Expert: Creditwrench - 7/7/2008

Question
QUESTION: My spouse decided to move out and leave me and my daughter in May of 2007. Until divorce papers are finalized or enrollment time came I was not able to take him off my insurance policy. In September, he decided to get his wisdom teeth removed causing a 467.60 bill that apparently he didn't intend to pay. Yesterday I received a collections notice in MY name stating that I needed to pay. When I called both the office and the debt collector they both stated since I was his wife and subscriber we both owe the money. What do I  or can I do?

ANSWER: Whether or not you both owe the debt can depend on whether or not you live in a community property state. You will find the list of community property states in the links below. Let's find that out first.

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

RECOMMENDED READING
http://www.shrinkmylink.com/hhlqson FDCPA EXPERT
www.creditwrench.com/howjudgmentswork.html
www.creditwrench.com/18questions.html
http://shrinkmylink.com/kmlqson
www.creditwrench.com/objections.html
www.creditwrench.com/howcreditwrenchworks.html
http://www.shrinkmylink.com/bnlqson List of community property states

LISTEN TO THESE CREDITWRENCH STUDENTS CHAT ON OUR FRIDAY NIGHT CONFERENCE CALLS.

http://www.creditwrench.tv/MIKEJM-06-27-08.mp3
http://shrinkmylink.com/xsjqson

Statute of Limitations for all states
http://shrinkmylink.com/zlwpson

How to set up your hard drive for creditwrench files. Makes them easy to find.
http://tinyurl.com/3lqxaw
The Creditwrench conference calls will start this coming Friday evening at 7 P.M. Central time. It is free and open to the public. There is no cost or obligation other than what it may cost you for the phone call itself. You can join in and ask questions or just listen or whatever you want to do.

Dial-in Number: (712) 432-1601
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You might also want to visit our message forum at http://consumers.creditwrench.com to get answers to questions you need answered before next Friday night.

If you live within driving distance of Oklahoma City you can also come to our monthly meeting of the Oklahoma City Chapter of Jurisdictionary meetings. They are held on the 2nd Thursday of each month at Coit's Root Beer Stand which is located on the corner of SW 24th & Western Ave in Oklahoma City. The meetings start promptly at 7:00 P.M. and last for 2 hours. Attendees usually arrive about half an hour early so they can enjoy a good meal at Coit's Root Beer Stand. The meetings are free and open to the public and we can discuss your problems as well if you like.

We are going to start holding mock trials so that you can learn some court room procedures.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I don't think I do. I live in Ohio and from the info I have found so far. It doesn't seem to be on the list.

Answer
OK then that is good for you. What you need to do is to send a demand for validation and dispute of the debt. You need to send it certified mail, return receipt requested. That stops them from moving on with collection activity until such time as they provide you with the demanded validation. Or at least it is supposed to do that and if they proceed with collection activity before providing you with the proper validation you would have a cause of action to sue them with.

That is the final goal you should work towards rather than trying to argue with them. Learn how to spot their violations and the FDCPA expert page will help you do that.

The page needs a lot of revamping and I am doing that over the next few days to make all the links go to pages that are as reliable as possible without sending people to pages they have to pay dearly to get the information they seek.