called a week and what did they say and who called. While CITI will have their ducks ina row, YOU CAN GET VIOLATIONS On the CA and or JDB which many times will be more then what you will wind up paying Citi, IN MY EXPERIENCE. YOu have asked many time about what I think about the contract was breached and I have to ld you each and everyt ime that you need to look at your state laws, and that I do not know what constitiutes breach in your state. You also never pasted EXACTLY what the contract stated, so it is all a moot point, as unless we can read EACH AND EVERY word, sans private info, then it is very difficult to tell you what is what. We are coming from opposite ends in our thinking. I cannot fathom begging them to take my money!!! Now I am done with this and I wish you good luck. Woofer
woofer thanks for all of your help and advice. i truly appreciate the time that you have spent to help me. suz
WOOFER!!!! i'm ready to fight!!! in the florida rules of civil procedure rule 1.200 pretrial procedure (c) notice. reasonable notice shall be given for a case management conference and 20 days notice shall be given for a pretrial conference. VIOLATION!!!!! only 13 days notice given in the fdcpa rule 804 acquisition of location information (3)...not communicate w. any such person more than once... VIOLATION!!!!!! have called my dad about every 3 weeks since february looking for my hubby and this is the best one!!!! by definition, their settlement offer is considered a contract. i can countersue (i think that is the term) them for breach of that contract (the whole "the offer expired at 6:00" thing when it says nothing about time expiration in the "contract"). i still haven't figured out where "specific performance" comes in, but i do know that there are often damages awarded under breach of contract! court is monday and i think i'm ready to fight!!!!! thanks so much for the help!!!!! and here is the "contract": dear mr. wife-has-messed-up-your-credit your citibank account is seriously delinquent. due to the status of your account, we are willing to settle your account for 56% of the current balance, which is $4200. the settlement amount is $2300. we must have this settlement amount paid in full no later than 12/27/2007 or this offer will not be valid. the benefits to you are: 1. your account will have a zero balance and will be reported as such to the credit reporting agencies. 2. you will have saved $1900. 3. all further collection activity will cease including the possibility of referral to a collection agency or attorney for non-payment. to set up a payment by phone call us at... or send your payment to... please be aware that if the agreement is broken, the arrangement will be canceled and the total balance may be required. if you have nay questions, please call us. sincerely, mr. wants-to-make-things-difficult-to-make-himself-feel-better federal regulations require the statement printed on the reverse side. toll free telephone number... tdd number... any representative can assist you. office hours (central time): monday-thursday 6:30am to 11:00pm friday 6:30am to 9:00pm saturday 8:00am to 5:00pm note: whenever more than $600 of a debt is forgiven as a result of settling a debt for less than the balance owing, we are required to report the amount of debt forgiven to the Irs on a 1099c form, a copy of which will be mailed to you.
Ok, so refresh my memory please. When was the letter dated, and when and HOW did you respond to it? Woofer
dang! i was so proud of myself for putting all of the info out there for you and wouldn't you know it! i forgot something!!!! the letter was dated december 8, 2007. we responded on december 27, 2007, the deadline, originally at 3:30, but i had just 15 minutes earlier deposited the funds into my account, so i asked if i should call back later so that the payment would be withdrawn from my bank the next day and the rep told me yes. so my second call was at 6:02 (i have my cell phone records as well as my time stamped deposit slip from my bank to back up my claims) and when i got through, they told me that the offer expired at 6:00 and that the account would be placed in collections. after i hung up, i freaked out and then called back at 7:58 hoping to hear a different answer, only to be told the same thing. i really feel like i have a case here. their letter states that they are available until 11pm. if not otherwise stated, one would think that that would be the expiration time. thanks!!!!
