Expert: John Hall - 6/14/2006

Question
I have a Citi account that was recently sold to Unifund.  The Citi account per my credit report and from them was 804 dollars.  Since being sold Unifund claims I owe more than 1100 dollars, with compounding interest.  I wanted to settle the debt but they don't seem to be acting fairly.  The other issue is that the debt and credit card were charged and issued while I lived in NC, I currently live in PA, which state has jurisdiction?  What can I do?  I have heard that Unifund is one of the worst to deal with.

Sam

Answer
I don't know what it is but something is going on with Unifund.  I never even heard of them until fairly recently and now it seems like this company has come out of the woodwork and is suing everybody in sight -  It isn't that they are so much "the worst to deal with", it is that they are very ready to bring a lawsuit for even the smallest amount regardless of the chances of ultimately collecting from the debtor.  It is like they got  all of their companies together and said, "Let's give our attorneys marching orders to bring suit first and ask questions later.  Ordinarily I would say that for such a small amount you wouldn't have to worry so much about them suing, and if you shut down their collection efforts,  they would just quietly go away.  However, with these guys, I would bet that they would file even for this small amount -  doesn't make a whole lot of sense but that seems to be what is happening.

Who has jurisdiction?   Generally speaking a lawsuit may be brought against a defendant in one of two places -  where the defendant resides, or where the cause of action arose (wehere the contract was made, where payments were made, etc.  However, complaining about the jurisdiction here may not be too successful.  There is another factor involved as well concerning the choice of law -  some contracats specifically state that that contract will be enforced according to a particular state's law.    In any event, the jurisdiciton issue may be something to complaint about, but whetehr you ae immediately successful or not in asserting it is far from being easily predictable.

Having said all of that -  you still have options - and you may be able to handle this without having to pay them a settlement -  it just depends on facts you don't state in yhour quesiton.    Call me if you like.  I will not charge you just to talk on the phone. and it will be a heck of a lot easier to talk on the phone and explain your options in more detail if you call on the phone.    661  492-2673