Got a Summons from Capital One today!

[jacko]

I was served today and have to contact Plaintiff's Attorney with in 20 days to answer the complaint. If not, a judgment by default will be taken against me.

How should I respond? Are they fishing? Just trying to scare me?

The amount they want is $6392 with accumulated interest of $8.09 per day until paid.

[albacore44]

I was served today and have to contact Plaintiff's Attorney with in 20 days to answer the complaint. If not, a judgment by default will be taken against me.

How should I respond? Are they fishing? Just trying to scare me?

The amount they want is $6392 with accumulated interest of $8.09 per day until paid.

Which Credit Card and when did you last pay ??

[jacko]

Was a MasterCard and last paid around Oct/Nov 2008.

I am unemployed and in foreclosure. My folks send a monthly stipend to keep the utilities current and food on the table. So what are they going to do me?

I own a paid 03 Civic. Should I send it off on a trip down to neverland...-)

Won't be filing Chap 7 until next summer, until I get dough to pay for the filing.

Which Credit Card and when did you last pay ??

[albacore44]

Was a MasterCard and last paid around Oct/Nov 2008.

I am unemployed and in foreclosure. My folks send a monthly stipend to keep the utilities current and food on the table. So what are they going to do me?

I own a paid 03 Civic. Should I send it off on a trip down to neverland...-)

Won't be filing Chap 7 until next summer, until I get dough to pay for the filing.

Wow, for cap 1 they moved pretty quick, particularly since you have no income/assets. as much as this helps i'm so sorry for you. dont think they can do much, you have nothing for them to take. take care

[jacko]

I don't think they know of my financial situation..

They can't seize my sole primary vehicle which is a exempt asset as far as I know?

Wow, for cap 1 they moved pretty quick, particularly since you have no income/assets. as much as this helps i'm so sorry for you. dont think they can do much, you have nothing for them to take. take care

[albacore44]

I don't think they know of my financial situation..

They can't seize my sole primary vehicle which is a exempt asset as far as I know?

i dont think so. if they get a judgement, it will just wait until you gain employment, thrn they would try to garnish. sounds like you are judgement proof

[jacko]

I live in Minnesota. The trade in value is $5250(good condition). A private sale is around $7000. A dealer list price is $9500.

The car state exemption is $4000. There is no wild card. The state is one of a handful that allows federal exemptions.

Don't you have to file BK to protect?

Have you run the numbers on your car for your state and included any wild cards and calculated at an auction value (black book or at least lowest dealer trade-in amount)? If you find the Civic is still worth more and you need to lose some equity in it, take out a loan from mom and dad for say half the value of the car, draw up a contract that puts payments on a balloon in say 18-24 months, and put them as the legal owner of the car and you remain as the registered owner. Its all fair and legal, this way you just encumbered the car to prevent anyone from taking it. Matter of fact later when you file BK you include them and let the car go back to them in the BK. Then a few months after you are discharged you can 'buy' the car back from them at a reduced rate since they now need to sell a civic they have no use for.

This is one of those cases where I would say you have no problem, but things have gotten strange lately. Also what state are you in? I know in some of the eastern states that run around seizing cars more often now, I would really think about maybe putting a lien on the car if you have to much equity in it.

I would respond to the summons, you will probably get a summary judgment, but I would try to slip in the fact you have no income and any you have is exempt, all your assets including the car are exempt under your states exemptions (but putting them on notice of the exempt car and income it makes it really tough for them to try to come along later and try to seize anything.

Or you can just skip it all and let them get a default judgment since you have no defense and then deal with the collection of the judgment later.

[jacko]

The Nolo guide is a bit confusing on the car exemption value. When you list your primary vehicle in your BK forms, do you list the dealer trade in value or the private sale value or the listed dealer retail value?

[jacko]

Thanks for the clarification. The Blue Book value for dealer trade in is $5250 for good condition. I think the court would go with that value. Since my state exemption is $4000. I don't see them doing this. Its going to cost them with court costs and sending the sheriff. Also, the exemptions get adjusted next April.

I am going to use the federal exemptions when I file.

This summons is more about freaking folks in paying up or settle due to not knowing their rights under the law.

I am going to answer in a letter to the attorney to go pound salt. Will not speak to Plaintiff Attorney over the phone.

Any chance you have a sample letter floating around...-)

Glad that I found this forum before I did something foolishly like answer the phone to the creditors. Life is to short to be stressed out. I am liking simplicity.


[QUOTE=BigBoy2U;317014]If you want to find out the "real" value of your car drive to a used car lot or two and tell them you need to sell your car right now as-is, you need cash how much will they give you for it right now you have a clear title.... that is the value of your car... Then see if you can get them to put that number in writing for you. Or if you know anyone that sells cars ask them for say $25.00 to look this up and they have access to the local dealers only auction website they can pull up the local sales history for your car that have gone through auction for the last 30, 60, 90-180 etc, days from all across the USA and what mileage was on the cars and the average auction price. This is known as the "black-book" value.

[jacko]

Thanks for the advice. I am going to get the vehicle appraised.

I googled the Plaintiffs lawyer. She looks cute, could pass for hot Linda..-) All the lawyers on staff received their Juris Doctor's from third tier law schools. No surprise, considering their positions for being creditor advocates.

I am guilty as charged, that I owe Crap 1 the dough despite changing the terms and conditions countless of times. Have to brainstorm on how to answer them with out admitting I owe that balance.

First order of business, is to get all Sept household bills paid and get some cash for my depleted wallet.

Just one word of advice...it is not up to the judge in a civil matter to determine the value of your vehicle (it really is up to you to present evidence to support your exemption if it gets questioned), but NO ONE uses a blue book value of any kind...please google "black book value" to see what I am talking about so you will understand it better. The amounts vheicles sell for at auction is the true price of the vehicle. Blue book values are estimates and are not reflective of market conditions since they are not printed or updateds often enough to be accurate.

Really this is an area I do really know what I am talking about. So I told you how to get a value for the vehicle to avoid it being seized, and told you how to legally encumber it so it has no value to a creditor, you just got about $250.00 worth of really good advice. Don't blow it.

There are no sample letters to answer a summons and complaint, I thought you had been served and need to provide your answers to the attorney?

If you got served a summons you either provide an answer by the date or they will file for a summary judgment for no response (I think that is the term).

[jacko]

Got this off the creditor's site..Of course they are quoted near the end of the article. Business has exploded in the debt collection market that is driving employment do to us dead beats..
___________________________

Defaults on loans surge in Minnesota

RANDY FURST, Star Tribune
Minnesotans are defaulting on credit card payments and other bills in skyrocketing numbers.

Default judgments imposed on debtors who failed to make loan payments and then did not respond to lawsuits seeking to collect the money climbed to more than 36,000 in 2007, up 67 percent from 2006, according to state court administration.

As the state and national economy slowed over the past year, every county in the metropolitan area recorded huge increases in default cases.

In Hennepin County alone, the number of default filings surged 71 percent to 9,237 in 2007, the most since 1989, the first year for which records are available.

Default judgments rose 102 percent in Carver County, 82 percent in Anoka County and 59 percent in Ramsey County last year.

"This represents all the economic failures in people's lives," said Mark Thompson, Hennepin County court administrator, surveying the stacks of unprocessed cases piled high on a counter on Friday. "It's depressing."

The problem does not appear be abating, according to Lynn Fuchs, Hennepin court operations manager.

In January of this year, there were 944 new default filings in Hennepin County, a 66 percent rise over January 2007. The data do not include mortgage foreclosure cases.

Poster child for debt relief
Michael Kelly, 34, a respiratory therapist, said he had decent credit until his 2004 divorce. To avoid losing the south Minneapolis house his two children had known for seven years, he refinanced the mortgage to an adjustable-rate, interest-only loan. In just more than a year, the interest rate jumped from 6.875 percent to 10.875 percent.

He said he now pays almost $2,000 a month for the 1,000-square-foot rambler, "not some penthouse over-looking the Mississippi bluffs," he said. "That's insane."

His credit card bills also mounted. Court records show that he owes $3,853.73 on his Capital One card.

In the default judgment the company filed in Hennepin County District Court, lawyers also seek $482.50 in court costs, $577.95 in attorney fees and $891.28 in finance charges and interest, for a total of $5,804.73.

"I can't afford my house. I can't afford my credit card," Kelly said. "Which am I going to pay?"

For now, he's not paying either. And because of it, he said, he faces losing his house and having his wages garnished.

His attempts to refinance the home loan have gone unanswered. "I get the feeling they're dealing with a lot of people right now." He said he's working with Capital One attorneys to pay in smaller installments.

"I make $60,000 a year," Kelly said. "Shouldn't I be the poster child for President Bush's plan to freeze interest rates?"

Fewer options
For many debtors like Kelly, personal woes have combined with broader social and economic forces like the troubled housing market and tighter bankruptcy rules to foreclose their options.

"It's one of a number of signs we've had over the last three months that suggests the economy has slowed considerably," said Art Rolnick, director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.

Adds Tom Stinson, the state economist: "I think it is indicative of the general problem of credit difficulty spreading beyond the subprime mortgages. When economic times get tougher, people have less money and they're more apt to be defaulting on all types of credit -- auto loans, credit cards and in some instances home mortgages."

Under Minnesota law, a debtor can be served with a lawsuit before it's filed in court. If the person does not respond within 20 days, creditors can file court papers seeking a default judgment. Those are the filings that have climbed by more than 14,000 cases in Minnesota -- 67 percent -- from 2006 to 2007.

"We don't have the staff to [handle] it," said Thompson, the Hennepin administrator. It now takes six weeks to process the cases, instead of the more customary two, prompting complaints from some lawyers.

Once a judgment is entered, said Fuchs, collection agencies have the option of garnishing wages, seizing the owed money from bank accounts, or putting a lien on a person's home, so that the creditor will get paid if the house is sold.

Fueled by a growing caseload, Gustel, Staloch and Cargo, a Minneapolis law firm specializing in bad-debt collections, today has a payroll of 70, or 20 more than last year, said Heidi Staloch, a shareholder in the firm.

Staloch compares the confluence of a slow economy, lost jobs and rising mortgage payments to the devastation of a flood. She expects working through the problems will take debtors a long time, with default rates continuing to rise.

"These are people who want to pay their bills," Staloch said. "They simply don't have the means right now."

Swept away
Staloch could have been describing Sarah Shannon of north Minneapolis. Her ordeal began in 2006. Already saddled with several loans, she suddenly had to have emergency dental work, resulting in a $1,297 bill.

That was only the beginning. Shannon, 59, lost her job as a case worker and was unable to pay the dental bill, resulting in lawyers for the University of Minnesota School of Dentistry filing a default judgment against her earlier this month. Her furnace went out two weeks ago, she said, so getting it fixed has to be the priority.

"It's not like we're running around trying not to pay people. We're in survival mode," Shannon said. "But God is good. And a lot of people are in tough times."

Moderator: Here's a link to original published story - http://www.startribune.com/local/15907357.html and I also deleted unnecessary names and contact number at end of story.

Jacko, in the future when posting stories like this, always include the original link. It's one of our forum rules. Thanks!

[catleg]

The thing you want to take away from that article is that Minnesota has very creditor friendly policies, that they can serve you and move for a default judgment without ever having to pay a dime of court costs. And if they use sewer service you might never know.

[jacko]

What gets me is that Crap 1 is wasting their time and money with me. All they had to do was look at my credit report which could be described as a battle field littered with corpses. I have no earned income, just the generosity of my folks who keep the lights on until the foreclosure plays out.

I may have my mom set up a Wal Mart share money card as her as the primary holder and me with a courtesy card.

The thing you want to take away from that article is that Minnesota has very creditor friendly policies, that they can serve you and move for a default judgment without ever having to pay a dime of court costs. And if they use sewer service you might never know.

[jacko]

That judgment will be history when I file BK next summer.

And Crap1 has a law firm on retainer and it costs them nothing more to get a judgment against you that is good for 10-30 years. I am sure within that time frame that something will happened to allow you to pay it back. So for them it is money in the bank. They get a judgment and then sell it for a fraction of the face value and get some money and someone else gets to keep an eye on you for the next decade or two. And when you least expect it SNAP! Your wages get garnished, your home has a lien, they drag you in for a debtors exam in 10 years....

[qsr]

Hey Jacko have you tried renting out your place and getting a mortgage modification to avoid foreclosure?