- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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This thread has been a real eye opener for me concerning my debt issues. I can't thank you enough for setting me in a direction I never thought possible. I have a question I hope you can shed some light on.
I currently have an installment loan with Citi Financial, something to the tune of 14K that I am making monthly payments on. One of the conditions of the loan was surrendering the title to my used car (or rather, entering a lien on the title in their name). This is on top of about 9k in credit card debt.
Falling under hard times this year as well as having my first child, I find myself having to choose between paying these debts and putting food on the table. Furthermore, the aforementioned vehicle has fallen into disrepair and is basically worthless at this point.
I am carefully considering my options right now, and I was wondering if you could tell me if I am opening myself up to any unforeseen implications by allowing Citi Financial to haul my car away if I stop making payments and start to ignore their calls. Like I said, it's of little consquence to me because it's busted and not worth it's weight in scrap metal. You explained pretty well how credit card debt collectors work but for me this seems to be a different situation. Would I be able to follow the same steps?
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Dec 3, 2009 06:27
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Apr 27, 2024 22:18
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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antwizzle posted:
Wow, so if this is true, according to 805.c:
I can write a letter to Wells Fargo Card Services Collections Department or Sallie Mae Collections Department to stop contacting (ie calling 8 times a day) me unless they intend to sue me (ha ha I live in TX)? IANAL and something seems fishy about this, you said you had to change your phone #, I'm assuming because of the constant calls. Id gladly pay them their money if I had any but I dont and Ive told them so. Its kind of annoying checking your phone every 20 minutes hoping for a job callback and drat, its Wells Fargo again.
I don't think they are allowed to call more than once a day either.
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Dec 14, 2009 03:34
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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Ring of Light posted:
CubsWoo, I was wondering if you think I am doing the right thing in my situation.
When I was 16 I allowed my mom to open a cell phone account in my name after much guilt tripping on her part. She didn't pay the bill and I learned my lesson about cosigning on anything for anyone ever. I opened the account sometime in 2002 and she stopped paying on the account in sometime in 2004 or 2005. I got one letter about four years ago and didn't have the money to pay so I couldn't/didn't do anything. I didn't hear anything again until about four months ago. The balance of $312 had been sold from US Cellular to a secondary company. This week I got a letter saying they would accept settlement of $215.
At this point I think I should do nothing and just wait the two years for this to drop off of my credit report. I don't think they are going to sue me over less than $500. I have had many other good standing accounts since and my bank has increased the limit on my credit card by over 10x since I opened it. Am I doing the right thing?
I think since you weren't a legal adult yet that makes the debt invalid. You should send a letter letting them know that.
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Jan 23, 2010 13:55
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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Hillridge posted:
Is there any place you can get your actual credit score for free?
https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp
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Apr 27, 2010 18:55
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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The judge knows the law. All you have to do is dispute it and they will have to provide some sort of proof that the SOL hasn't expired. If it's older than 4 years, they won't be able to.
Plus, Texas is one of the great states that doesn't allow wage garnishment for most debts.
http://www.fair-debt-collection.com/state-wage-garnishments.html#44
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May 8, 2010 00:32
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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I sent out a PFD letter 30 days ago to a collector for an old Chase bank account that overdrafted to the tune of 200 something dollars back in 2005. In the letter I included this line:
"You may consider this letter a request for verification of this alleged debt as per FCRA Section 611(a)(7)."
I sent CMRR and they have not responded. What is my next step? Should I send them another letter asking to remove from my credit report and chexsystems? Or do I write to the CRA's directly? What should I include in those letters?
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May 15, 2010 15:11
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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This thread has been an amazing pool of advice and stories to help me out. 
Here's my situation.
Just received a letter on the mail from a local attorney saying "Hey I see your being sued! Want to hire me?" This was news to me. Went on my local circuit court website to find that First Financial Bank USA has filed a SCC suit against me on the 23rd, with an date set for June 20th. Doesn't list the amount being sued for but If I remember correctly I owe about 2k and stopped paying June of last year.
The thing I'm wondering is, do I need to be properly served? Seems weird that they haven't even attempted yet. (But I guess I wouldn't really know) I know I should appear for the court date but if they never serve me before that date, what are my options?
To clarify, I'm in Wisconsin. The account was opened in 2004. (A week after my 18th birthday no less)
Also, could anyone shed some light as to how I can interpret the Wisconsin debt collection laws. Some people suggest that the Wisconsin statute makes it so that OC's are subject to FDCPA Violations and such.
For reference:
Wisconsin Consumer act posted:
421.301 (25) “Merchant” means a person who regularly advertises,
distributes, offers, supplies or deals in real or personal property,
services, money or credit in a manner which directly or indirectly
results in or is intended or designed to result in, lead to or induce
a consumer transaction. The term includes but is not limited to a
seller, lessor, manufacturer, creditor, arranger of credit and any
assignee of or successor to such person. The term also includes
a person who by his or her occupation holds himself or herself out as having knowledge or skill peculiar to such practices or to whom such knowledge or skill may be attributed by his or her employment as an agent, broker or other intermediary.
THIS IS EVERYBODY AND THE KITCHEN SINK!
427.103 Definitions: “claim”; “debt collection”; “debt
collector”. (1) “Claim” means any obligation or alleged
obligation arising from a consumer transaction, including a transaction
that is primarily for an agricultural purpose.
(2) “Debt collection” means any action, conduct or practice of
soliciting claims for collection or in the collection of claims owed
or due or alleged to be owed or due a merchant by a customer.
(3) “Debt collector” means any person engaging, directly or
indirectly, in debt collection, and includes any person who sells,
or offers to sell, forms represented to be a collection system,
device or scheme, intended or calculated to be used to collect
claims. The term does not include a printing company engaging
in the printing and sale of forms.
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Jun 1, 2011 06:19
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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Chouzan posted:
This was from forever ago, back in the thread, but I was sued (by a credit card company) and decided to go the arbitration route. If I remember correctly, at the time, arbitration was deemed a weird/bad strategy, but it worked for me.
I was sued for around $1000, by the original creditor. I'd have quickly lost in court; the judge made it very obvious that he didn't care that the other side was breaching the contract and the FDCPA, I should pay. Arbitration stopped me from paying attorney fees for the other side, as the arbitration clause of my agreement said that each side will bear all their own fees in arbitration. I had to borrow from family to get the money for JAMS, but they cap the consumer fee at $250.
The first bill for the other side was ~$500 (which they paid). The second bill was ~$5,000 for the case hearing. The opposition also wanted a hearing to determine rules of evidence and another to contest whether the law firm could be sued alongside the OC. Each of those hearings would have (probably) been another ~$5,000. Also, JAMS has an appeal process which restarts the entire process with three arbitrators instead of one. At that point, each hearing can cost up to three times as much. That doesn't include the fact that the other side would have had to pay for travel/room/board for the arbitrator. Needless to say, when they got the second bill and did the math, they called me to offer mutual Dismissal w/ Prejudice. I ended up bargaining for getting the account off of my credit report and refunding my JAMS fee as well.
It wasn't very much, but when I consider where I would've ended up, arbitration really did work for me. I honestly had no chance at winning, since this was the OC, not an account that'd been passed down and records could've been lost. I ended up with the debt resolved and I can pay back my family for the JAMS fee.
So, although my case is anecdotal, the "arbitration strategy" is mostly about giving the other side a bill (or several bills) that far exceeds your debt. If your contract says each side bears their own costs, your debt is low enough, and you're patient. Sorry this is long, but I thought I'd give a bit of information for anyone who wanted to know about arbitration.
This sounds like what I might be doing soon. Could you tell me, when was it that you were able to elect for arbitration? After the initial hearing for the suit? Or before it all went down? Did you have to contact JAMS directly or did the Credit card company take care of it? The Creditor suing me has an arbitration clause in my contract but is not very clear on how I can choose to opt for it.
I'm wondering if I can get them to drop it by only showing up and asking to prove the debt is mine. If they can, can I then choose arbitration? Or do I have to ask for it before any court proceedings? Only 10 days left!
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Jun 10, 2011 20:39
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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Looks like the thread is coming to a halt but maybe someone can answer a quick question.
If I were to file a motion to compel arbitration in a suit against me by an original creditor, do I do that before my answer is submitted, or after? And if after, would it be before the hearing or at the hearing?
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Jun 26, 2011 05:52
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Apr 27, 2024 22:18
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- Rubber Johnny
- Apr 18, 2007
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When I was a child if someone brandished a shrink gun he'd get a little bit of respect!
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Chouzan posted:
Way passed your 10 days (sorry, I haven't checked up on the thread in awhile), but in case it isn't too late or it might help someone else, here's the basic drift of what happened in my case.
During discovery, I demanded a signed contract, full statements, and proof of OC retaining them as council (this firm is known to buy debt and pretend to sue as the creditor when they actually own the debt). They provided a basic contract that had the note of "accounts dated before 09". It was obvious they didn't even have the exact contract for my card, let alone the one I signed, but the contract included JAMS arbitration, so it was acceptable. They claimed not to have any other documentation and argued (over the phone) that they didn't even need a contract.
Right before the discovery period ended, I filed a motion to compel contractual arbitration and a brief in support of the motion. I was lucky enough to stumble across someone with a little under 10 times my debt who'd successfully dealt with the law firm and creditor using arbitration, and she sent me a copy of her motion and brief. I edited this pretty heavily, but my judge didn't even bother to read it. Anyway, from what I understand, different states have different rules on how late you can do this. Where I'm located, there is no specific deadline to initiate arbitration. The motion ended up being heard at our first pre-trial and the judge ordered continuances as the issue was worked out.
The other side argued that I should initiate because I elected it, and I argued that they'd brought the suit and should initiate. The judge was very much on their side during every hearing (except our last), and told me she didn't even have to enforce the contract at all. Obviously, I agreed to initiate if that's what was required. The judge refused to stay the trial until everyone paid their initial fees, which we did.
Now, as for your situation... IANAL and all, but I believe all you need to do is tell them you want arbitration for it to be "electing" unless the contract says otherwise. A CMRR letter or motion provides a paper trail, so that'd be much better for court. There is no real downside to filing the motion - if they have no proof, you don't have to fight hard for the motion in court if you don't want arbitration... I don't know how different courts work, but we had discovery before we ever met in court, so you can craft your discovery requests to see what they have. In my case, they really had next to no proof.
A large part of the arbitration strategy, in my mind, is trying to gauge how much money the other side is willing to lay out to get you. If your debt is low enough, they won't bother. I wanted arbitration because I strongly felt that no OC would pay $5-60k to pursue >$1,000. Honestly, even if they had me on video tape, I didn't think they'd pay that.
At this point, we'll be all settled by the end of the month. I should have my check in ~2 weeks and be bound by NDA. My judge is now quite angry with the other side (note: do NOT enter a judge's courtroom as she's entering). When they said we'd reached a settlement and ask for a continuance, she told them they would face sanctions if they don't have it finished by the end of the month.
I've been hoping for a response! Thank you so much! In my district, apparently the way small claims cases are handled is that the first date is an appearance to state whether or not you deny the claims by the plaintiff, instead of just filling an answer directly after being served. I didn't even see a judge but rather a court Commissioner who only asked me what my response would be, then gave me ten days to file an official answer with the court.
As far as I know, there is no discovery for small claims in Wisconsin, (or maybe there is and my google-fu is weak) so I'm left wondering if the OC actually has some compelling evidence against me. I'm willing to bet they have some old invoices and maybe some payment receipts. Not sure if that's enough to get a win, but I'm hoping they will back off when they get my answer. There is a hearing scheduled for the case at the end of August. I'm not exactly sure when I could or should file a motion to compel arbitration. They are only suing for 3K, which is largely inflated.
Anyway, if you can, I was wondering if you (or anyone ITT) could point me to a good example of what a motion to compel should look or read like?
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Jul 2, 2011 06:47
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Dec 3, 2009 06:27
