HELP! Threat letter from Capital Management

[sheilaE]

We received a letter from Capital Management Services yesterday. They are collecting on behalf of Discover Card. What's strange is we have 2 accounts with Discover. One is for around $10,000.00 and the other is for $2799.00. This letter is in reference to the $2799.00 balance
It reads in part:

Unless you notify us within 30 days that you dispute the validity of this debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid. If you notify this office in writing within 30 days from receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of this debt or any portion, this office will obtain verification of the debt OR obtain a copy of a judgment and mail you a copy of such verification.

Ok, so what scares me is the judgment part. What does judgment mean? How close are we to being sued or is that what judgment means? What comes first-being sued or having wages garnished? I know this is a threat letter-but it really sounds like we're 30 days until something bad happens.

We'll be filing Chapter 13 in Calif, but we need to wait to save up the rest of the atty fee's. We've paid half, but still owe another $1500.00. It will take us another 3 months until we have it. Another reason we need to hold off filing is so we can let a $200.00 cash advance age. August will be 6 months for that

Thank you for any help or advice!

[BKDefender]

SheilaE,
That is the standard debt collection notice language, and the 'unless you notify...' is required language - it means they were told you owed their client a debt and instead of making a standard template letter for a debt and another for a judgment they roll it into the same letter.

You should be able to check the court docket in your county to see if there are any lawsuits and/or judgments against you. If you have not moved during the time you had the Discover account and now, then they have your address so if you were sued, you would have had to been personally served a summons & complaint. If you have not received one, then more likely than not, you have not been sued.

If you do get sued, file a basic answer on your own to slow them down and you'll easily get 3 months before anything real happens.

--William

[sheilaE]

Thank you very much for your response! Another question...if I get sued, how do I go about filing a basic answer? We really do need that extra 3 months.
Thank you!
Sheila

[BKDefender]

Check with your local county court for a 'self-help' center, or contact your local legal aid center. Here in Clark County our courthouse has a 'Civil-law Self-Help Center' staffed by an attorney and staff members from the 'Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada' who help people with this exact thing.
You also might calling the California State Bar and asking them this question.

--William

[GoingDown]

The odds of you being sued and them getting a judgment within the next 3 months are very low.

Everyone gets that letter at first.

You have 30 days to dispute the information.

Wait until day 20, and then send them a letter disputing the validity of the debt.

That will buy you another month (at least) while they respond.

Then even if they file immediately after that (which is unlikely), it will take a month (at least) for them to get a court date. And then if you file an answer to their summons and complaint, you can add another month or so. And by then, file bankruptcy, and then bring your bankruptcy papers down to the court and file that info with the court, and the lawsuit will be dismissed pending bankruptcy.


And please keep in mind, that they might not even sue you in the next 3 months and you are just worrying about nothing.

[sheilaE]

Great information. Thank you! I'll try to stop worrying, but will keep track of the days so I don't miss my 30 days cutoff.
Thanks again!

[tobefree]

Sheila, this is my timeline -final judgement was issued WITHOUT a court date. I received my first nasty letter Dec 26,2009-i thought this went pretty fast for me. I stopped paying Oct 2009. But i havent heard from them since-except a letter from creditor stating they were transferring my account to another office and would be issued a new account number-(that was at the beginning of april) but still no news!


Docket Date Docket Text
1/11/2010 Complaint
1/12/2010 Summons (20 day) Issued (Served 01/18/2010)
1/12/2010 Summons (20 day) Issued (Served 01/18/2010)
1/21/2010 Response
1/21/2010 Response
1/21/2010 Certificate of Service
3/10/2010 Affidavit of Non-Military Service
3/10/2010 Affidavit in Support
3/10/2010 Affidavit of Attorneys Fees
3/10/2010 Affidavit of Costs
3/10/2010 Affidavit of Attorneys Fees
3/10/2010 Motion for Summary Judgment
3/18/2010 Final Judgment

[Majakat]

To be free - what did you do in that timeline? You went to court? What was the judgement?

[tobefree]

Majakat-I responded as requested in the summons 1/20. Then received a copy of the final judgement on 3/20 Stating the creditor had all rights to collect from me. I was never given a court date nor received any paperwork in between the summons and final judgement.

[catleg]

This is the way these usually go.
Complaint-answer-motion for summary judgment-you lose.
You need to answer the summary judgment motion and explain why there are facts in dispute.

[tobefree]

Funny-just today i get a letter from them stating my account is seriously delinquent and i need to call them immediately or they will take "legal" action! IM LMAO! --they already have!

[flyinbroke]

Funny-just today i get a letter from them stating my account is seriously delinquent and i need to call them immediately or they will take "legal" action! IM LMAO! --they already have!

Sounds vaguely not legal to me....

[sheilaE]

I started a new tread on this yesterday, but only received 1 response, so I'll ask you all on this exsisting thread:

We've now received 3 letters from 3 different collection agencies. All basically saying the same thing...your acct has been placed with us...blaa blaa blaa..
A portion of the letter states:

Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid. If you notify this office in writing within 30 days from receiving this notice, that the debt, or any portion thereof is disputed, this office will obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of a judgment and mail you a copy of such judgment or verification.

So should I send them a DV letter OR should I just call them and tell them we've retained an attorney, which we have, and then give them his number...or is it too late for that? My hope is that it would be in our favor to just them his number because it cost money to sue, and wouldn't they just wait it out-knowing we are getting ready to filing anyway?

I'm asking here first because I'll be charged if I call and ask our atty.
Thanks!

[jacko]

GoingDowns's: The world's simplest C & D Letter:

"I demand that you cease and desist from any communication with me."

Welcome to the club. I have gotten ten of these from my creditors. They are designed to scare you. Please educate yourself on your rights as a debtor and empower yourself to stand up to these scums.

I started a new tread on this yesterday, but only received 1 response, so I'll ask you all on this exsisting thread:

We've now received 3 letters from 3 different collection agencies. All basically saying the same thing...your acct has been placed with us...blaa blaa blaa..
A portion of the letter states:

Unless you notify this office within 30 days after receiving this notice that you dispute the validity of the debt or any portion thereof, this office will assume this debt is valid. If you notify this office in writing within 30 days from receiving this notice, that the debt, or any portion thereof is disputed, this office will obtain verification of the debt or obtain a copy of a judgment and mail you a copy of such judgment or verification.

So should I send them a DV letter OR should I just call them and tell them we've retained an attorney, which we have, and then give them his number...or is it too late for that? My hope is that it would be in our favor to just them his number because it cost money to sue, and wouldn't they just wait it out-knowing we are getting ready to filing anyway?

I'm asking here first because I'll be charged if I call and ask our atty.
Thanks!

[sheilaE]

Thanks Jacko, should I send a C & D letter or the DV letter? I thought about sending the C&D letter months ago, but then we retained our atty and started giving them his number. The calls stopped, but 3 got past me before I could tell them about the atty.