Amex Suit

[rooster0330]

Hi, I received a certified letter from the county courthouse last Thursday. Nudelman and Nudelman (law firm) on behalf of AMEX is suing me. I have 35 days to respond. TOnight, Nudelman calls, and says the whole collection thing, so I say you have already started a suit, and she said well would you like to work out a payment plan. So, she wanted 100.00 per month, I said I couldn't afford that but for the first six months 25 and then revisit it. She said no, that wouldn't stop the suit only 100. per month would. But I can pay the 25 to knock down the balance. So my questions are:

If I go into court and state that I did try to work out a payment plan what happens? Does the judge look at that and say well they tried to work out a payment plan.

Also, just wondering if I will get another call from them, is this the tactics to try to get a payment plan.

Should I just answer the summons and go to court or will they eventually settle.

SOrry this is all a little jumbled, I have a million things going through my mind.

Any input would be more than appreciated!!!!

[AngelinaCat]

They are trying to shake you down. Do you have any plans to file BK in the near future? If not, there are other strategies...

[rooster0330]

we are planning on filing "someday" what other strategies would there be?

[AngelinaCat]

You need to make that 'someday' a more or less realistic date. You cannot stave off everyone forever. Here is what happened with us:

We were dealing with a co-signed note that 'Hub entered into with an 'acquaintance' regarding an automobile, and a loan from American General. There are numerous posts about these in the Archives.

We had retained our attorney August 2006, but for various reasons, we could not file until after July 1, 2007. Around August or September, perhaps even October 2007, the two above named entities entered lawsuits against us. In our district and Civil Court, which this was, we were given 20 days to respond. We sent a letter neither admitting or denying the loan. The Plaintiff's side THEN had 20 days to respond.

We received a summons to appear on Civil Court, which we did, which I think was the first of November. We appeared before the Judge, and the Plaintiff's attorney appeared by telephone. We were asked how we pled:

"Your Honor, we neither admit, or deny this debt."

She then set it up to go to 'Arbitration'. That is where you and your Plaintiff's attorney work out a re-payment plan. In our county, Arbitration on occurs once a month. The date that the Judge set was for a day in December when we are normally out of town. I spoke up and said so. The Judge then set the date for the following month, which would have been January. By then we had filed.

BTW, the dates out of town were legitimate, and we have a 14 year history of that, so if anything had been questioned, we had the paperwork to support it.

Good luck!

[ryan]

Rooster, some thoughts: You need to determine what risk you have if the plaintiff gets a judgment. Are you employed? or self-employed or unemployed? Are you sitting on cash in bank accts that might be subject to levy's? Do you own real estate the creditor can record a lien against? ...and, are you reasonably likely to expect other suits from other creditors in the near future? Sit down and answer those kinds of questions.

Then, based on your likely risks, you can try some things. You could then answer the complaint, attend the hearing, probably deny amounts etc for lack of knowledge etc. If you really want to know the typical procedure for this type of case in your jurisdiction attend a hearing BEFORE yours. weeks ahead preferably. This is what I did, and it taught me alot. I saw what defendants said that was effective at delay, and what was dumb and didn't work at all.

Against an OC its not likely you would win, of course, but a plan of realistic delay may be feasible. In my jurisdiction, just appearing at the hearing in CC case will buy you 2 months. I'd have to agree with AngelianCat tho, these are short term remedies, and if you are truly vulnerable to the above mentioned risks, then BK may be a valid choice, as well.

[DYLAN150]

AngelinaCat: re: 'Arbitration' not everyone goes thru this right?

[lillymarlene]

Rooster, I agree with the others here.

Against an OC its not likely you would win, of course, but a plan of realistic delay may be feasible. In my jurisdiction, just appearing at the hearing in CC case will buy you 2 months. I'd have to agree with AngelianCat tho, these are short term remedies, and if you are truly vulnerable to the above mentioned risks, then BK may be a valid choice, as well.

I had 2 creditors suing me last summer. I went to one hearing, and that sure showed me I had no chance of winning. (However, this "stalled" the creditor for a couple of months.) This also motivated me into hurrying up, picking out an attorney and filing bk by the end of the year.

I've heard it said before that if you have any assets at all, you are vulnerable.

[deedee642]

Lillymarlene-
You wrote "if you have any assets at all, you are vulnerable." I'm curious, what if you "own" a home but you are actually underwater and there is no equity. Also, what if you "own" a car, but really the bank owns it because you are making payments and it is not paid off. Would you be o.k. then? Thanks, Dee

[shark66]

How much do you owe is the first question, and likely the most important one.

Secondly, are you employed? I'd be less worried about the house and the car, and more about the wage garnishment...

Good luck.

[lillymarlene]

Hi deedee, I meant you are vulnerable to being sued (if you have ie. a home or a car), and having the creditors win. That you will easily attract them. One of the creditors that was suing me last summer, sent me a notice that they knew I owned property and they were going to try and attach a lien to it. I have fortunately always been up to date on my mortgage payments, and I did NOT look forward to having a lien that would generate a huge amount of interest stuck onto my house.

I suppose though if I was far behind on my house payments, had somewhere else to live and was planning to walk away, it would be a different story. Maybe I should have said, you're vulnerable if you have assets you hope to keep.

[lillymarlene]

I'd worry about wage garnishment, too. I'm self employed, but I'd still be afraid of them being able to levy my checking account.

[rooster0330]

I am a stay at home mom, so no wages, as I don't like in a community property state, just bank account and house. I owe $1,500.

[rustymich]

Should I just answer the summons and go to court or will they eventually settle

Yes answer the summons or they will get a default judgement on you,if you answer it buys a little more time and they have to work harder then they (may)reconsider or lower the amount....