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Collections Law/summons served improperly

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Expert: Creditwrench - 8/3/2009


Question
I received a notice in the mail from Asset Acceptance, LLC. of  a default judgement for an old debt-that I am not even sure I owe.  I called the number on the notice and asked why I had never received notice of this previously?  The very rude person on the line said I had been served with a summons and it had been signed by William Bruce.  I stated I did not know this person-in fact I don't even know anyone with this name.  They told me that did not matter-as long as someone at my address who was at least 18 years old signed the summons them according to the law I was legally served.  How can this be?  I have never been given the opportunity to question the debt.  What can I demand from them before I make any payments and doesn't this judgement allow them to garnish my wages if I do not make any payments?  Can I request a statement from them demanding exactly what I owe before I give them any money?  The judgement paper is very confusing as to the total owed and the rude person on the phone stated a much lower amount.  I am in the state of oklahoma.


Answer

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The first thing you need to do is go to the court house and get a copy of all the paperwork in the judgment file so we can tell what has been done. You can't get all the paperwork from OSCN.net so you will have to go to the court house to get it. Apparently they haven't tried to garnish on the judgment and Oklahoma has a 5 year statute of limitations on judgments unless renewed. So just how old is this judgment? As you may know, I'm in Oklahoma City so if you are anywhere close to OKC you can just bring the paperwork to me and we can see what can be done. I sure wouldn't pay them anything however and wouldn't promise to pay them anything either.  

Creditwrench

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.

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