collection agency

What is the name of your state? Ky. I was recently sued by a collection agency, I had never been sued before, was served papers by a sheriff that just stated that a judgement had been filed against me in the court system for past medical bills on several creditors, and that I had 20 days to give them a written defense, or else a judgment could be filed against me. I tried several attempts to settle with the collection agency on a dollar amount monthly to pay them but to no avail. Then all of a sudden one day I received a letter, by regular mail, stating my husbands check was to be garnished. I had no idea I was to appear in court, I mean I have never been sued before, and I thought that an officer had to hand deliver a notice to appear in court to you, anyway, the garnishment went thru and they got an average of 150.00 per week for a balance of 1400.00. I finally had to refinace my car, in order to pay off the collection agency because the weekly amount was putting me severely behind. Ok, so now the judgment had been satisfied. Almost 30 days later, I received another letter from the same collection agency stating and I quote (" This is to advise you that the balance of your legal account is paid in full, However, the above balance reflects accounts that were received After suit was filed. You have previously received separate notices for the accounts referenced above,") blah, blah, blah.
Ok, so I wrote them a letter simply asking for copies of the invoices for the medical bills they said they received After the suit was filed, I received them today, and at the very top, stated right there in black and white is "Date Of Referral". Now I'm assuming this is the date that the creditors turned the accounts over to them? Am I correct on that? and if so, what can I do about this? These people are nickle and diming me to death, is there something I can do, because clearly, each Date of Referral, is way before the lawsuit date, some as far back as 1990, and the lawsuit was filed, June 28th 02. I believe alot of this has already been written off, but not sure. Oh, and yeah, the total amount they have me owing these creditors is 3723.02 Sorry this is so long, help me Please!!!!!!! Thank you.

[bigun]

what sort of debt is this because Ky. has a 15 year sol on written contracts?
I would suggest you send the CA a validation letter demanding proof of your debt and, an accounting. Send the letter CRRR. You may also wish to send a modified cease and desist letter saying the only contact you'll allow from now on is by mail. Did this recent letter contain a notice that this is from a debt collector and an attempt to collect a debt?
You've some rights under the Fair Debt Collection Pratices Act. I suggest start reading.

[url]http://www.ftc.gov/os/statutes/fdcpa/fdcpact.htm[/url]

[Ladynred]

The 15 years may not apply if all this is medical bills. Medical bills fall under the UCC for Goods and Services and as such the SOL is FOUR years, so a debt from 1990 would be way, way past the SOL.

Along with what Bigun told you, you should also pull your credit reports, all 3, and see what's being reported and if any of them have a date of last activity on them.

Yes, ladynred these are all medical bills and yes as far back as 1990. What will I use the date of last activity for? I mean how will that either help or maybe hurt me?

To biggun: hope this doesn't sound dumb, but I do not know what CRRR means? I did send them a letter asking for copies of the invoices with dates of service, creditor name, amount etc; they did reply and I got those yesterday, that is how I knew the dates. Does " Date Received" mean the actual date the collection agency received my account? And yes to your question, at the bottom of the letter it says "this is an attempt to collect a debt and will be used for that purpose, blah, blah. Thank you, I will start reading the "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act". Thanks again to both of you.

[Ladynred]

CRRR = Certified Mail, Return Receipt Requested.

The date of last activity will tell you exactly when the SOL period started and 4 years later, expired !

CRRR (Duh),
I knew that, brain freeze. I'm from Ky but I really am smarter than that,(ha, ha,). Thanks again both of you, I really do appreciate it.

[lwpat]

" I had no idea I was to appear in court, I mean I have never been sued before, and I thought that an officer had to hand deliver a notice to appear in court to you."

I thought you stated that the sheriff served you with a summons. This means you have to appear in court or a default judgement will be entered against you, which is what happened. The SOL does you no good if you do not show up in court to present it as a defense.

It also is not true that a compalint has to be hand delivered. Certified mail is also an acceptable service in most states. Never ignore a legal document-they will not disappear.

lwpat: The paper the officer handed me had no dates listed anywhere on it to appear, it just said I had 20 days to supply a written defense to the court or a judgment could be brought against me, and I did submit both a written letter to the court along as well to the lawyer's for the collection agency, with a carbon copy of the same letter to the court as well. After that, the lawyer's for the ca sent me the summary of my expenses to fill out and I tried to settle with them (in writing) an amount montly to pay. We tried several amounts, for a few weeks, but the clients would not agree to the amounts. The next paper I received was a garnishment notice that the county judge had signed. That's it, never was a "date to appear" given me. That's what I never understood, I had been waiting for a court date, never got one.

[lwpat]

I am not familar with the laws in Ky and without seeing the paper work it would be impossible to make any factual statements.

What it sounds like is that you admitted or failed to provide a sufficient defense to owing the amounts. A creditor does not have to accept partial payments and a judgement was entered. They are now collecting on that judgement. You would need an attorney to advise you if it is possible to vacate the judgement or to now raise SOL as a defense. If it is a valid debt you will just have to live with your wages being garnished.

You need to get a copy of the file from the court in order to find out exactly what happened. Go to the county judges's office and talk to the clerk. Even with an attorney you need to continually monitor the progress of any case. You should have called the court and been sure they received the letter and found out the next step in the process. It is always best to hand deliver any document to the court and have your copy stamped.