Help Just got a court date!!

[catleg]

It all depends on what state you live in, and if you've got game.

[ryan]

Just got sued by Citi as well, a local law firm thats very big with them I understand.
IN my court district, it depends what type of contract suit as to whether or not the defendant needs to pay a fee to answer the suit. IN a small claims (under 10K) there is no fee, for instance.

Judging by these other Citi defendants and my own experience, 9 months or so must be a magic number for them....citi lawsuit filings and babies born! both take 9 months!! lol

[treehugger1]

Ryan, Yes, I believe Citi has a reasonably good business model for attempting to recover defaulted debt.

My experience was that they sent the account to 3 different CA's before charge-off. At 180 days my accounts charged off and they sent the accounts to local/regional reputable law firms.

The law firms sent collection letters to me, clearly informing me of my rights under the FDCPA. I followed up with DV. The law firms forwarded verification of debt papers to me within 30-45 days. At about 90 days after charge-off, (9 months) I was sued.

I have been contacted by many different law firms related to debt. I have always requested DV. The only three who ever responded with verification also sued me.

Once I was sued by these firms, I let the suit go to default judgment, as there was NO WAY I would "win" in my local circuit court. In all cases I contacted the attorney firms immediately before the final days I had to provide an answer or contacted them immediately after the judge signed hte judgment (motion by plaintiff.) I called them and explained my financial situation related to only 10% of my take-home available for garnishment. At one point, I had no garnishment from other judgment creditors and encouraged the law firms to get their 90 day garnishment writs completed, filed with the court, and submitted to my employer. They did nothing.

Maybe as Catleg suggested, the law firms did their part, and the rest is up to the creditors (Citi and Cap1 in my case)

Perhaps they think that one day I'll have assets that can be easily attached.

Whatever, the truth is that someday I will file for BK and all their work and judgments will have been for naught. Unless, they decide to act on the judgments. So far, they seem bored with any post-judgment activity.

Again, this is just my experience. Other with different experience should chime in to offer other points of view that speak from experience.

[merime]

Its a scary place to be. I just am thankful to all the people on this forum. I don't know if taking my name off the deed to house would be wise? I never paid into it as I was a mom, not working up until this April. Funny that I got sued exactly 2 months later.

[catleg]

It can't hurt you to get your name off the deed, it just may not help as much as you want. But it depends on the other stuff I talked about. If you have tenancy by the entireties you have nothing to worry about, at least with regards to the house.

[LadyInTheRed]

I wouldn't even bother going. I think most don't. you owe the money so you will be found guilty. I would take my money out of my checking account or savings sometime b4 that court date.

"Guilty" is a term for criminal court. In civil court they find for the plaintiff or find for the defendant, or enter judgment for against one or the other. They do not find anyone guilty.

Josephga, I don't mean to be nit picky and am sure you didn't mean anything by it, but there is enough stigma attached to people who are unable to pay their debts that I think its best we don't use words like guilt if we don't need to.

[ryan]

I have been contacted by many different law firms related to debt. I have always requested DV. The only three who ever responded with verification also sued me. .

Same here.

I remember getting the reply to DV from Citi. It was a huge package. I honestly thought it was the lawsuit right there!....I also remember thinking, "....sheeesh, if they would go to this much trouble, then for sure they must be preparing to SUE...." and I was right.

[merime]

what does DV stand for? And may I ask what was in the package? Thanks,

[wnguyen]

I never bothered to ask for DV, not just with Citi, AMEX and many others, probably because I thought there would be no way in hell was I gonna be left alone, one way or another. Had I asked, I might be able to see what I had for me and how far they did go back in order to have a huge package.

[LadyInTheRed]

what does DV stand for? And may I ask what was in the package? Thanks,

DV = Debt Validation. A DV letter basically says "prove that I owe you money."

[merime]

thank you for the answer!!

[treehugger1]

A DV is not a request that the CA "prove" you owe the money. The FDCPA does not require a CA to prove you owe the money. The verification is a si,ple tie between the CA, the original creditor, and you. Such verification can be incredibly simple.

I also got a massive package from citi for the accounts before they sued. Believe me, their attorneys left no room for ANY legal defense against their claim that I owed money. I would have thrown a great deal of money away fighting the suit.

I have also always requested that no phone contact be made with me. Some claim that this creates a cease and desist communication with the CA. This has not been my experience. While all CA's/Collection Attorneys discontinued calls to me, they did send information via mail.

Just my very real experience. Quite different than what a lot of others claim.