Bogus letter or an actual judgment

[BOA]

I have a letter saying I was served and failed to respond and my case was sent to National Arbitration Forum who made an Award to the claimant who is a collections agency. It is from Delaware.

It says entered and affirmed in my state and has copied signatures.

I am thinking this is all pure BS what does the BK Forum think?

[CompTweaker]

Have you checked that districts court records yet? I would start there. If they havent converted it into a judgement yet, you may be able to prevent it based on improper service, and then you will be given your chance to fight it.

Heres a site that discusses arbitration very thoroughly

http://debt-consolidation-credit-repair-service.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=177

theres a sticky about arbitration near the top, and you can also type the word in their search engine for many different varieties of problems.

[BOA]

Can I fight this judgment or whatever it is later?

It is written like it is a done deal.

I'm not in the US right now and have been away for some time. The paperwork was mailed to me by a relative and it looks like it has all already transpired.

Will I have to file BK to get rid of this thing?

If I want to move back to the US do I need to live in Texas?

[BigJohn]

You should be able to find online if a judgement has been filed. First, check to see if this has been done.

[treehugger1]

I would guess that you received information related to arbitration via the mail. Either you missed it, were out of the country, or through away some letter unopened. If you failed to respond to arbitration, then a judge probably awarded a judgment. I do not believe that there is a "proper service" related to arbitration, but I don't know for certain. I have heard on other forums where in some states, your failure to respond to arbitration leads to automatic judgment.

In such a case, I have to wonder whether the judgment is filed locally, or in the state of jurisdiction under the arbitration agreement. If the arbitration leads to a judgment out-of-state, I would think the judgment still needs to be domesticated in your state in order for it to be enforced. This has probably happened already in your case. I would not assume this is BS or faulty.

At the least you might look into a motion to vacate judgment based on procedure. Whether this involves improper service is beyond me.

As mentioned previously, it does seem like you could have missed your opportunity to respond to the

[BigJohn]

If it is a foreign judgement, the judgement might not be renewable in your state and might be valid for a shorter period. You should check that out. This could work to your advantage as far as the Statute of Limitations are concerned. But being you are out of the country, you should make sure you have some form of US address. If the creditor finds out you are out of country, it could stop the clock concerning the Statute of Limitations.

[BOA]

OK Thanks for responding. I think my best option now is to do nothing. Maybe I can get this judgment vacated or as like one of you said a foreign judgement might have a shorter statute of limitations.

I don't want to contact them and let them know where I'm at now. Alot of the time giving no -zero information is better as they might figure out a way to come after me or harm me later.

I just got a new job and the employer did a background check but apparently none of this came up or at least they did not find it or check for it. Or maybe they found it and decided they wanted to hire me any anyway.

My debt has sold several times the ones coming after me on this are collections agencies from the East coast

[treehugger1]

as always, the arbitration issue can be sticky from state to state. I just scanned the highlights of my state's arbitration statutes and it clearly states that an arbitration decision can come from any country and then filed with my county court with a request for judgment. It also discusses what appears to be a window of time to then appeal the judgment. I'm no atorney, but arbitration looks as if it can be messy if you decide to go through the process. There are also costs involved. As BB and I have stated in many threads, unless you are willing to come up to speed and attempt your own defense, you are potentially throwing more money away. I'm not saying that folks don't fight these things, but it takes a lot of work and knowledge on your part. And, while you can apply your rights to buy you time, eventually you will probably get stuck with a judgment.

I find it interesting that several of my CC accounts have been assigned to CA's who then sent them to a collection attorney in my state. I have always DV'd the dunning letters, and I think that any dispute slightly changes the arbitration process. Since I don't have a degree or expereince in law, I don't quite understand everything int he statute, but it appears a dispute changes things.

[BOA]

Judgment's and living in another country was covered a month or so ago, you can look that one up, basically nothing happens and for this small amount. And yes "if" and "when" you file BK a judgment just gets vacated and is over. At this point the only thing is it just sits on your credit report and thats all providing you have no assets (property) or cash (bank accounts) and are not paid by a US employer from the US (no wage garnishment), if none of that applies you are what we all would like to be or known as, judgment proof.

I have a couple bank accounts in the US-- I just hope they don't find them.

Don't keep much money in them but I am due a large refund related to my old job (which I need to turn around and use to fund my education) and I have take a chance they have not found my accounts yet and get it wired back home to one of my banks or the other option is blow money on airfare to come back and physically get it.

How god at it are they at finding bank accts I hae not been leaving many bread crumbs especialy lately.

Both accounts remain untouched by creditors so far.

[Genenco]

I have a couple bank accounts in the US-- I just hope they don't find them.

Don't keep much money in them but I am due a large refund related to my old job (which I need to turn around and use to fund my education) and I have take a chance they have not found my accounts yet and get it wired back home to one of my banks or the other option is blow money on airfare to come back and physically get it.

How god at it are they at finding bank accts I hae not been leaving many bread crumbs especialy lately.

Both accounts remain untouched by creditors so far.

A collection agency would have to obtain a court order to be able to attach, garnish or otherwise freeze such an account.

So, this means they'd better be worth them finding them, getting the court order and sezing them..I never have had any of my creditors try this, simply as I never had given them a chance to locate me long enough to seize anything but empty air...Or a nasty rank passing of gas..