Please list the month you stopped paying on your CC and the month of first judgment

[debtmonster]

Debt Monster: The only thing I can figure out is that you originally lived in a state that tolls debts. Meaning that after you moved out of that state, the statute of limitations stopped running, otherwise, your debts would be uncollectable according to law. All you would need to tell the CA and debt buyers is "It is past the statute of limitations" and they can whine all they want but they can't do anything to you. After 7 years, it should have come off your credit report also. You need to see if the CA are reaging your debt. The correct date on your credit report is the date of the last payment you made to anyone on that debt. If they are reaging, this is illegal and you can demand the reporting agency to remove it or you can sue the CA if they keep doing it. Look for accounts in multiple places with the same amt owed, usually with a different account number. The original debt would be the oldest one there. The rest are illegal. You may be running for nothing.

I have been at the same place for the past several years since I became a home owner. I have a mix of new and old debt. The house, SUV and medical bill is recent and those 3 are nearly $200,000 all on their own.

I just want to flush everything down and start fresh and live credit-free from this point forward.

After we file BK, I will stay in the house as long as possible until the sheriff knocks on the door and tells us to leave. Then we'll get a moving truck and move back in with family again... but this time, 100% debt-free, other than maybe a car that we will keep.

So in other words, I'm not losing any sleep over any of the debt. I haven't before and I haven't now. Why people get all freaked out over lawsuits is beyond me. I would fight those people tooth and nail. You should hear the screaming matches I've had years past with many of the rude CA's. 2006 was even nasty for a repo. Wells Fargo called me like 90+ times in 30 days. I wanted that guy to come here in person so bad so I could beat him to a pulp. I would have broken every bone in both hands beating that guy's face in if he would have came down here. I can't stand CA's. Anyone who makes an even a minor threat to me over the phone is asking for the biggest beating of their life. I don't take kindly to any of that stuff. When it comes to threats over the phone from CA's, I take the law into my own hands... well, for me, there is no law at that point. A word of advice to CA's... Just don't anger me.

[treehugger1]

Even if you live in Texas you are not protected from IRS, student loan, child support , etc wage garnishment.

[treehugger1]

To the poster who is wondering how to set up direct deposit of pay required by employer. You might think about a Debit only account such as those offered by Western Union, Account Now, NetSpend, Readydebit, etc. The list is huge and almost all of these are FDIC protected and accept direct deposit. In addition, most of these have bill-pay features. You pay 4.95 - 9.95 per month, but there is no way you can overdraw these accounts.

[debtmonster]

Even if you live in Texas you are not protected from IRS, student loan, child support , etc wage garnishment.

That's a given for just about any state. Anything that involves the government in any way, you will not be able to walk away from.

We're talking for basic creditors, bank loans, credit cards... all the typical stuff.

Somebody like me would do well in Texas. I don't owe any student loans or child support, but I have the $360,000 in current debt. If I moved to a place like Austin, Amarillo, Houston, etc... I'd be good to go if I was to land a job and not have to fear creditors garnishing my paycheck.

Doesn't garnishing have nothing to do with direct deposit? I thought they go directly to the employer and the employer pays them and deducts the amount from your check automatically, pretty much the same way the employer would do for Federal and FICA taxes? I've never been garnished, but I would think that's the way it would work.

[debtmonster]

See! That was a good thing I posted that link. If I hadn't posted that link, you would have not contributed that great post. See! I get people thinking!! Now people have both the link to read if they want to fight it and the words of your post.

I am going to forward what you wrote to my friend who sent me the link to see what he says.

He looked up some records in public records and found somebody fighting it just as described in the link.

I did not delete his email yet and found this link...

http://www.miami-dadeclerk.com/civil/docketinfo.asp?pCase_Year=2008&pCase_Seq=25402&pCase_Code=CC&pCase_Loc=23&id=AAAHgHAAOAAAz3sAA2

People will get a great education by coming to this web site after spending hours reading all of the messages by people have who gone through what many are getting to go through.

By posting my unorthodox views on many things, I get people coming back with great replies... similar to the way a college professor motivates his students to think and come back with an answer. So don't write me off, yet!

[Flamingo]

Pick and choose what you want on your resume. I've managed to land $60-70k jobs even after all of that moving around. If I can do it, you can do it. Be positive. When the job would end, I'd move to another state and do it again. By the time the CA's found me, I'd move again. CA's HATE people like me like you cannot imagine. I am a moving target. Just hustle. Don't own a home. Don't get anything they can put a lien on. Always finance a car. Never pay it off. By the time it's almost paid off, trade it in and get a new car. After a few years, you're bored of the car you have anyway. As long as you have cars with no equity, they can't do anything. Just don't have anything titled in your name that has positive equity.

If you're not buried in debt, then disregard the above. But if you are, you need to fight to remain judgment-proof. In nearly 20 years, I've never stepped foot in a courtroom regarding any of my debt. The only time I will be going into court this time will be for my BK. My debt is not topping $360,000, so I feel that it's time to take advantage of the Chapter 7 law before Obama does anything to change it in the future. It's hard to qualify for a BK now. Maybe nothing will happen, but if he has plans to amend the law making it even harder to qualify, I wanna do it sooner than later.

I think the next couple of years are going to be really bad. This is going to be one of the worst Christmas seasons in the past 20-30 years thanks to this Depression/Recession.

That is an awful way to live and to allow creditors to control your life like that for so many years. No wonder you are in the position you are in; it's expensive to move around like that so you are continually racking up debt at various places and then have to run. You knew it couldn't last forever - they eventually catch up with you.

[syn]

My dad stopped paying them about 6 months ago. None have tried to sue him and only Capital One has put it in collections. Most of the cc's are BOA and I know they aren't that smart...

[CompTweaker]

BigBoy, with your responses here, I am seriously starting to think you are in the collection business. I hope I'm wrong. Sometimes you post some helpful information. But what you are posting in this thread and the amount of time you are putting into it, along with the effort and words you are using to try and scare people.....well I dont want to get into an argument, but why are you trying to scare people from fighting a collections lawsuit? A default judgement is a collection att's dream!

First of all, just so everybody knows, I'm going through this right now. I plan on making a post detailing every single thing I am doing to fight these lawsuits. I may win, or I may lose, but its worth the effort to me if just for the sake of gaining experience and knowledge from the process. Plus, I like to fight sometimes, especially when its a debt buyer who purchased my charged off debt for pennies on the dollar, trying to line his pockets and get everything possible out of me so he can pay for his big house and cars. And the kicker in all of this is I am a straight through ch.7 qualifier, lol! So if I lose, I file BK, and they wont get a dime anyway! I've educated myself very well with BK, earn less than the limit in my state (SC), and everything I own is exempt. No garnishment allowed here, and I'm allowed $50,000 of equity but have about $20k as of now. $5000 auto allowance, my auto is worth $2000.

I have one arbitration case that I'm in the middle of answering to (answering the summons and complaint) and another different collections lawsuit on the docket that hasnt been served to me yet, but its coming and Im preparing myself.

First, theres no way a lawyer can take your car if you show up to the hearing in order to fight or accept the judgement. Each state's bk exemptions also apply to judements and all you have to do is file a form with the court stating you wish to exempt what you own according to the states bk/judgement allowable exemptions, (and as long as you're not rich, and not driving a vehicle way over your exemption amount, you wont lose your car). Some states I dont think you even have to file the papers, just show up to the trial and tell the judge because this is your right.

In all of my research of fighting debt collection suits, Ive never come across a "jury" trial, and you can fight these suits on your own if you just read some books and research the web. (one very helpful book I picked up for $20 is "Solve your money troubles" 11th edition, by Leonard Lamb). So dont be scared away with lawyer fees and such. As far as if you lose the case? Appeal! Also, most collection agencies break FDCPA violations, so you countersue with those while defending yourself. They might not get a dime from me, but I'll get $1000 for each violation they commited! And right now, I have 3 violations for one of my cases.

As far as answering their discovery? Well, I dont mind stating where I work, no bank account (using money orders to pay bills), I'll state everything I own (it falls well below my states exemptions). And they cant garnish my wages. So I have nothing to fear from their discovery.

But the BIG question is, can they answer MY discovery and prove the debt? And are they prepared to cough up some $$ for their FDCPA violations?
It wont cost me much more than some time reading, some filing fees, and the effort I put into showing up for the trial. And if they dont show (it happens a lot), I file a motion to dismiss.

[CompTweaker]

"So lets break down what happens at this point, if you answer you will also have to answer with a defense, cite a reason or case law as to why the plaintiff is wrong and why you need a jury trial. Along with that later comes discovery, where you ask questions and so can the plaintiff. You MUST answer all the questions and this will most likely include, where you bank, your balance, your employment and assets. In addition the plaintiff will move for summary judgment against your response and unless you have some real reason to not pay them, the judge will honor the request for summary judgment."


Two words......"SWORN DENIAL"
just a graduated denial, used along with answering your summons, and that forces the lawyer to show up at trial, produce a live witness testifying to the fact that you owe the debt and that they have personally handled your account. Plus they must PROVE the debt is yours, provide the name and address of the original creditor, statements proving the debt is yours, plus how much they paid for the debt. No summary judgement until this is done! So YOU WILL have your day in court, and the collector's and their att's HATE this!

[CompTweaker]

By the way, to answer the original poster's questions:

Stopped paying on 3 credit cards in aug. 2005
first lawsuit filed june of 2008
second one filed aug. 2008 (they beat the 3 year SOL by 5 days, hahaha, just my luck)

[ssdsco]

I think the info Professor debtmonster has so eloquently brought out in this thread from BB2 and CT is great but what action you actually take when severed a summons can depend on many variables such as -

Filing BK in the next couple months, filing BK in the next couple years, not planning to file BK, owe the debt or not, asset and income situation, being sued by OC/CA or JDB, SOL or not, afford an attorney or not, ability to go pro se and probably a bunch more.

It would be helpful, at least to me if you could qualify which approach to use depending on the situation. I don't think one size fits all.

Thanks

"Go ahead. Make My Day!"

[treehugger1]

I'm not sure that a "sworn denial" is allowed in every state. I just read through my state's rules of civil procedure (Oregon) and they clearly list what kind of answers and/or pleadings are allowed. I don't see where a sworn denial will satisfy the allowed response types to an initial summons. The general response types allowed under the CRP in my state are admit, deny, or state defendant has insufficient knowledge. In addition, each numbered complaint must be addressed by the defendant or the response is taken as an automatic admit or deny (depending upon type of complaint.)

At what point in the process does a sworn denial come into play? Thanks in advance.

[CompTweaker]

True. Many variables for many different individuals.

If you live in a state where wage garnishment is allowed, then you may as well prepare for that if they get a judgement....or file bk within a few months after they get it.

Close bank acc's so they cant get to any funds there.

Basically, if you have a home and auto with a large amount over your allowed exemption, prepare for a lien and a possible enforcement of the liens.

If you have boats, atv's, motorcycles, paid for and worth a pretty good bit, and they are not covered by your state's exemptions, then yep, you may lose those if after the judgement, the att calls you in for a debtors exam.

As far as how much money you make, well if you are making a lot, and just stopped paying and expecting to not pay anything.....well, I wish you luck and wish I were in your shoes. I stopped paying due to many layoffs and plants shutting down in my line of work. So I just decided to get a job in a field I know will always be here in the USA, will probably not make more than $12/hr and can pay my current bills with this amount. Not much left over at the end of the month, but I make do and can still take my GF out to eat occasionally.

If you lose the suits, and have property, they will attach a lien and it may sit there for a long time. I would rather go ahead and try to fight the suits, and if I lose, save up for ch7 bk. I'll call the collection att's in both cases and give them one last chance to take the $1500 I'll pay the BK att....I'll split it $750 for each.....and they can take that as settlement and vacate the liens or just not get anything at all after I file BK.

So the basics can apply to everyone, you just have to look at your individual situation, figure out what your state's exemptions are, and go at it from there. I can file BK or not file BK. I'd rather save it for something more important than debt collection judgements, but if I have to, its there to use at my disposal. If you cant file bk, own property, and lose a lawsuit, liens will be attached and wage garnishment will occur if it is allowed in your state. Maybe you can allow the liens to sit there until some time passes and you are able to file BK.

Hope this helps.

[CompTweaker]

I'm not sure that a "sworn denial" is allowed in every state. I just read through my state's rules of civil procedure (Oregon) and they clearly list what kind of answers and/or pleadings are allowed. I don't see where a sworn denial will satisfy the allowed response types to an initial summons. The general response types allowed under the CRP in my state are admit, deny, or state defendant has insufficient knowledge. In addition, each numbered complaint must be addressed by the defendant or the response is taken as an automatic admit or deny (depending upon type of complaint.)

At what point in the process does a sworn denial come into play? Thanks in advance.

Good question. I believe it is a separate affidavit you fill out and file with your case. Here is a sample from Colorado I found at a site:

https://www.ilrg.com/forms/affidavit-gen/us/co

I'm still reading the rules of procedure and rules of evidence for my state. So it may or may not be allowed according to the rules, but I cant think of any reason why it wouldnt be allowed.





After further research:
I just finished reading a few cases, and yes, it is a separate affidavit that you file with your case, after you answer the summons and complaint. And always make copies of anything you file with the court and serve it on the plantiff too.....certified mail RR should do. And dont forget to have those papers notarized!

[treehugger1]

This is a very good question because does a sworn denial, if allowed, circumvent responding to numbered complaints and claims of the palintiff in an initial service?