Mar
Anyone been through this?
What can I do, and can they get any money from me?
It's an "unsecured" card, not tied to a bank account.
Should I declare bankruptcy—or is that necessary?
Thanks!
Answer:
It depends. How old? When is the last time you made a payment or promised to pay something on it? Each state (assuming you are US) has a statute of limitations on collecting on consumer debt. Collection agencies are buying up debt that has passed this statute of limitations for pennies on the dollar and bullying people who don't know better into paying up -and making a HUGE profit. This is called Zombie Debt. Read the references I've provided below for help.
Answer:
How much are they going after you for? Do you owe them a balance? If you have a old collection you never paid or settlled on, then yes they can go after you.
Answer:
Check out this website, it is full of helpful people that can give you some good advice. I found it very useful and now I am on the right track again. http://www.debtconsolidationcare.com/
Answer:
I assume you agree you owe the funds. If true, then why has it reached the lawsuit stage? Why wouldn't you work with them on a payment plan?
Working this out is better than bankruptcy, usually. In addition, under current laws, bankruptcy frequently does not get you off the hook for credit card debt.
Answer:
Why not just pay your debts, instead of trying to avoid your obligations? Just a suggestion.
Answer:
if they have already filed paperwork with the court, filing bankruptcy won't help. depending where you live, if the debt is more than 7 years old, they can't come after you. but collection companies have a lot of dirty tricks. talk with a lawyer who specializes in debt collection & they can tell you what your options are. good luck!
Answer:
have you though about paying the bill ?
you know you do have to pay those credit card bills at some point in your life .
Answer:
How old is the debt? What is the statute of limitations in your state? If the debt is older than the statute then they cannot sue you. They can legally try to collect but cannot sue you. A couple of big howevers on that though. There are ways that they can reset the statute of limitations. If you accept the debt as yours or if you make any attempt to repay it then the time limit can be reset. Also, some companies will do stuff like pre-approve you for a loan but in the fine print it has stuff that tacks on the old debt to this new debt.
Also, are they actually suing you or just threatening to sue you? Lots of companies will act like they are suing because it scares people and they think they have to act quick. It is actually against the law for a company to threaten to sue you when they have no intention of doing so. That is kind of hard to prove though. How can you prove they have no intention of doing so?
What you need to do is research your rights under debt collection. There are laws out there to protect you and to lay down what the collection company can and can't do. The collection companies biggest weapon is your lack of knowledge of the law.
Here are some articles that you can read to get you started on learning about this stuff.
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/bankrup…
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/story_conten…
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/story_conten…
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/20…
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/debt/20…
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/DrDon/2…
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/2003…
http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/special…
Answer:
Don't you just hate it when you come here to ask a question and all you get is a bunch of preaching, especially when these people have no knowledge of the situation?
How old is this debt? It's possible it's past the statue of limitations for your state so you would simply after to enter an affirmative defense stating that the debt is past the SoL and the case will be dismissed.
Check the link below to find out the SoL for your state.
http://www.creditinfocenter.com/rebuild/…
Edit: Looks like Mercer and AJ beat me to it by about a minute, they are correct as well.
Answer:
You haven't posted enough info here for anyone to give good advise. How much is the debt? How old is this debt/when was it charged-off? It may be outside the statue of limitations.
Next, are you sure you are "really" being sued…and this is not just a collection agent making bogus claims to scare you into paying old debt that may be outside the statue of limitations??? You will know for sure if they are really suing you if you have actually been served a summons….
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