Bogus Garnishment letter?

[momofmany]

Ok, I got a letter in the mail on Saturday. It is from a Collection Agency or Law Firm, not sure which. Anyways, it says State of MN County of XXXX Capital One Bank vs. me. Then on the side it says "Execution/Garnishment Exemption notices and notice of intent to levy or garnish earnings". However, under Court File No. it is blank.

Then the letter part of it says: Please take notice that a garnishment summons or levy may be served upon your employer or other third parties, without further court proceedings or notice to you, ten days or more from the date hereof. Some or all of your earnings are exempt from levy or garnishment....etc.

Anyways, I called the local Court office to see about this since I for one, have not been given a notice that I actually had a judgement granted against me. Two, there was no court file no. on the form. So the person I talked to looked it up. She looked it up by my name(both married & maiden), and also by the creditor(Capital One Bank). NOTHING in their system!!

SO I'm wondering is this a bogus letter? The third page has a form I can fill out if I want to claim exemption of my earning if I've been on a Government assistance program, been in jail, etc.

Would you fill this out and return it to the sender(collection agency or lawyers)? I would qualify for this exemption. On the other hand, I am a stay at home mom, so I don't have any income to garnish anyways. Can they garnish my husband's income from something against me? It doesn't say anything about bank accounts. I'm wondering if they think this letter will scare me and then if I do fill it out, they would find out it wasn't worth going after me since I would be exempt anyways? I'm just curious what you guys think.

We are going to be filing BK soon...maybe in a month or so.

Thanks!! Sara

[albacore44]

Ok, I got a letter in the mail on Saturday. It is from a Collection Agency or Law Firm, not sure which. Anyways, it says State of MN County of XXXX Capital One Bank vs. me. Then on the side it says "Execution/Garnishment Exemption notices and notice of intent to levy or garnish earnings". However, under Court File No. it is blank.

Then the letter part of it says: Please take notice that a garnishment summons or levy may be served upon your employer or other third parties, without further court proceedings or notice to you, ten days or more from the date hereof. Some or all of your earnings are exempt from levy or garnishment....etc.

Anyways, I called the local Court office to see about this since I for one, have not been given a notice that I actually had a judgement granted against me. Two, there was no court file no. on the form. So the person I talked to looked it up. She looked it up by my name(both married & maiden), and also by the creditor(Capital One Bank). NOTHING in their system!!

SO I'm wondering is this a bogus letter? The third page has a form I can fill out if I want to claim exemption of my earning if I've been on a Government assistance program, been in jail, etc.

Would you fill this out and return it to the sender(collection agency or lawyers)? I would qualify for this exemption. On the other hand, I am a stay at home mom, so I don't have any income to garnish anyways. Can they garnish my husband's income from something against me? It doesn't say anything about bank accounts. I'm wondering if they think this letter will scare me and then if I do fill it out, they would find out it wasn't worth going after me since I would be exempt anyways? I'm just curious what you guys think.

We are going to be filing BK soon...maybe in a month or so.

Thanks!! Sara

How many months has it been since you last payed them ?? Also, you were never served a summons ?? Something sounds fishy

[treehugger1]

It does sound fishy. You apparently called the county that was listed on the form. This can be important as sometimes you can be sued in another county. I would immediately send a copy of what you received to your state attorney general's office or state consumer finance office and file a complaint.

When I receive garnishment notices, I also receive a copy of the judgment. Not sure what MN requires.

[momofmany]

How many months has it been since you last payed them ?? Also, you were never served a summons ?? Something sounds fishy

The last time I paid Capital One was probably 9 months ago I think.

I was served a summons I think in January, but that also did not have a court file no. and when I had contacted the court back in Nov. about my husband getting a summons w/o a Court No. they said it hadn't been filed w/ the court and it was probably more like a pre-summons...since my summons was the same type as my husbands(different creditor of course), I assumed it was also a pre-summons. If it was a real summons, and they got a judgment against me, wouldn't they have to notify me they had a judgment?

Sara

[momofmany]

It does sound fishy. You apparently called the county that was listed on the form. This can be important as sometimes you can be sued in another county. I would immediately send a copy of what you received to your state attorney general's office or state consumer finance office and file a complaint.

When I receive garnishment notices, I also receive a copy of the judgment. Not sure what MN requires.

If I send a copy of what I received to my state attorney general's office to file a complaint, what would I actually say my complaint is?

I did call the County that is on the form, which is also the county I live in.

Thanks, Sara

[OhioFiler]

If I send a copy of what I received to my state attorney general's office to file a complaint, what would I actually say my complaint is?

I did call the County that is on the form, which is also the county I live in.

Thanks, Sara

If they lie to you about a lawsuit then you have cause. The only way they can garnish your wages if if they have a judgement against you. I'd complain. Nothing to lose, something to gain.

[BigJohn]

Was this a business loan? Some business loans can be tried in out of State courts.

[momofmany]

Was this a business loan? Some business loans can be tried in out of State courts.

No, just a personal credit card for around $1,000

[catleg]

[momofmany]

Thanks for posting this. That really sucks though.

Does anyone know if my husband's wages can be garnished if he is not on the credit card? Because I have no wages, so I"m not worried about me, just his.

Thanks, Sara

[dingdong]

Jeeeze!

What happended to due process in Minnesota?

That is not right!

So essentially, you can pay a process server 20.00 and serve at the last know residence and BAM you have your judgement?

So if you are a debtor that moved, you are SOL? and I don't mean statute of limitations.


Get an unsrupulous PS and they say they served you anywhere.

Last known address, heaven, hell. Those PS are not known the be of the highest integrity . ( Sorry PS out there, I know there are exceptions)

I bet there are a lot of challenges on service in Minnesota, or at least there should be. Seems like that would tie up the courts with stupid issues, instead of just enacting laws to ensure a debtor is properly notified of a lawsuit.


Scary!
So can anyone say they are jo-blow creditor and then file a "Pocket Service" lawsuit and garnish?

Seems ripe for fraud IMO.

[MiSSMaGoo]

Geez Capital One is crazy! HA My cc went all the way to where it would have been a trial and the funniest thing was it was over a $500 balance. All together before I filed bankrupt I had 3 courts dates set up with them. The first one I filed an answer and then they set up for a few weeks later and then I didnt even show up for that one because I was in the hospital giving birth and then the last one was right before I filed. With each one I also received a letter saying we'd like to settle this out of court so please call us. haha