Received Warrant In Debt - What to do?

[drowning_n_debt]

On Friday, I received a Warrant In Debt paper via postal mail from a collection agency. With the letter, they included an affidavit for the debt. The Warrant is not signed or dated by anyone at the court level nor by the plaintiff's attorney. It does have an assigned case date and time, but no case #. When checking the court system's website (which according to the site, is updated nightly) the case is not listed by my name, the plaintiff's name nor on the docket for that date? What gives? Is the Collection agency hoping they will scare me into paying? Should I sit back and wait to be served by an officer of the court before proceeding? The original debt was $500 and has now swelled to $1200.

[EveryDayAdam]

During normal debt collection practices you aren't served with warrants. This to me sounds like a scheme to make their paperwork sound more official than it really is. Probably just them trying to scare you in to calling them.

You are doing the right thing by checking with the court system. If nothing is listed on their site, then you should be okay...but check it once a week or so, to make sure. I'd call an attorney to get his opinion...might be worth paying for an hour of his time.

A $500 debt, even if it's $1200 now, is a pretty small amount to sue for, which makes it unlikely that they are...although it has happened. You might have a pretty solid FDCPA case against them, you may want to look up attorneys in your area who specialize in FDCPA cases

[treehugger1]

You can always call them from a pay phone and ask them what gives? It could be that there is no case #, until you are actually served. Every state is different. There is such a thing as a Warrant in Debt. It could be that they intend to serve you and are sending you a copy via mail. Do you have anything to lose by speaking with the firm?

[GoingDown]

A Warrant In Debt is a lawsuit.

Captial One sent me one of those a long time ago, and they got a judgment against me. To this day, they have not collected even one penny from me with that judgment, and the judgment is so old that it does not even appear on my credit report anymore.

But just so you know, it is a lawsuit.

In my case, I live in Arizona, but they were suing me in Virginia, and the only notice I got was that Warrant in Debt.

You can send them a letter by certified mail demanding that they change the venue/jurisdiction to your state if that is applicable.

[drowning_n_debt]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I did contact the company directly, they wouldn't discuss it with me. I took it to the courthouse and spoke with the clerk. The clerk advised me that the form (Warrant in Debt) can be downloaded from the website and filled out in advance. It is then presented to the clerk who signs/dates/issues a court case # and has a sheriff/constable serve me. The plaintiff is not to send the warrant to the defendent until the court has the defendent served and it isn't a legal suit until the court assigns a case number, etc. She said the company has filled out the form and sent to me without having the Clerk sign, etc. She had no record of the company contacting the court. She found it interesting that they had placed a date and time for a court date with no case # or court rep signature. According to her, this is a big no-no and violates some law about presenting court docs that have not been approved by the court while trying to convince the receiving party that the form is legit. She said I needed to speak to an attorney about possible FDCPA violations. She also made a copy of the form and envelope to present to the judge. I'm contacting an attorney tomorrow. Thanks again everyone.

[treehugger1]

dNd, You need to find an attorney who will work on this for free. Take these bast*rds down! In addition, please take a few moments to write a paragraph of your issue and send it to your federal congress persons. I'm finding that my US congress reps and senators readily accept letters and documentation related to violations of the debt collection and cc industry. I want to believe we are on the verge of a changing of the guards in terms of the entire credit industry. Your voice needs to be heard.