bank hired attorney

[Hopefull1983]

So I stopped paying my bills back in May which I intend on including in my CH7. Most creditors send me late bills and call me all the time. Today, I get a letter stating that one of my creditors has hired a firm to collect on the balance I owe. It says if I don't dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days then further legal action will be taken (judgment).

My question is how much time do you think I have before they get a judgment and start garnishing my wages?

[allavdj]

I suppose it varies greatly from firm to firm, how much you owe, and how much you are "worth". I've had my $13k AMEX bill turned over to two different "law firms", both threatened legal action and in the end, both sold it off to a different collection agency.

"your mileage may vary"

[AngelinaCatHub]

You will get a summons of suit. You have 20 to 30 days to respond. YOU MUST RESPOND. If you fail to, the Judgment will be automatic. You have to go to the courthouse and by all means dispute it, or argue the amount. This will hold it up for further action. Even up to the final court trial if it goes that far, you may go bankrupt, get your automatic stay and that case is stopped immediately. List them as a Creditor and more than likely you will get them discharged. Is it a secured debt? How much? If lower than 10 or 15K, depends on state it will go to small claims. Do not be less concerned if it goes to small claims. A Judgment is a Judgment wherever it comes from. ‘Hub

[Hopefull1983]

Well the letter is from the attorney office and is stating that WF hired them to collect. The amount is only for 2K which is from a C.C.

I guess I should respond telling them that I am strapped and am having financial hardship and see what they say. At least that will buy me some time. I plan on filing next month.

[allavdj]

Well the letter is from the attorney office and is stating that WF hired them to collect. The amount is only for 2K which is from a C.C.

I guess I should respond telling them that I am strapped and am having financial hardship and see what they say. At least that will buy me some time. I plan on filing next month.

Collectors don't care if you are strapped and really don't care about you calling them and "talking" to them. They want money, if you don't send them any, they'll keep doing their thing. If you are for sure filing next month, just ignore them, you'll be filed long before they get through the judgment process.

[ready2puke]

Filing next month? Dont sweat it. Really

I can only imagine how scarey it is to get a letter. When I start getting mine you'll hear me freaking out on the board also...but next month is only a heartbeat away. Now if you were having to wait for several months, then that maybe a differnet story..So breath.....and try to not let it get to you..
Good luck

[GoingDown]

So I stopped paying my bills back in May which I intend on including in my CH7. Most creditors send me late bills and call me all the time. Today, I get a letter stating that one of my creditors has hired a firm to collect on the balance I owe. It says if I don't dispute the validity of the debt within 30 days then further legal action will be taken (judgment).

My question is how much time do you think I have before they get a judgment and start garnishing my wages?

This is nothing but a scare tactic.

"further legal action will be taken" simply means anything that is not illegal. Further legal action, in most cases, simply means more phone calls from a collection agency. I got a scary letter and a phone call threatening "legal action" from a collection agency called Boudreau And Associates, where they were pretending to be attorneys, and I said, "Huh, imagine that! Attorneys getting paid $200 per hour to call debtors on the phone asking for money." He got so angry at me that he started to cuss at me, and then hung up the phone on me. I called them back, and played their collector cussing at me, and asked if they would like to settle the matter out of court for the FDCPA violation. They hung up on me again, but after that I never heard from them again. So, my point is this, don't be scared of "legal action" because it is usually nothing more than a bluff.

If you're going to be filing bankruptcy soon, don't worry about it. It's irrelevant.

[GoingDown]

Well the letter is from the attorney office and is stating that WF hired them to collect. The amount is only for 2K which is from a C.C.

I guess I should respond telling them that I am strapped and am having financial hardship and see what they say. At least that will buy me some time. I plan on filing next month.

If you're filing next month, I wouldn't tell them anything. Just hang up the phone when they call. Or use caller I.D. to screen your calls.

Once you file, the phone calls will stop, and if they don't, you'll have the power of the bankruptcy court to make them stop.

[GoingDown]

OH BS, you don't have to respond unless you want to defend yourself in a lawsuit and once you respond you are NOW an ACTIVE party in a lawsuit not mention your own attorney. Nothing wrong with letting it go to judgment and then filing BK. I love how everyone loves to tell people to "don't let them get a default judgment" ....who gives a crap if your going to file BK. You just list the judgment and have it discharged.

There is no reason to respond since you don't have a viable defense to not paying. The only real time you need to defend yourself is if you DO NOT OWE it and need to prove it or the debt is past the SOL and that is your defense. Other than that the rest is a waste of time and all you can do is two things, slow it down and screw it up so you end up giving out all your personal and financial information during discovery or the interrogatories.

So give a good reason why anyone wants to hand over to an attorney suing you, your bank info, assets, employment, etc. long before you ever (if ever) need too. A debtors exam is rare and costs more, questions during the interrogatories are free and give away all your information. And if you lie you can be held in contempt of court and now what was NOT a criminal case turns into one since you lied.

Think twice about playing with them in court if your not well versed in the rules.

I agree. Most people are WAY too afraid of judgments. They are not that big of deal in most cases. And if you owe the money, and it's not beyond the statute of limitations, you will end up losing in court anyways, so fighting it is a big waste of time and money.

If you have significant assets and wages to protect from a judgment, then file BK as soon as they file a lawsuit and you have a pretty good chance of protecting your assets-- a better chance than fighting a losing battle in court.

If you're judgment proof, then you can sit back wait as long as you need to wait to file BK because even with a judgment there's not a whole H*ll of a lot they can do anyways.

[treehugger1]

If you received the letter from a legal firm that also has the message that "this is an attempt to collect a debt, etc., then you can easily send a simple letter that you are exercising your rights under the FDCPA and you are disputing the debt and require debt validation. You are not required to list what exactly it is you are disputing. As others mentioned in posts, this is not relevant if you intend to file soon. But, for $5 - $6 for a return receipt of your request for debt validation, you can set the stage if you decide you need more time to file. Keep in mind that $2K is easy pickings for small claims, if the law firm is local. In my state, if you get a small claims summons you have 14 days to respond. If you fail to respond, the judge will sign an order ont he 15th day granting a default judgment. On the same day, the CA/creditor/law office can have a writ served on yrou employer. I'm speaking from experience here. On the other hand, it doesn;t even sound as if you have been served, so you have time. A DV letter simply stating you dispute the debt and request validation is enough to probbaly buy a few more days at least. As always, there are no guarantees of how. what, or when others will take actions against you when you stop paying your debts.

[hnhlvr]

Collectors don't care if you are strapped and really don't care about you calling them and "talking" to them. They want money, if you don't send them any, they'll keep doing their thing. If you are for sure filing next month, just ignore them, you'll be filed long before they get through the judgment process.

Agreed. You're filing in a month, so the judgement will go away.

And, yep, collectors don't care if you're strapped. I was going to claim insanity as my defense and an attorney laughed and thought that was the best she's heard, but said even that won't stop CC/CA from attempting to collect what is owed to them. They want their $.

[treehugger1]

And in response to the OP and Bigboy, you only have to "dispute the debt." There is no reason to state what you are disputing. You are disputing the debt! LOL! It is up to the CA to figure it out. They can provide their indications of validation or proceed with suit toward potential judgment.

I just sent a validation request to a local CA that included "collection charges" from the previous CA to the tune of $4K. I'm hoping they validate the original creditor amount of $7K so I can send them more written information related to agrreement/disagreement of OC amount and let them know I'll be more than willing to stand before a judge in my circuit court with a "debt validation" from the FIRST CA. What a bunch of lunatics! I'll gladly lay down $189 to file an answer on this case should they choose to sue.

As always, I think that most folks just roll over and suck it up, ignoring any dunning letters and summons. Each dunning letter and summons needs to be reconciled as to what you think you actually owe.