Collection question

[albacore44]

ok, letter, answers to interrogatories were sent signed receipt to the attorney and recieved by them last friday 5/4. they have the next move. 30 days is up 5/9

[GoingDown]

If they continue to call her after they received that letter, then make sure you record the calls and if they continue to pursue this matter, at least you will have an FDCPA violation against them.

[albacore44]

ok so 5/9 has passed and no new activity in the court records. just found out today the grandson filed ch-7 a couple weeks ago so i'm sure they were notified by the court. so now he is under the automatic stay . the case was filed in both their names with the same court case number. not sure how this works from here, if they would have to re-file in her name only if they decide to pursue. hopefully they will realize this is a dead end and cancel the case

[GoingDown]

I don't think they have to re-file in her name only. They can simply amend their filing.

My guess is that they probably have put this on the back burner since they realize they probably aren't going to get anything out of it anyways.

The lone creditor who actually sued me, CrapOne, never did anything with their judgment after they found out that I was judgment proof. They made some threatening phone calls and never followed through with anything. Then for awhile they sent me offers of a new credit card if I transferred the judgment balance to the new card. And then finally, there was nothing but silence from them.

[rta]

How did they find out you were judgment proof? In California, there are procedures, but I'm not sure how it goes in Arizona.

[GoingDown]

I sent them a letter telling them the truth: I have no wages to garnish, I do not have a checking account, nor a savings account to seize, I do not own any real estate, I do not have any investments to take, my motor vehicle is below the exemption amount for Arizona, and that even if they won a lawsuit against me it would be a complete waste of their time, effort, and money because I would never pay a penny of it, and if necessary I would just file chapter 7 bankruptcy and their judgment would become worth less than the paper it was printed on.

After that I heard from former employers that they had called them to check out my story. I also noticed hard pulls on my credit reports from them. They were checking out my story. I assume that they must have checked ChexSystem or something like that and probably pulled up my street address on the Maricopa County Assessor's website and saw that I did not own the place where I lived. It's all verifiable, if they want to look for it.

After that I noticed that they gave up.

I should also point out that I included a full "cease and desist communications" letter with my judgment proof statement and I told them I was recording all telephone calls and would sue them if they violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. So, they knew that I knew my rights, and that I had just taken away their main method of getting paid-- by calling me on the telephone.

They moved on to lower hanging fruit and left me alone after that.

[rta]

It looks like that worked. I sent a similar letter to the OC's attorney that's got this lawsuit against me, but they went ahead anyway. Perhaps, IF they get a judgment, I could re-send the letter. They think that a collection-proof state is temporary.

Otherwise, the only thing they could do is to have the sheriff levy my bank account, and I would be given time to submit a claim of exemption to the sheriff, who would in turn inform the creditor about it. If the creditor does nothing, the sheriff returns the money. If the creditor wants to object, then it's back to court to defend the claim of exemption.

Or I could file for BK but that's another paper trail.

[albacore44]

***Update*** My MIL received a letter in the mail yesterday from the court, with papers showing the JDB has withdrawn and closed the case. Looks like my letter worked

[rta]

Congrats, albacore44! There are many ways to win against JDB's, and this one worked.

[AngelinaCat]

Congratulations!!! It has certainly been a long haul for your MIL.