Should I respond to this letter from MBNA's atty?

[liz417]

As my husbands says, you used to play Pogo all the time. Now you spend your time on bkforum . I just laugh cause he is the one that found out about this place and signed up with his exact name. Uh Duh!

Luci

My husband asked me the other day, "what are you going to do when this whole BK thing is over?" He thinks I spend too much time on here too Hmmm, I had to think about that one....

[TeacherMomma]

Ok well I took it off. The text reads:
Please be advised that this office has been retained to represent X bank in connection with the above referenced Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding for the purposes of investigating and determining whether the commence an adversary proceeding pursuant to 11 USC 523 (a) for the non-discharge ability of the debt on the basis that you did not intend to repay the charges at the time the charges were made. This letter is intended to afford you the opportunity to provide an explanation of the cash advances and/or purchases in determination as to the filing of this complaint.
In an effort to minimize the expenditure of time, money and effort by both sides, it has been our experience that each party's interests are best served by attempting to investigate the matter informally first.
A brief review of your account reveals:
-between November 12, 2008 and November 13, 2008 you incurred $6300 in cash advance and or convenience check charges.
-As a result of the above activity, the account credit limit was exceeded.
In lieu of Rule 2004 examination, please describe in writing all the developments and/or events which contributed directly to your decision to file Ch 7. For example ....(it goes on to list reasons like medical issues, loss of work, etc). Please provide copies of lay off notices, medical bills, etc.
Before pursuing a section 523 action, our client is willing to provide you with the option of settling the account pursuant to one of the following alternatives:
1) Stipulation in the sum of $6300 pr
2) One time cash settlement in the sum of $5,000.

Please call 1-800.......at your earliest conv. to discuss your intentions. I trust we will be able to resolve this matter without unnecessary expense and delay. However, we are prepared to and will take the appropriate action.
If either X bank or X misconstrued your account, or any other pertinent facts, we trust the forgoing will provide you with an opportunity to clarify the circumstances surrounding the Ch 7 filing.
Please feel free to call me with any questions.

FDCPA Notice follows.....regarding proof debt, 30 days, etc.

[justbroke]

FYI, that second page, you can see through the "redacted" strikethroughs. You may want to remove it.

Also, this is where an attorney comes in handy. I don't know if they should be asking you these things outside a 2004 examination. They seem to suggest that it would save you money.

Just so strange to me that they sent that to you.

[eddiep]

Was that a law firm that sent that letter? You would think that they know the laws. How could that not be in voilation of the automatic stay? They acknowledge that they have been notified of your bk and are still asking for a settlement. I guess they didn't realize they are dealing with a bkforum member!!

Just wondering though, is it possible that you got that letter because you are pro se? Would it be common to make an offer like that to another lawyer if you had been represented?

[eddiep]

My husband asked me the other day, "what are you going to do when this whole BK thing is over?" He thinks I spend too much time on here too Hmmm, I had to think about that one....

You are going to keep coming here and giving advice to those of us who haven't filed yet!!

[justbroke]

FDCPA Notice follows.....regarding proof odebt, 30 days, etc.

I am, as should you be, disinclined to a acquiesce to them. That FDCPA notice is very telling.

This letter is an actual debt collection letter. That is a violation of the automatic stay.

I hope you didn't redact the "official" copy. LOL! You need to make copies of that and keep the original in your special BK folder. This really needs to be dealt with!

[TeacherMomma]

My special BK folder is getting pretty fat justbroke! No, I made a copy and blacked it out.

Yes, it was a law firm that sent it.

Hopefully I took off the links with the info in them.....let me know if not.

I love the end of the letter where it says where it says call to "discuss your intetions". That is what struck me as a debt collection letter. What part of Chapter 7 is confusing about MY intentions. ???? And what part of us paying the payment up to close to the filing shows we intended to pay the debt back but crap went south! There were CCs we did not pay for quite sometime before BK but this was not one of them.


So I'll bring it with me to the 341 and give it to the TT if I have not peed myself by that point Do you guys think MBNA/B of A will show up at the 341? This atty is in LA, which is one hour maybe 1.5 from the 341 meeting spot. The UST will already more than likely be there, so why not make it a party!

[justbroke]

TeacherMomma, call the clerk of the Court tomorrow and/or your case manager. Ask them if there are any pro bono services that they can recommend. Perhaps you can get a pro bono attorney to look at it real quick to tell you what you could do or should do.

[mike258]

I just got the exact same letter from a law firm representing Chase. I mean exactly.

The funny thing is this line:
"-As a result of the above activity, the account credit limit was exceeded."

This isn't even true in my case. I still had over 5k available credit before Chase finally closed my account.

The letter was sent to my attorney, I'm still waiting to see what he says to do about it.

[TeacherMomma]

Funny, I completely forgot about this - I gave a copy to the UST when we met with him on Monday.....well, actually I said "Since we are talking to you.....is there anything I need to do about this?" and showed him. He looked at it, and said "This is ridiculous - this was sent to you? When? Can I have this?" and I answered him and gave him the document.....so, seems like it was not ok to have been sent to me.

[justbroke]

He looked at it, and said "This is ridiculous - this was sent to you? When? Can I have this?" and I answered him and gave him the document.....so, seems like it was not ok to have been sent to me.

I was hoping you'd get that type of reaction. You should also draft a letter to them telling them that they are in violation of the Automatic Stay, and that you expect them to cease all collection activity and acknowledge such within 5 days or you'll ask the Judge to enter an Order to Show Cause... having them appear before the Court to address this matter.

[music12]

thanks for sharing, teachermomma! please let us know of any further developments on this issue.

i bet that lawfirm automatically sends that letter to absolutely everyone and some fraction of people get scared and pay them off, which makes it worth it to the law firm but oh so illegal. i hope they end up having to pay for it.

[TeacherMomma]

OMG, justbroke...I was scared just giving him the letter thinking they were gonna get in trouble and then be pissed cause I "told" and really file against me! I was thinking they sent them out to only pro se'ers just to see what they could scare up, but I guess not from the responses above.

[justbroke]

OMG, justbroke...I was scared just giving him the letter thinking they were gonna get in trouble and then be pissed cause I "told" and really file against me! I was thinking they sent them out to only pro se'ers just to see what they could scare up, but I guess not from the responses above.

What they did was a pure, flagrant, intentional, calculated violation of the automatic stay.

[TeacherMomma]

I know, I was being funny - like I could barely hand the letter over to the UST let alone write them a mean one!