Hello all, I am new to this forum but, I was hoping that someone could help me out. My fiance has a credit card from Chase that they are trying to collect $18,000. on. This was about 61/2 years ago. They are now coming up with a lawsuit or atlease trying to sue him. Does a law exist where he doesn't have to pay this becase of a SOL?
Illinois...and if you do know the SOL when does it start? At the date of delinq. last activity? Thanks for your help! Can they really sue?
SOL for open end accounts in Illinois is 5 yrs. It is based on your date of last activity. Is it on any of your credit reports? You need to see if you can find out what they are claiming. Yes, they can sue you, but being past the SOL is an affirmative defense. They can't collect it. But, you have to defend it.
Actually, yes it is on his credit for all three. We went to get preapproved for a mortgage in July and got denied because of it. They are claiming unpaid and now they have I guess sold it to an attourney. They filed a public claim against him for $18K. He spoke with his boss and his boss got him a lawyer and he says that he spoke to them and that we have until April 15, 2003 to come to a settlement or it will be arbitrated. I don't think that we should have to pay it and I was sure there was some kind of SOL on this kind of thing. So, you think if the lawyer just says it is past the SOL that it will not be awarded to them? You are such a big help! Thanks!!
What is a public claim? How does arbitration enter into the picture? What did the lawyer you saw say about the SOL defense? Either you have a valid SOL defense or you don't. Why isn't the lawyer raising the SOL instead of talking about a settlement? It just seems some details are missing.
Whoa! Why is your attorney not validating? Seeing when they claim it was charged off? Is he a freebie just wanting to get this over with.? IMHO "about 6 1/2 yrs" and 5 yr SOL are awfully close together (when last week sounds like a life time ago!), you need to get proof. Your attorney can't just say so if they have reaged the account. It does happen.
It was (I guess) on his report all this time. It was from a very old relationship where she was a signer. He doesn't have a but of credit at all. He doesn't even have one card and he is only a joint on my bank account. When we went to get preapproved, the loan officer gasped and said "son, you've got problems" He showed the report to him and said you owe $18K to Chase. My fiance thought it had been taken care of long ago because he made payments in the amount of $8k stopping about 31/2 years ago. He never told me about this because he thought it was all taken care of. The card company told him that they would go after her for the remainder and just made it a charge off. Turns out that legally being a signer means you are in no way responsible for the items that you charge and he is the one that needs to pay. This $18K is after 6 years of fiance charges, fees, etc. This attorney, is not free, we had to pay a $250. retainer for starters because he is friends with his boss he will not ask for more. As for the SOL, he didn't say anything because this all gets discussed out side of my presence and my fiance doesn't believe that there is such a thing. (Yeah that was a yelling match!) Right after this "preapproval" gone very wrong, he received a letter from a lawyer saying that hey were beginning procedures to file suit and that's when we got this other lawyer involved. I am guessing if the sol starts from last activity and there has been "activity" in the past 5 years then there is not a SOL defense involved here. My fiance had to go down town to the court and "answer" this public complaint. I have never heard of this until a month ago. The two lawyers spoke and they just started talking about what it would take to "make this go away" and then money started getting into it. The lawyer told my fiance that he should expect to pay about 4-5K to eb done with it but, then the other lawyer said they would go no lower than $500/month for the next 40 months or $14K cash paid all at once. They said that lawyer fees and interest could still be added. I just don't know what to do,...I go to be worried about this every night. Now, I am not worried about getting a house, I am worried about staying out of the "poor house" What exactly is validation?
You need to get the real story. It sounds like he has been sued. How did he respond to the lawsuit? What did he say in the summons? Looks like the lawyers are trying to negoiate a settlement? If he last paid about 3 1/2 years ago and the account wasn't in default there is likely no SOL defense.
I agree with Keepmine, if he was paying 3 1/2 years ago then you are "probably" within SOL. Search for Butch's "What is Validation post", it should be on page 1 or page 2 here as it was just posted to yesterday. You need to print it out and study it. Short story for you FOR THE MOMENT - Validation is making them prove the debt. Were they charging interest after chargeoff? Was he billed properly? too much to go into here. If it were me, and they were looking to collect 14K, I would call the local bar association and find an attorney that is familiar with the FDCPA.
BTW do you still have the letter from the attorney that said they were about to file suit? Was this the first time you ever heard from him? There should be some disclosures in there, and I would be interested to know if they were there.
Well, I just spoke to him and he said that he had a judgement against him for $18K and that Chase was not the one that he was going to pay. He said that a firm bought the debt and that they got a judgement filed against him for the full amount. I told him that he still should ask for some kind of proof of what the charges are all for. I guess that is why the SOL does not exist with this one...because the debt was sold. Is there anything we can do? Do we just need to pay all of that $18K? Sorry I didn't have the whole story to post to begin with. I really do appreciate all the help!
I think I'd disagree about validation. This is $18K and not in small claims court. They may not have Wollman perfect validation but if they have any copies of checks he wrote or charge slips with his name or any statements to his address they'll win in court. You'll have to rack up a ton of violations to even come close to using the FDCPA as a negoiating tool. I'd suggest coming completely clean with your lawyer and see if this can get settled in the $5K-$7K range. There is a lot of time until April. They already came off $4K. THey'll come off more but I'd really be careful about of doing anything to make 'em say to heck with let's tell it to a judge. THis is one you settle and not try and fight it out.
We posted at the same time! A judgment is a much different animal. It is a statement of fact. Good thing he has a lawyer.
LOL Keepmine, everything we have said so far is thrown out the window. Now, wonder if he was served properly...
Yes, it was the first time we ever heard from him. I think the letter is in my fiance's file he keeps on this at work. Because he talk about this durring normal business hours. From memory it says that this firm is looking to collect for the debt originating with Chase in the mount of $18K. It seems like we "made it wake up" and we got that letter!
is a letter mailed to his home served properly? Not even certified or registered! We didn't even know he had a judgement for it until the lawyer was hired.
Is there a way he can BK when the item is all settled if we are not happy with the outcome? He has nothing in his name but, he makes $50K per year. They said that they can take $600. out of each month's checks. That would really not be good.
So, there is just nothing we can do? It's hopeless and we sould just try to pay the $18K and call it a day?
