I've been a member of this forum since last June and log on quite frequently. It has helped me a great deal and I thank everyone very much. Now I have a serious problem. This is going to be a bit long and I apologize but I want to give as much info as I can to hopefully make it easier to help me. I was served a summons at work last Tuesday from an attorney representing Merchants Credit Adjusters. They are sueing me for a $843.37 ($746.50 in medical services from a hospital and medical clinic, $96.87 interest from 4/02) plus asking for attorney's fees of not less than $80. Included with the summons is a copy of the Praecipe and Complaint (no docket number), and a copy of the Notice required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act section 1601.. I immediately logged onto the forum to check out other posts regarding this and found some info about answering the summons. I went to the court house and got a form called 'Appearance and General Denial'. It's pretty basic, a fill-in-the-blank form. It just asks for defendant's and plaintiff's names, case number, a sentence that says "The defendants _____(name of defendant responding)____, enters an appearance and general denial to the petition of the plaintiff in the above-entitled case.", then the date and signatures. It has a section on the bottom titled 'Certificate' and gives a blank to write the date of when a copy of the form was mailed. and to whom. From what I've been reading, don't have I to send them a letter denying the debt and ask for verification? Or will this form be enough? I really want to get this answer back to them as quickly as possible. Thank you so much for all of your help.
1*I was served a summons at work last Tuesday from an attorney representing Merchants Credit Adjusters. Included with the summons is a copy of the Praecipe and Complaint 2*(no docket number) ), and a copy of the Notice required by the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act section 1601.. 3**I went to the court house and got a form called 'Appearance and General Denial'. 4* From what I've been reading, don't have I to send them a letter denying the debt ? GetCredit ================================== 1*Courts issue summonses not attorneys? Makes me suspect it's a fake. better find out from the court if it's real or not. 2*Naturally there would not be a No, on a fake summons. 3*More important did you get all the paper work on the suit from the court? How are you going to know how to utilize the Appearance and General Denial form without the rest of the court papers on the case? 4*Yes you have to answer a real complaint or they will win by default. This is why it's urgent that you know everything going on is on the up & up! IF you answer the lawyers summons and it turns out to be fake and you fail to answer the real 0ne from the court you have a problem you don't want. When it comes to law suits don't just take the plaintiffs word make sure everything's legit by getting all the details from the court.
You can take a look at the instructions here: http://whychat.5u.com/answer.html It is intended primarily for a time barred debt, however it also gives general instructions on answering. You didn't say exactly WHAT it is about this debt that you are "denying", isn't it YOURS? If it isn't yours you have a VERY good defense, ( the very BEST), if it IS yours and is over 4 years old, it is time-barred (4 years UCC),if it IS yours and should have been paid by insurance, and was not due to billing errors on the part of the health care provider, you need to get SOME documentation from your insurance co. to show they did not receive the bill, or it was incorrectly filed.
There is also a major addition to the last defense provided by WhyChat... It could be that the OC was paid by the insurance co *AFTER* they assigned the account for collections. If that is the case, your insurance co would be able to (hopefully) provide you with a copy of the canceled payment instrument endorsed by the OC.
WhyChat, thank you for the link to your Credit Confusion site. It looks well organized with lots of great info on this type of situation. I bookmarked your home page and will visit tomorrow when it's not the middle of the night. I'm due at work in just 4 hours, and need sleep. Reading CNet can become obsessive (grin).
