Expert: Creditwrench - 6/29/2008

Question
My husband received a letter from a lawyer saying that Discover was suing us and getting a court judgment against us for the balanced owed to them. He wanted us to respond within 15 days. My husband called immediately and spoke to the lawyer, told him we had every intention of paying our debt off, but do not have the money to pay the debt in its entirety but we are willing to work out a payment plan.  The lawyer then said he would send us paperwork to fill out. The paperwork we received asked for personal information like tax returns from the past few years, our bank statements, place of employment and pay stubs. My husband responded by giving an amount he was willing to pay but he did not want to send the personal information. We then received another letter from the lawyer asking again for the personal information (tax returns, etc). Do we have a legal obligation to send them this information? What will happen if we do not? We reside in Louisiana and am not clear on the law in our state concerning these matters. We do owe this money and are very willing to pay up to $500 a month although we cannot afford any more. The debt is for $8000. We cannot afford a lawyer but do not want to be taken advantage of. My husband also receives a small Navy retirement check that we hope we do not have to tell them about if possible. We live on every penny and we're afraid they will try to take every cent we make. I do not work but stay home with the children. Thank you for any help you may give.

Answer
You have absolutely no legal obligation to tell them anything until such time as they have a judgment and a garnishment order in place. Even then you don't have to tell them everything. There are some things they simply cannot compel.

While you may have a moral obligation to pay what you owe, you also have many rights under various laws such as FDCPA and FCRA and more.
You also have the right to do all you can to avoid them forcing you to pay under court order and taking up to 25% of your income which they can do. You say you can afford up to $500 a month. If you offer them that they will demand more so I would recommend that you don't offer them anything but rather ask what is the least they will take and see what they offer you. Might be less than that. And never admit to anything.

But how old is the debt? When did you make your last payment to the creditor?

Bill Bauer
405-684-9297
405-227-9423

RECOMMENDED READING:
www.creditwrench.com/howjudgmentswork.html
www.creditwrench.com/18questions.html
www.creditwrench.com/Howtodefeatdebtcollectors
www.creditwrench.com/objections.html

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