AboutCreditwrench Expertise Debt Collections law, Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), federal law, how to properly answer court summons for collection cases, how to prepare federal cases against debt collectors, how to deal with debt collection phone calls.
Experience I've been an active consumer advocate for more than 40 years and have helped hundreds of people win cases against debt collectors as well as helping them defeat demands for summary judgment lodged against them by banks, debt collectors and defeat mortgage foreclosures and keep their homes.
Education/Credentials Paralegal courses for the most part. I have been teaching people how to deal with judgments, mortgage foreclosures and other such problems both on and off the internet for many, many years. I am a Richard Cornforth information provider ever since 2000 and worked with many other organizations and causes since 1980. I was Oklahoma State Chairman for the nationwide drive to defeat the Constitutional Convention which was proposed by various factions within our federal government such as the Council of State Governments and the National Organization of State Governors who were working hard to organize a Constitutional Convention to be held in 1995 for the purpose of rewriting our American Constitution to be more acceptable to the United Nations. I worked with Senator Charles Duke of Colorado and Senator Don Rogers of California and many others across the nation to keep them from getting the number of delegate states required to lawfully hold a Con-Con and we were successful. I have worked with many other legislative issues in Oklahoma and have always been very successful.
Question QUESTION: my girlfriend got a credit card about 2two years ago she never made a payment on it and they contacted me saying that she will soon recive paperwork from the court on the 28 unless we can pay all 1100 today. my question is she is a stay at home mom and full time student with no income or assets. everythng in our appartment was mine before we met she came in with nothing. her only money is the extra 2000 in grants she gets every quater from school. what do we do when we receive this court? can they take my stuff and car?
ANSWER: You aren't married? Then no, they can't take anything from you. What do you do when you get the paperwork from the court? Well, in the first place I would not wait for that. I would first find out if the court has a web site and whether you can access court docket records on line. One way to find that out is to check the resources section on my message board at http://consumers.creditwrench.com because there is a link there to a web site that lists just about all the court systems that have web sites anywhere in the U.S. You can see if your court has a web site and what kinds of records are available on it. If your can't access docket records on the net then go there once a week and check your public record at the court house. You don't even have to tell them who you are to access your public records. As soon as a case is filed I would then prepare my response, demand for admissions and
certificate of mailing and go file the response then send a copy to the plaintiff's attorney along with the rest of the documents. I'd then sit back and wish I were a little mouse in the attorney's office as he sit at his desk scratching his head wondering how that happened so fast.
I'd give him his 30 days to respond to my demand for admissions and if he didn't reply within 30 days I'd file a motion to deem admitted. I'd also send him a demand for production of documents and if he didn't respond to that within the 30 days I'd move for suppression of all documents I had demanded and didn't get.
If he got so stupid as not to comply with my demands he wouldn't have a case left so that's not too likely to happen.
Of course, by that time I'd probably already have had him served with a summons to go to federal court for his violations of FDCPA.
By that time he would probably be wishing he had never heard of me.
Now that is what I would do. What are you folks going to do?
Are you going to sit there and wait for the dreaded knock on the door by the process server, Maybe go try to find some dumb lawyer to see if they can pull some magic rabbit out of the hat? Or decide to go it alone by writing some letter to the judge explaining her situation hoping the judge will care?
Its up to you. Learn how to fight back now or wait to get slammed in court. You need to understand that even though you are not married and they can't touch your stuff they can end up throwing her in jail until you come up with the money to get her out. Yes, I know they can't do that directly. We don't have debtors prisons and she can't be jailed for owing money but the court can order her to pay and if she don't comply with the judge's order then she could be jailed for contempt of court. I've never heard of that happening but the point is that if they can't get the money one way then maybe they will figure out some other way to get it. Sooner or later they probably will.
Do you have a joint checking account? If so they can try to grab that and there goes your money too. If you have a joint checking account get her off of it now.
Above all, start learning how to fight back now before it is too late.
QUESTION: i did what you said as far as looking at my local records online. they said we would receive the summons today if we ddn't pay but there is no record of anything being filed against her at this time. does that mean they were bluffing? when it does come down to it how bad does it get? the bill is 1100 i am expecting it to almost triple with fees but i was just going to agree to pay them with my tax return to clear her name. in your expeiance would they be happy with that. i just want it ovr and done with and that is as soon as i can do it.
Answer I can well imagine that you would just want it over and done with but that isn't going to happen even if you pay it off in full. The problem is that paying it off will only make her credit look worse for a longer period of time. Pay it off and they mark the credit file with a notation from their debt collection company that says paid collection or something like to that effect and it is going to stay there for the full 7 years. Old collection accounts that remain unpaid has less and less effect on the score as it ages but a paid collection notification retains it's impact for the full seven years.
So what do you want to do? Pay it off and get her a solid black mark entry just to get it behind you and pay $1100 just to feel better or would you rather learn how to fight, get it off her credit report and get paid for doing it?
You already have a solid cause of action against them in federal court if you don't get that summons today nor is a lawsuit even filed today.
There are bound to be more as time goes on. Each violation is worth $1,000 so what is it likely to cost them to get the $1,000? Most likely at least two or three times that.
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