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BusinessWallet posted:
Have you moved since you last had any contact with Capital One? It's possible they tried to serve you at your last known address, and when they couldn't they served you by publication. That would allow default judgment to be entered. I'd contact the clerk's office and find out when and how this happened. There would be a record of attempts to serve you and when/where it was published. You can ask about filing a motion to reopen the matter and then contest it if you have a valid basis to contest it. Where I am, these motions are almost always granted and you can then negotiate with whoever has your debt at this point. The fact that there's a judgment currently entered gives them the ability to garnish your wages if they know where you work, and assuming you don't have some exemption to garnishment (such as being on food stamps or having an income below poverty level).
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Jun 9, 2010 20:24
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BusinessWallet posted:I posted a thread about this, but a mod suggested I post here so: The fact that CapOne hasn't tried to collect its judgment leads me to believe they obtained the judgment through improper service. Contact the court clerk (go in person if you can) and look at the case file. If your county allows service via publication/they did it properly, that's one thing, but CapOne is notorious for having their legal teams out-and-out lie about proper service to move a case along. Find out how to begin a motion to have the judgment vacated, then go from there. This should be your top priority, since in most states interest can accrue post-judgment and they may, at any time, seek an order to seize your paychecks/accounts to satisfy the judgment (assuming those are allowable in your state, of course.) Once that's taken care of, start firing off validation letters to the bureau/the other creditors. Even if the debts are legit, they've still got to verify everything is correct and proper. Iron Squid posted:I dunno if I'd use your service, CubsWoo, but I'd definitely take a look at what you offer. Specifically, if I sent you a copy of my credit report and got back info on the best way to increase the score. Some of the rules surrounding FICO seem a bit confusing and contradictory, so having someone who knows them and can give me a road map would be helpful. It'd probably be some kind of tiered service, so a low-cost option for things like you're wanting, something more expensive for writing correspondence and dealing with offers from the companies, and a third tier for lawsuit advice and assistance with writing legal paperwork and understanding the laws of the state. Mostly those late-night debt commercials piss me off - never give your money to them. Even if they do help, they're priced to an insane degree (guess why they want you to have $10k+ in debt? So that $2000+ they want to fix it sounds reasonable) and don't often do a very good job. What they do for thousands I can probably do better for $50-200, so why not?
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Jun 9, 2010 20:50
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Thanks a lot for the advice. Once I saw that judgment on there I immediately started flipping out and I didn't know what to do, you've cleared my head up. I guess I understand how easy it is for these places to just completely gently caress you over, people really don't know their rights. I drafted a debt verification letter for all 4 collections agencies and I'll send them all out once I speak to the county clerk.
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Jun 9, 2010 21:51
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CubsWoo posted:Mostly those late-night debt commercials piss me off - never give your money to them. Even if they do help, they're priced to an insane degree (guess why they want you to have $10k+ in debt? So that $2000+ they want to fix it sounds reasonable) and don't often do a very good job. What they do for thousands I can probably do better for $50-200, so why not? Also most of them will just tell you "hey don't pay your bills!" so it gets written off by the OC, then the company goes in and offers a settlement on your behalf. These are all steps you can do yourself.
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Jun 9, 2010 22:13
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Just wanted to put this here...I can't beleive you can be loving arrested over a civil matter. This is absolute bullshit: http://consumerist.com/2010/06/debtors-increasingly-thrown-in-jail.html
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Jun 10, 2010 15:30
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LorneReams posted:Just wanted to put this here...I can't beleive you can be loving arrested over a civil matter. This is absolute bullshit: Wtf? I have to believe there is more to this story. I mean, honestly, I have to. On what loving planet do civil matters have anything to do with criminal matters? The only situation I can think of that someone in a civil case ended up with a warrant for their arrest involved people in lawsuits who had been ordered to appear in Court/deposition and/or failed to follow any Court orders, and after multiple failures, the Judge can issue a bench warrant for their failure to appear. Even then, though, sheriffs didn't show up at their loving house. Mind you, these were active litigants pursuing their own civil cases, not people who had been defaulted. Are there seriously jurisdictions that will allow someone to issue a warrant and pick someone up over an unpaid debt? That's beyond hosed up.
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Jun 10, 2010 16:33
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Auracounts posted:Are there seriously jurisdictions that will allow someone to issue a warrant and pick someone up over an unpaid debt? That's beyond hosed up. I'd be curious to find out how widespread this actually is. From the link (and the original article) it sounds like this happens in a couple of states, but there's no sense from either if this is relatively isolated or not.
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Jun 10, 2010 17:03
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LorneReams posted:Just wanted to put this here...I can't beleive you can be loving arrested over a civil matter. This is absolute bullshit: It mentions Illinois, which flies in the face of the loving rules of my state: quote:Our Illinois Constitution prohibits a Judge from putting a person in jail for failure to pay a debt. Therefore, if a person does not have money, income or property, there is no legal way for the court to help you get the money owed to you. It is wise to make sure a judgment can be collected before paying the costs of a lawsuit. Unless something major has changed (and I don't think it has) this is a scare tactic/absolute bullshit.
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Jun 10, 2010 20:13
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CubsWoo posted:It mentions Illinois, which flies in the face of the loving rules of my state: quote:As a sheriff's deputy dumped the contents of Joy Uhlmeyer's purse into a sealed bag, she begged to know why she had just been arrested while driving home to Richfield after an Easter visit with her elderly mother. It looks like you can get a warrent for your arrest not for owing money, but for not showing up to the judgment hearing. Of course you can't get the CEO of whatever company blows your lawsuit off to go to jail.
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Jun 10, 2010 20:22
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I've read this article twice now, and I get more pissed everytime. http://www.startribune.com/templates/Print_This_Story?sid=95692619 EDIT: I'm now reading the law review of these cases and a lawyer on the site states: "Technically, they are being jailed for disobeying a court order. " So that is how they are getting around the law. EDIT2: I STILL have an outstanding judgment against RCI collections for $2500 that they have completly ignored...I wonder who at the company I can get a warrent out for avoiding their court order to pay me! I AM ANGRY. LorneReams fucked around with this message at 20:38 on Jun 10, 2010 |
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Jun 10, 2010 20:28
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So the way around this is: Show up to the court hearing, prove you can't pay. I guess I can understand people getting jailed for failure to appear (but on a civil matter, that's borderline) so just follow the whole 'ALWAYS SHOW UP FOR COURT' guidelines and you'll be ok.
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Jun 10, 2010 21:37
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I used to be in the Navy, and after an early discharge the Navy came after a portion of the enlistment bonus that was paid for months I didn't end up serving. The debt is about $4000. I was only discharged about 2 years ago so I don't believe that the debt would be time-barred. Anyway I got the first letter about it from a Navy "defense finance and accounting" agency, but their letter said that if the debt went unpaid they would sell the debt to a private agency, so I decided to wait for them to do that. It got passed to an agency, Pioneer Credit Recovery, INC. who sent me a dunning letter on their letterhead. In the letter they very sleazily implied that they were actually the Department of the Treasury and keep referring to the "creditor governmental unit" and later imply that there might be different rules regarding collections by the government. That they may refer to the Dept of Justice for legal action. Is there any truth to that? I figured it was just intimidation but it's not easy to know. I replied with a validation/don't-call/don't-sell-the-debt letter and just got the return receipt. I haven't disputed the debt with the bureaus yet though, I'm a little unclear about that, do I have to do it with every bureau or just one? I'd be happy just clearing the debt but if the opportunity to make this a moneymaking venture presents itself I may as well go after them. Am I going to want to try and bait them into FDCPA violations or do you figure they'll do it all on their own? Should I be keeping a little recorder next to the phone? Also after reading that article about the debtor jailings, is there a way that I can keep aware of whether or not I've been sued? I've been jumping around without permanent addresses for a while now and I'm afraid of missing a court date. Thanks for your help. I am honestly fascinated to see how society shuns those who don't play by the most important of rules: pay your debts.
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Jun 10, 2010 22:17
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CubsWoo posted:So the way around this is: Show up to the court hearing, prove you can't pay. I guess I can understand people getting jailed for failure to appear (but on a civil matter, that's borderline) so just follow the whole 'ALWAYS SHOW UP FOR COURT' guidelines and you'll be ok. The article doesn't really delve into this, but some debts can be considered a criminal matter, like bouncing a check, for example. Show up for court and this won't be a problem.
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Jun 10, 2010 22:31
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Rusty Shackelford posted:The article doesn't really delve into this, but some debts can be considered a criminal matter, like bouncing a check, for example. Show up for court and this won't be a problem. Bouncing a check is fraud, it has nothing to do with debt. When you write a check you are saying you have funds in the bank to cover it...if you don't it's fraud...it's a TOTALLY different situation (kiting).
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Jun 10, 2010 22:46
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LorneReams posted:Bouncing a check is fraud, it has nothing to do with debt. When you write a check you are saying you have funds in the bank to cover it...if you don't it's fraud...it's a TOTALLY different situation (kiting). I understand, but some of those go to collectors instead of to prosecutors. I'm saying that someone who bounced a check, got sent to collections, got sued by the collector and didn't go to court might get an arrest warrant written for "a debt."
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Jun 10, 2010 23:32
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In my county in Michigan you can get a bench warrant issued against you for not showing up to a discovery hearing. This includes small claims cases too. If you get served paperwork with a hearing date on it, GO TO THE HEARING.
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Jun 10, 2010 23:58
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Dog Dick Ridiculous posted:Anyway I got the first letter about it from a Navy "defense finance and accounting" agency, but their letter said that if the debt went unpaid they would sell the debt to a private agency, so I decided to wait for them to do that. It got passed to an agency, Pioneer Credit Recovery, INC. who sent me a dunning letter on their letterhead. In the letter they very sleazily implied that they were actually the Department of the Treasury and keep referring to the "creditor governmental unit" and later imply that there might be different rules regarding collections by the government. That they may refer to the Dept of Justice for legal action. Is there any truth to that? I figured it was just intimidation but it's not easy to know. Military Debts do get transferred to the Treasury Department who then farm out the debt collection work to private collections agencies... but the holder of the debt is still most likely the treasury department and they will garnish your tax returns. You might as well call the people and ask them simply and directly who is the owner of your debt. That will tell you if its Treasury or not not. If it is... good luck. They'll be taking your tax returns until its paid, in full. I'm in a similar bind myself with military debts. My personal experience with a military debt I am still trying to get resolved. DFAS sent me bills... to an address I didn't live at, and that wasn't my address. I was unaware that the Army had the wrong address and in fact I had submitted the proper paperwork with them to update my address months before any of these bills were ever sent out. When I asked for validation they sent me copies of their 'please start your payments with us' letters that quite clearly show an incorrect address. They also sent me the paperwork showing that I had changed my address months before they sent out their bills. The 'please start this payment with us' letter is quite clearly labeled as being sent to an incorrect address. I honestly would have liked to make the payments because its at an absurdly low payment with an absurdly low interest rate ( 7 bucks in interest over 3 years baby ) but was unable to do so because the fuckers never sent their 'pay us' notices to the correct addresses and I never knew about the drat thing until a debt collector called me, using the phone number the military had. And of course the debt collection agency is throwing on thousands of dollars in fees. Meanwhile the debt collection agency is loving it up though and sent their response to my validation request to the wrong address after being informed over the phone and in writing of my current address. The only reason I got it at all is that hey, they apparently thought I lived at my parents house ( I don't ). Honestly at this point I'm trying to get my congressional representative involved because the debt collection agency, and I assume Treasury, doesn't seem to consider the fact that the military only communicated with me via snail mail sent to the wrong address, that was not my address of record, and then sent it off to treasury without making any other attempt to contact me as being important.
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Jun 12, 2010 00:04
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So I got a call today about a debt that's probably a good 2-3 years old that was originally with US Bank, and is apparently now with Regent's maybe? (Just checked, the last communication I had with the bank was 6/7/07, the last time the account was open was in May of that year. I'm in California, which I guess has a 4 year SOL?) I got a dunning letter from the Jackoby Law Firm about it last week, and I'm planning to write a DV letter, but I'm not sure if I should send it to that law firm, Regent's, or both? They both call me on the phone once a week, the lady this time from Regent's was really snippy. I told her I would need some verification of the debt and she told me I had to call US bank for that, that it wasn't her job, that is was my job to pay my bills, and then hung up on me. Basically, this was the result of a miscalculated overdraft, that was the result of a double-debit at a gas station. Once the debit cleared up, I had the necessary funds to cover the 6 transactions that had overdrafted, but instead, US bank elected to hit me for 7 overdrafts (245 bucks) and a negative balance charge for three months (90 bucks), and they closed the account without crediting the gas debit, which shows the balance in the negative of $230. Making the total "debt" close to 600 dollars. They claim it's $741, and they added 200 something in interest and fees onto it so that it's like $1140. What the hell should I do about this crap? I'm all about paying my debts I owe, but I don't owe these fuckers poo poo. I guess I'm asking what verification I should ask for in the DV mostly.
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Jun 12, 2010 00:37
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RaoulDuke12 posted:What the hell should I do about this crap? I'm all about paying my debts I owe, but I don't owe these fuckers poo poo. I guess I'm asking what verification I should ask for in the DV mostly. I know it's too late now, but next time (for you or anyone else reading) you should ask the gas station to cover the overdrafts since the double charge was their fault. Even if the local franchisee doesn't give a poo poo I'd bet a letter to the parent company would make it happen. I had a similar situation happen with Apple double billing me, where the bank refused to undo the overdraft charges even though it was clearly not my fault and the erroneous charge was refunded almost immediately. It literally took just a single email to Apple's billing department to get my overdraft fees back - they responded "sorry, we've refunded another $X in your account to cover it" and poof, my account was back in the green (they never even asked for proof of any kind).
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Jun 12, 2010 02:41
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Choadmaster posted:I know it's too late now, but next time (for you or anyone else reading) you should ask the gas station to cover the overdrafts since the double charge was their fault. Even if the local franchisee doesn't give a poo poo I'd bet a letter to the parent company would make it happen. I've always wondered what would happen in that situation. Thanks for the info.
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Jun 12, 2010 02:47
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I had that exact situation happen with USbank too, I just went down to the office I opened the account at (they claim its the only office with authorization to do so) and they removed the overdraft charges once they saw it was a double charge and waited for the gas station to clear up their charges. I also had my paycheck bounce after depositing it into my account. The place I worked had their payroll accounts with USbank so the account manager at my branch reversed all my over draft charges (went home and paid all the bills the next day after my deposit) over $600 in overdrafts, and applied them to the companies account that bounced our paychecks. I've found that with USbank a lot can be done by calling or personally visiting the branch you opened your account at, they seem to be able to do much more for you than what ever other branch you happen to be at.
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Jun 12, 2010 04:35
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Yeah, I tried everything, believe me. I went in to try and explain it to them. I had a history of overdrafting though (college and all), so they really weren't willing to do anything. I just opened another checking account elsewhere before it hit chexsystems. Now it's coming back to bite me though. Can I assume that, should this ever progress to court, a judge looking at the balance history would side with me in this situation, or would I be legally hosed technically.
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Jun 12, 2010 05:58
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RaoulDuke12 posted:Yeah, I tried everything, believe me. I went in to try and explain it to them. I had a history of overdrafting though (college and all), so they really weren't willing to do anything. I just opened another checking account elsewhere before it hit chexsystems. Now it's coming back to bite me though. The judge will probably not give a poo poo about the balance history. Send the DV letter to both the law firm and Regents, to cover all bases.
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Jun 15, 2010 07:26
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How long before a creditor can freeze/garnish your bank account if you have a judgment on a debt? Are there any actions the creditor must take before this happens? Are you ever notified in advance? Cannabis fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Jun 15, 2010 |
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Jun 15, 2010 14:34
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Bookish posted:In my county in Michigan you can get a bench warrant issued against you for not showing up to a discovery hearing. This includes small claims cases too. If you get served paperwork with a hearing date on it, GO TO THE HEARING. This. I do some collection work. What often happens is we get a judgment against a person, and then go to do a supplementary examination to find out their financial situation for purposes of garnishing wages or bank accounts. They are ordered by the court to appear at this examination. If they do not (and they usually don't) appear, it can be contempt of court, which can result in a bench warrant being issued. So the arrest isn't because they owe a debt, it's because they failed to comply with a court order. LorneReams posted:So that is how they are getting around the law. It's not "getting around the law." It is the law. People can't just ignore court orders and think nothing is going to happen as a result. quepasa18 fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Jun 15, 2010 |
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Jun 15, 2010 18:28
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quepasa18 posted:It's not "getting around the law." It is the law. People can't just ignore court orders and think nothing is going to happen as a result. Oh cool, I have a court order from AT&T to pay me from small claims court ($350). How can I have Randall Stephenson arrested? They never showed up to a single hearing.
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Jun 15, 2010 18:33
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LorneReams posted:Oh cool, I have a court order from AT&T to pay me from small claims court ($350). How can I have Randall Stephenson arrested? What you probably have is a judgment against them after a default. That's not the same thing.
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Jun 15, 2010 18:35
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quepasa18 posted:What you probably have is a judgment against them after a default. That's not the same thing. It's exactly what happened in that article...except I don't have the executive and judicial brances of my local government on my payroll.
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Jun 15, 2010 18:41
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Cannabis posted:How long before a creditor can freeze/garnish your bank account if you have a judgment on a debt? Are there any actions the creditor must take before this happens? Are you ever notified in advance? Typically, after the judgment, they'll have another court hearing where the judge will make you disclose your assets - where you work, where you bank, etc. Then the court can order those assets seized/garnished to satisfy the judgment.
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Jun 15, 2010 20:33
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CubsWoo posted:Typically, after the judgment, they'll have another court hearing where the judge will make you disclose your assets - where you work, where you bank, etc. Then the court can order those assets seized/garnished to satisfy the judgment. Where I am, in small claims court I can initiate garnishment proceedings the day I get the judgment. We often know where the person works before we even file the case, and we've verified that employment with the employer. Sometimes we have a bank account number from a prior payment, and then we can immediately garnish that account as well. I'm not sure if the same is true in non-small claims court though. Yes, you are notified in advance, and have a chance to respond with why you shouldn't be garnished. quepasa18 fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Jun 15, 2010 |
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Jun 15, 2010 21:53
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quote is not edit.
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Jun 15, 2010 21:54
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Where I am they do not notify you ahead of time that they are going to garnish your bank account because then you could empty the account before they can hit it.
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Jun 16, 2010 01:02
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Bookish posted:Where I am they do not notify you ahead of time that they are going to garnish your bank account because then you could empty the account before they can hit it. That doesn't make sense, you would have to have a chance to represent yourself in court and if you lose you should have some idea that a judgment often results in garnishment. LorneReams posted:It's exactly what happened in that article...except I don't have the executive and judicial brances of my local government on my payroll. It's different because you haven't applied for garnishment of their money. I'm not even sure you can do that against a corporation though so maybe you still have a point?
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Jun 16, 2010 05:10
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Ok I guess I didn't explain myself well. You are notified that you are being sued of course but after the judgment is entered you are not notified ahead of time if they are going to garnish you. Sorry about the confusion.
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Jun 16, 2010 11:39
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Bookish posted:Ok I guess I didn't explain myself well. You are notified that you are being sued of course but after the judgment is entered you are not notified ahead of time if they are going to garnish you. Sorry about the confusion. But you are notified once the bank freezes the money in the account. The bank notifies the court how much money they have, and there's a court hearing before it's released to the creditor.
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Jun 16, 2010 16:53
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In 2005 I opened up an account with TCF bank. Having just turned 18 and not having a job, I quickly went below the minimum for the account, and they started charging me fees. Eventually, they charged off $53 and sold the debt to a collection agency. About April 2006 I get a letter from the collection agency, and I just pay the debt off. Recently I tried to open an account with a credit union. They told me about the charge off with TCF Bank, and said they couldn't open an account unless it was paid. Confused, I got all three reports and checked them very carefully. Not a drat thing on ANY of them. I saw the credit union listed under a hard pull (which I though was supposed to be a soft pull, since they weren't using it to make a lending decision?) on my Experian report, but the Experian report shows nothing that "might" have a negative impact on my score. There's no settled or paid in full entries, in fact there's nothing listed under that section, at all. So, what do I do? I don't have the confirmation print out from the collection agency, since it was 4 years ago. Do I contact TCF to find out who they sold the debt to, and figure out what's going on? How did they find out about the charge off if it's not even on my credit report? Is there some inter-bank reporting system?
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Jun 16, 2010 22:12
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fusionpit posted:In 2005 I opened up an account with TCF bank. Having just turned 18 and not having a job, I quickly went below the minimum for the account, and they started charging me fees. Eventually, they charged off $53 and sold the debt to a collection agency. About April 2006 I get a letter from the collection agency, and I just pay the debt off.
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Jun 16, 2010 22:35
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quepasa18 posted:But you are notified once the bank freezes the money in the account. The bank notifies the court how much money they have, and there's a court hearing before it's released to the creditor. No, that's not true here. There's no court hearing unless the defendant objects to the garnishment.
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Jun 17, 2010 00:46
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PA is nice in that the only things that they can garnish for are taxes, child support, and student loans.
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Jun 17, 2010 02:09
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It seems that NPR is looking for people who have sued debt collection agencies. If CubsWoo wants to be an even bigger hero =) http://www.facebook.com/NPR/posts/135230233156912
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Jun 20, 2010 07:55
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