I'm being sued!
 

Has anyone any experience with this? Capital One is suing me for 1,500 plus interest (25%!) and court costs; I got a certified letter today. Any advice on how to proceed would be welcome. I cannot get a lawyer (what a surprise--people who can't pay bills can't hire a lawyer, can they?) so I'm going to go it alone. :(

If it's a very old debt, you might want to look into the statute of limitations in your area. It's a long shot, because chances are they wouldn't bother to sue you if the statute has already expired.

That's all I got. Good luck.

Google returned a page from the Oregon section of this site

http://www.lawhelp.org/

that looked informative, so maybe there would be something useful under your state.

Hard to say without details as to what the debt is from and how old it is. If it was before last November, they may have waited deliberately until the new bankruptcy laws were in.

If it's a legitimate debt, you can negotiate. At a minimum, you can get them to drop the interest. Unfortunately, with the new bankruptcy laws, you have lost a lot of leverage.

I would defintely do some Internet research on your state laws as well as get general advice about 'real world' practices.

Here are a few quick links.

State Debt Collection Laws and Publications

Ohio Legal Services - Debt Collection

Good luck. I remember hearing or reading someone complaining about Capital One making a mistake and being real pit bulls about a nonexistant debt or fee.

The new bankruptcy laws have taken all the fun out of racking up huge debt.
Dave Barry once cited the two most common taxpayer mistakes as being
1. Failure to include a return address along with your tax return, and
2. Failure to be a large corporation making huge doantions to key, tax–law writing congressmen.

I would say you problem is a variation of the second.

Too true... there's a saying: If you owe the bank $1,000 and you can't pay, you have a problem. If you owe the bank $1,000,000 and you can't pay, the BANK has a problem.

Well, this was my experience in Colorado several years back for what its worth. Right when I got sick, my bank account blew up which is another long sad story that I won't go into. However, I paid off my creditors as best as I could at the time, but neglected to take care of a check to Domino's Pizza for $12.00. Domino's came back at me two years down the road with fines, fees, penalties and accessments that morphed the original $12 into something like $200! They took me to court over it, and I filled out a form pleading abject poverty which was a 1000% true. The judge looked the whole thing over, got a really annoyed look on his face, glared at the Domino's representative and threw the entire case out. I never even was required to pay the original $12.00!

As far as I know, new laws or no, the US still doesn't have debtor's prison. As far as I know.

Don't ignore it!

They just sued me and ended up taking the money directly out of my checking account!!! They did send me letters and I kept giving them to my ex - it was in both our names, but his debt. Foolish me assumed he took care of it and the week of xmas they withdrew $750 out of my checking!

Again, Don't ignore it!!

What do you think those who loot and pillage do while they are not making commercials? Now that so many people have shifted to Capital One, they have all new jobs ....

It does no good fighting with a company that hires professional warriors. What lawyer's in your pocket?

Bri, first of all, be honest about this. You KNOW you owe them that money. The card is maxed out. You have not been paying what you were supposed to and you did not respond to their constant letters demanding some action on your part. You also ignored any correspondence warning you that it was turned over to a collection agency and you did nothing when that last letter came telling you that they would take you to court if you didn't respond in -x- number of days. This could not have been something out of the blue. Be honest with yourself and us, and then let's go on from there.

The first thing to do is to call the law firm which is listed on the Certified Letter. There is a date they have given you in that letter so you better do something NOW. Be very calm (and not anesthetized) when you call them. All they want is an agreement from you to pay the money and a time frame. You MAY NEGOTIATE the amount that you agree to pay. However, don't come right out with that suggestion right off the bat, work into it. I assume the card is cancelled so that is not the issue, but even so, cut the damn thing to pieces and resign yourself to not being given another one for at least 8 years. Tell the lawyer how sorry you are, you have had lots of problems because of _____ (insert good story) ____ and you are an honest person and bla bla bla but you are totally overwhelmed. Tell them how much you can pay monthly (and you better DO what you promise) and work on from there. I really doubt anybody will insist on the full payment, it serves them nothing to have your debt written off as uncollectable because then the lawyers and collection agency get no money either. They can't get money out of somebody who does not have it, so they will take what they can get. They don't want to have to pay for that lawyer to go to court and find out that it was going to get them nothing. Play it cool and be cooperative, but insist that you have had such terrible reversals that you can't pay it all and you might get a happy surprise. Your credit rating will still be ruined afterwards, but so what, it was ruined anyway.

The important thing is - CALL THEM. You still have time to avoid the worst consequences so do not delay anymore.

And yes, I HAVE been through this. I ended up having to get a lawyer and spend $2,000 of my own money to prove that I did not owe a $6,000 medical debt from a company who neglected to file the insurance claim after one of my hospital trips and thought they would just collect the whole amount from me instead. Got quite a legal education in the process.

Firstly - you have my total sympathy, good luck with what you have to go through.

I don't think my advice would be very useful as I can only assume from the other posts that things are different in the US. But certainly Tonchi's advice seems to fit my experiences - you can make a deal if you open channels of communication. It's better than having the bailiffs at your door (if you even have those?)

Are there any charities or agencies that you could go to? I was helped enormously by a UK charity called Christians Against Poverty who dealt with all my creditors for me. I still paid off most of my debts (about 85% in the end) but it was much easier having someone else negotiate monthly payments on my behalf. Especially as my credit card company refused to make a deal with me - insisted I paid the full amount balance immediately because I'd defaulted on payments. CAP managed to negotiate a monthly payment that was actually lower than what I'd been paying initially because they got the interest frozen.

We also have the Citizens Advice Bureau that offers advice including sample letters to creditors, and an information pack on legal rights.

Obviously neither of these help you, but it's worth looking around to see if you have anything similar - as Tonchi says, no-one benefits if you don't pay, so someone somewhere should be prepared to offer you help.

Good luck.

In reality we DO...... We are all just on house arrest. :lol2:

Look into law firms that take pro bono cases or legal services organizations - they are always willing to help and take on the big guys. If I were licensed and in your state, I'd take your case pro bono - I hate credit card companies.

Maybe some cute guys wil come to take you away.....diet & primp. ;)

i called legal aid today---fifty-five minute wait for a rep. but I put my phone number on the Call Back list. We'll see what happens. I DID call the slime-ball legal firm who is taking the case from slime-ball Cap. One and was told by a very snitty woman named 'Mandy' that regardless, I owed the debt and they would proceed with the hearing, etc. I own no property (unless you consider a 16 year old car worth anything) and have no idea where they think I will come up with cash for them. Out my lovely butt?