My wife and I have 4 acounts in collections.....2 in her name, 2 in mine. I opened several accounts about 6-7 years ago in an attempt to keep a failing business afloat. The business has since been sold and I have been trying to climb from the depths of our debt. In early 2006 I spoke to a BK attorney and learned we qualified for full (ch 11?) BK, however, I had issues following through as the situation we were in was completely my fault and I did not want to attach the BK stigma to my wife. I began attempting to settle these debts and cleared 5 of 9. Of the 4 remaining three are now owned by LVNV and I am not sure about the fourth. That one, a Citibank Card in my wife's name, was last paid on sometime in 2005 and the balance was 10k. Fees/interest in the interim have added and the balance claimed not is 22K. Checking my wife's credit report it shows the account as charged off, 10k transferred, 12 written off. The very last entry on the credit report for that particular account reads "closed at creditor's request." Last Saturday 01/12, a summons was given to my son dated 12/31. It appears to have an appropriate index#, withour local Supreme Court (Genesee County New York). My wife does not work (I am a Police Officer, one income w/5 kids), she owns no property and has no assets. My questions are as follow..... What is the goal in suing her when she has nothing to collect on? Scare tactic? If the account shows charged off/transferred/closed, I would assume it has been pruchased by a debt buyer. Why is Forster and Garbus listing Citibank as the plaintiff? I am preparing her response, what can I use as affirmative defenses? I would like to know who owns the debt and how much they own it for, do I request that type of discovery at this stage? If this matter does make it to court, can I speak on my wife's behalf via power of attorney or any other means? She does not want to appear/testify in court and because this is my fault I want to accomodate her in any way I can, even if it requires paying for an attorney. Thank you in advance for any help.....
With regards to the stigma of bankruptcy: http://www.alperlaw.com/moral_issues.html BANKRUPTCY - Moral Issues Most people who file bankruptcy are honest people who feel badly about not paying their debts. Many believe that bankruptcy is immoral or that they are doing something wrong. As their attorney, I understand how they feel about bankruptcy, but I believe they are being too hard on themselves. Here are a few reasons why I believe bankruptcy should not be a moral issue: * People promise to pay their bills. People also promise to take care of themselves, their spouse, and their children. Sometimes things happen in life which make it impossible to keep both promises at the same time. If your family is more important to you than your creditors, then bankruptcy may be the right thing to do. You can always repay your discharged debts when you are able to do so. * Deuteronomy 15:1-11 enacted what is essentially the first bankruptcy law: At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts. This is how it is to be done: Every creditor shall cancel the loan he has made to his fellow Israelite. He shall not require payment from his fellow Israelite or brother, because the Lord's time for canceling debts has been proclaimed" (NIV). In 1800, Congress used this law as the basis for the first bankruptcy statutes when it said that a person can file bankruptcy every seven years. * Walt Disney declared bankruptcy before he created Disney World in Orlando, Florida. If not for the bankruptcy laws, this entertainment giant would not have been able to achieve his dreams. * Congress enacted the bankruptcy laws to help you. The law recognizes that when you are swamped with debt, you are unable to provide for your family or to be productive in our economy. It is in your best interest, and in the best interest of the people who depend on you, to clean the slate and give yourself a fresh start in life. * You have probably already paid back your credit card debt through your payments which the credit card companies chose to label as "interest" and "penalties." The credit card companies are equally responsible for your bankruptcy. When you first encountered financial trouble, these creditors probably did not lower your interest rate or allow you to defer payments. The credit card companies are usually not understanding or sympathetic. These companies don't care if you file bankruptcy because they have already recouped any losses through their 18 percent to 26 percent interest rates.
That being said; your attorney probably said you qualified for Chapter 7 and not 11. The credit cards that were used for the business, were they personal cards used to purchase inventory for the business or were they business cards? You can not represent your wife in court only an attorney can do that. Honestly, I would revisit the BK again. I too am prior law enforcement. I went bankrupt several years ago. I talked to my Sgt. about it. I had to talk with our IA unit about my situation. Since I brought it to their attention on my own, there was no negative fallout. If you are other than road patrol and you have access to property room or money, let your IA unit know ASAP. It will protect you.
Been there, done that. Going through bankruptcy was a real low point of my life for a lot of reasons. That said, it was the best thing I could do at the time and after a couple of years, it really helped me get back on my feet. My final reasoning was, as enigma listed above, I had a responsibility to my family as well as my debts. When I couldn't meet both, one had to go and it wasn't going to be my family. When I filed, the credit card companies couldn't have cared less. They didn't even even show up to court. All that angst for nuthin'. I was also an officer in the military at the time. I told my superiors and that was that. No big deal and I still got promoted ahead of my peers. It's not the end of the world (just like turning 40 wasn't the end of the world, either
Shame surrounding BK I think a lot of people who file BK find themselves feeling very ashamed. I filed in 1997 and it was by far the lowest point of my life. I had lost three jobs due to businesses closing and a downsizing - all in a period of 18 months. I just couldn't recover and keep my bills paid. I lost my car and my house. I stupidly filed a ch. 13 instead of a ch. 7 because I didn't know what I was doing. I went to one BK attorney and during the interview session he stated that I had "stupidly gotten myself into this predicament.." Needless to say I didn't hire him- I got up and walked out of his office. I was lucky that my second attorney was very sympathetic. So I would advise anyne who needs to file- find yourself an attorney who understands the situation- you don't need blame and guilt piled onto an already horrible situation. I wish though that my attorney had recommended a 7 instead of 13. The payments were set at $170 per month and were way too high for my 8$ an hour job...and I ended up defaulting on the ch. 13. It was dismissed a year later. So it was as if I never even filed. I no longer had the protection of a bk yet I had the bk on my credit history. It just fell off last year. Talk about a double whammy!! The creditors started coming after me all over again. The worst was Mazda American Credit. They wanted $17,000 for the car I had leased!! They sold it at auction after they repo'ed it and were after me for $17k! IT was only a $23k car and I had paid 30 months of a three year lease already- before they picked it up. Luckily, I found a law that states they have to notify you of the impending sale of the car- so you can buy it back after the repo. They eveidently didn't have the paperwork that they had properly notified me of the auction and so they stopped coming after me for the car. It is past SOL now. When my house was sold at auction, part of the FHA loan wasn't repaid. 8 years later, I get notices that I owe 3,459.00 plus 8 years worth of interest, fees, penalties, etc. They gave me 30 days to send them 5500.00. When I couldn't, they sent it to collection and another 1200 .00 was added on. I have now set up payments. I fought it on the grounds that not once in 8 years did the govt. contact me about this bill and the interest kept piling up. The judge ruled that it wasn't their job to notify me that this bill had not been paid. So, be careful too when you file BK- make sure everything is included. Things can come back to haunt you years later. Get a good attorney and fight for a ch. 7- don't even think about a ch. 13. The sick part too is that my bills were so ordinary: house, car, some home improvements charged to two credit cards...I didn't spend money on trips, furniture, clothes, aprtying etc. so it wasn't an issue of spending money to have a good time that led me to bk in the first place. Still, I was very ashamed when I had to file. Its been ten years now and I can tell you that the shame has subsided only a bit. What I did learn was that every time I gathered up the courage to "share" my history with someone, nine times out of ten, they too had filed. It is way more rampant than you think. And what drives most people to it is: medical bills or credit card fees that explode out of sight when the interest and fees start piling up. Something really needs to be done about the usury practices of the credit card comapnies. Get the dvd "Maxed OUT" It is a shameful expose of the credit card companies, how much power they have and how they are ruining people's lives.
Do the laws allow them to come after your assets? Could be owned by the original creditor. They might also be doing that because of some state rule. It might be fun to find out what their explanation is. Consider talking to a lawyer who knows about these things, not one who just wants to file BK. You have the right to appear, to answer and maybe even use discovery. Of course you'll want to do all this to your advantage, so talk with the lawer.
I too am being sued by forster & garbus for a charged off/written off capital one account.They too name the original creditor capital one as the plaintiff in the case.Trouble is i was sent collection notices from 3 different ca's regarding this account in the past.All 3 showed the same account number on their collection notices.Enter forster and garbus they send me 2 collection notices regarding this capital one account but they have a different account number listed for this capital one account.I only had one account with capital one so why did forster & garbus change the account number?Why are they using capital one as the plaintiff when it appears from past ca's that account was reassigned?I don't know the answer to these questions but forster & garbus are known not to be the most trusted collectors out there.They are attorney's but how many people go to law school to become a collection lawyer?
