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Collections Law/Court summons for debt
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Question
Hi, I just received a not so friendly call from a law office of a company that bought out delinquent cases from Bank of America (that is what they told me). They said I had a delinquent debt of around 3k with no payment since 2006. I remember the card, but asked for the history of the card and would work out a payment schedule with them. They got very angry claiming that if they provided a statement, it would be considered "denial of claim" and that I would for sure be sued. I asked who I could call to get these details and they refused any details, basically unless I paid them a lump sum of 2500 right now which I can not afford, then it would be taken to court and I would be sued. What can I do at this point? Please advise.
I know what I would do and that is I would do nothing at all until I got a letter from them telling me they want me to pay. Then I'd wait about 25 days and send them a demand for validation. If their first communication with me turned out to be a lawsuit I'd file a response to their lawsuit and then send them a demand for validation as well as a demand for admissions. I would end up getting violations of law against them and take them to federal court where they would lose and pay me to go away and leave them alone.
I realize you may think you can't do that or simply don't want to. That's understandable too. In any event, the law says you have the right to dispute the debt or any portion thereof and if they don't provide you with that required information they can't do anything further to collect until they do provide it. That caller was just blustering and blowing smoke trying to get you to pay up without giving them any problems and there is no reason why you should allow them to do that.
At the very least, I sure wouldn't pay them until they come up with a full and complete accounting of the debt.
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Answers by Expert:
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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