Good luck, Discover!

[NewPage]

Got served this morning by Discover. They want their $5k dollars!

Good luck....by the looks of the stack of papers in the woman's hand, she had plenty to do this morning. Merry Christmas, eh?

I notified my attorney. It's a standard thing, "you have 30 days" blah blah blah. My question is that the date on the thing is Nov. 18, but it says I have 30 days from date of service. Why such a long time from filing to serving me? I've been home more often than not.

[clevelandmom]

Hi NewPage,

You'd be surprised the myriad of reasons why it can take a while to get served. You may have just not been home the few times they did try to serve you. Also, throw in the Thanksgiving holiday. Are you planning on filing BK? No worries my friend. If you're filing anytime soon, you have nothing to worry about. I was served in July, filed Ch. 7 in early Nov. and beat the garnishment by an hour. I did get a judgment against me though - planning to have that vacated soon. Best of luck to you!

[walker740]

I am getting sued by a debt collector, and the only reason I know this is because local attorneys have been sending me letters wanting to represent me. I checked online and a summons was issued on November 23rd, a court date has been set for January 11th, and I have not been served yet. I am home ALL the time!!! I have no idea why I haven't been served. My husband and I are filing bankruptcy next week so hopefully they will get notice before the court date. Oh, I just wish this would all be over now!!!

[NewPage]

clevelandmom -- Yes, I should be filing hopefully next month. Guess they better do it before the 30 days!

walker -- That's crazy that all that is happening without you being served!

Ugh, this lady today had such an air about her. I'd call it an "I'm better than you, you no-good slacker scum" attitude. A pox on her!

[pikaroth]

How long had it been since you made a payment before this happened? From what I gather, for most it is awhile, but I won't lie - I'm still scared. My attorney can finally file for me in the middle of next month, and I only stopped making my CC payments in mid-to-late October (as soon as I decided on going the BK route). Nevertheless, while it was only three months of not paying, and on top of that I'm down to only a little over two weeks, I STILL get that 'feeling' in my stomach that says someone may knock on my door.

Best of luck to you! And as some of my previous messages say, Discover has ended up being the worst of all for me. While they were not the first to begin calling, once they did, it's pretty much non-stop, along with the letters that go from seemingly mean spirited to completely underestanding and wanting to repair our 'relationship,' all while my interest rate has gone to, I don't know, like 40% or some such. I have not opened anything from the CC people for a month now. Like I said, a little over two weeks...

[NewPage]

I'd say you have plenty of time, Pikaroth, having just stopped paying in October. They'll still be "playing nice" with you for now. I haven't made a payment to Discover since I'm thinking March? Maybe April. I'm checking bank statements now.

[NewPage]

Last full payment in February '10, partial in April. I got a letter in June/July giving me til the end of September to pay or make arrangements. Served today.

ETA: I got the letter in August. It said:

ATTORNEY PLACEMENT PENDING

Dear NewPage:

We have been authorized to proceed with legal action to secure the balance you currently owe us as of August 5, 2010.

If we do not hear from you by 8:00 PM Eastern time on September 30, 2010, your account will be forwarded to an Attorney to obtain a judgment against you.

To stop this action, call us immediately to make acceptable payment arrangements.

CALL NOW BEFORE YOUR TIME EXPIRES!

Patti Whitmer
DFS Services LLC

[treehugger1]

As mentioned on this forum several times over the years, Discover, Chiti, Chase, and a few others do not make idle threats, nor do they generally sell debts to JDB's. In fact, it appears that many of these mainstream companies are selling less debt and making use of legal firms to collect; through intimidation or suit. This could simply be a result of the economic times with so many defaults out there. It also seems that these companies or their legal firms do not do their homework, as many of the defendants have nothing that can be gained through suit, or the defendants file for BK protection. I guess it doesn't matter to the CC's. They are playing a numbers game.

[ryan]

Have to agree with Treehugger....the ones he mentioned are pretty aggressive when compared to others.

I've actually found Chase to be the most relentless. In the case of Discover, I've gone over year now in default for a pretty decent size amount , yet no suit. It may be because when they look at local court records they already see other suits.? ..maybe not. I think the money to gained by selling these debts is pretty small right now.

Plus, if they turn a bunch of debt paper into a bunch of judgments, even if they don't work the judgments, that portfolio has to worth more in the marketplace (if they want to sell it).

One lawyer recently told me he thinks the big creditors do very little 'investigation' into whether a debtor is worth suing.
He also says its probably a pure numbers play for them. For every 100 they sue, there is a total cost, AND a history of certain return. If the return exceeds the cost over a reasonable period of time,...BINGO, they sue!

[ryan]

Got served this morning by Discover. They want their $5k dollars!

I actually remember when you posted the 'warning' letter from Discover a few months ago! ...I think the consensus then was you had at least a few months before they would sue. ...and you still have time, since you can answer the summons/complaint and appear as well, if you haven't filed by then.

This must be Discover's way of saying, "Happy Holidays" (hope you can take a joke!)

[GoingDown]

That's interesting. Maybe it's the junk debt buyers now who actually investigate the debtor's employment and assets before suing.

The two remaining original creditors from my many charged off debts are HSBC and RBS, and neither of them seem to be very agressive in terms of suing.

The rest of the debts are all with junk debt buyers, who seem to have lost interest in my accounts. And as far as I can tell, they are now so old that they are beyond the statute of limitations for a lawsuit at this point. I'm expecting a 1099-C from them, but yet I've heard that junk debt buyers don't fall under those I.R.S. requirements anymore. So maybe they won't do that either.

HSBC has already issued a 1099-C for that debt. And since then, no word from them. I think they are out of the picture now.

RBS has two debts, one of which I expect to get a 1099-C this spring, and the other debt with them is not a credit card debt, so its statute of limitations is still a few years away from expiring (about May 2012). If I get sued by anyone in the future, it will probably be over this debt. But I have checked my credit reports and they have stopped making hard pulls and soft pulls. And they have stopped sending the debt to new collection agencies. With this lack of activity on their part, they may have to send me a 1099-C before the debt is beyond the statute of limitations.

[pikaroth]

Thanks for the response. Just very curious as to the timeline for different people. Like I said, I'm only a few weeks away from being able to (finally) file, so I should be okay, but that does not make that nervous feeling that appears randomly completely go away. My second high debt is with Discover, too, so that is scary (a little over nine-thousand), but, again, not much they can do now.

As with many (or most!) others, I've got nothing for them to take as it is. I look forward to future updates!