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Question
I just received a letter from the municipal courts last nite that i was being sued over a debt that is 9 years old. Am i still liable for this? If so, can i make a settlement offer? On one of the letters, it mentioned that i have 28 days to respond to this summons. If, i can make a settlement offer, can this appear on my credit report? i am hoping to purchase a home in the within 90 days. They did send some poor copies of the orginal contract that i signed, i can barely read the signature. This was with a health club membership.
If you are going to be buying a home in the next few months, you are going to have to be careful with how you handle this pending lawsuit. This will be easier to talk about on the telephone. Call me on my cell if you like 661 492-2673 I will not charge you just to talk on the phone.
P.S. Settling with them at this point will have the opposite intended effect. It will make your credit worse because they will mark it up as a paid collection account or as an account that was settled for less than the amount due. Paying them will also restart the statute of limitations and the bad credit report entry (both of which are keyed to the date of last activity or last payment).
That was the bad news. However, there may just be a way to work this so that you can get your house and still not have to deal with this lawsuit, or at least not have to deal with it right away. Call me if you like.
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Answers by Expert:
John Hall
Expertise
Law school graduate, Juris Doctorate (J.D.) Degree; Over 25 years of experience throughout the United States in bankruptcy law matters (Chapters 7, 11, and 13 of the United States Bankruptcy Code) primarily representing individual debtors with consumer debt or small businesses; Experience has included all aspects of debtor/creditor relations.
Experience
FREE BANKRUPTCY HELP. If you are being sued, if your home is being foreclosed, or if you are being harassed by bill collectors, filing for bankruptcy may be a quick and inexpensive solution.. The mere filing of a bankruptcy will operate as a federal court order (it is called an automatic stay) to stop all bill collection efforts, including lawsuits that are pending or ongoing. Bankruptcy is a legitimate way to meet your problems with debt head-on. The bankruptcy law is designed to give you a second chance to make a new start without the psychological and financial burden of pressing debts that you are unable to pay. Depending on what state you live in and what your assets are, it is very unlikely that you are going to have to lose anything if you file for bankruptcy, and this is something that you can do immediately without having to pay the $500 to $1,500 attorney fees that most attorneys charge. Also, you might be surprised that you can file for bankruptcy and that it will not have the devastating effect on your credit that most bill collectors describe. Life is too short to have all this anxiety over losing your car through repossession, getting evicted from your home, or losing your home through foreclosure. Bankruptcy law was designed to give you a second chance. I will not charge you just to talk on the phone. Call me at 432 853-5711, or send me an email at j_h14@hotmail.com with your telephone number, and I will call you back.
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