Since I got into the realm of "getting even with creditors" by taking them to court, I was talking to a friend of mine and this is her story.... She and her husband filed Chapter 7 BK in 1997. Sears was one of the debts...she wanted to keep the TV, and computer, so they reaffirmed with sears...HOWEVER the reaffirmation was never signed by a judge... Realizing this fact, in 99 she stopped paying minumum payments to sears (to clarify, her husbands account was totally discharged, while hers was supposedly reaffirmed) She was threated to be sued by Sears...she sent them a demand to prove she reaffirmed debt...They sent her a letter on Co Letter head stating that" We are sorry, we cannot locate the reaffirmation agreement in question..the reaffirmation agreement was voided" letter was signed and dated...Nov 99.. THEN...in March 2000 she got another letter from sears stating that NOW they found the agreement with the courts, and it was valid (they got it in the archives) Well, this being 4 months after she was told that she did not owe it, she is getting a letter stating that she does...this can't be right... Obviously she did not pay if, and told them to get f**ked... Well when I was puling her credit for her, she noticed a sears account that WAS NOT DISCHARGED, rather showing as CONSTANTLY LATE, never charged off, and a dishcarged Sears debt... Sears discharged her original account, and re-opened another account and let it sit to damage her credit report. This must be in violation of some law..... I was telling her how I sued the creditors, and she wanted me to see what I could do for her....this is how this surfaced.. any suggestions...
This sounds outrageous, but not surprising considering other people's experiences with Sears. If she has a paper trail, she can prove damages. My parents had gotten a Sears card to get a discount on a new W/D, but the rate sucked. Told Mom to get rid of it ASAP because I didn't want them to become another Sears story. According to someone who used to work there, they're no better to their employees than they are to customers.
Maybe I'm missing something but if she wanted to keep the stuff, why, instead of not paying, didn't she ask her atty. or the judge why the reaffirmation wasn't signed. It sounds like if it wasn't approved and it wasn't discharged, then it wasn't included in the bk. Don't get me wrong, I thing Sears sucks and should just let it go.
I had a run in with Sears on a Chapter 13 filing 4 years back. They wanted me to reaffirm my $5000.00 debt to keep a $55.00 watch. I gave them the watch. Never again Sears! Great tools, though.
