letter from attorney

What is the name of your state? PA

I have rec'd in the mail today a letter from an attorney in my city regarding a past due cc bill. I have been involved with this cc company for a while and I have tried everything to work it out with them including going to a debt management company (biggest mistake) the cc company would simply not work with them or me. My balance has more than doubled and has not been used for three years this April. My situation is like many others, my husband is self-employed roofer/contractor who has not worked the last two winters. He has not worked since the beginning of November due to weather conditions. I am responsible for most of the living expenses now and my paycheck doesnt strectch that far. As a result I have slipped behind on things. I am afraid to call the attorney but I know I have to. What can they do to me. The debt is $2300+. I would appreciate any advice.

[Ladynred]

Who is the original creditor ?
When was the last time you paid them ?

You do NOT have to call this "attorney", its very possible that he's nothing but another collection agency. Who is it ? That info can be looked up.

The original creditor is Cross Country Bank. The last time I paid was in September. I gave up on them, everything I paid was applied to their overlimit and late fees. They are terrible. Now I have to pay the necessities first before I can pay them. The attorney letter is from a local attorney.

[Ladynred]

Lots of complaints around about them.. but not many lawsuits.
For that amount, its not likely you will actually be sued, but they DO want to scare you.

You could always send the lawyer a payment agreement, something YOU can afford. If you can't afford anything, then contacting him won't do you much good. He will only apply pressure tactics and try to scare you into paying what you cannot afford.

I certainly would NOT talk to him on the phone, its not worth the stress !

I too recieved a letter from an attorney-figured they also were just tryiing to scare me , but guess what , even after my debt was settled (with another ca) he came after me for 1100.00- the original debt was 798.00, agreed to 450.00 and paid in full, now ALL my bank accounts have a lein until this is repaid to this supposed attorney, Mel Harris from Rushmore Recoveries in NYC. The only way I can remove it is to hire an attorney to have the case reopened (about 1200.00) and there is still no guarantee it will even come off. I am now thinkiing about filing ch.7 as I have NOTHING to my name and my debts are only 5,000.00 at the most. It's the next best thing than trying to fight this (as I have been doing the past 3 weeks) I never recieved a summons to appear in court,but the courts say I did,by a sub serve. and that they also sent me 2 more letters before court date- which I never recieved. I don't have the reciepts (due to a fire) so I have no way in proving I paid this debt, I don't even know who it was I actually paid, the debt is 4 yrs. old that I was sued over !

If you copy and paste this link in your browser, then enter Cross Country Bank in the search box you will find out alot about this company. They have been sued by two states already and lost, and the Florida AG's office is now investigating them for violation of the RICO act.


[url]www.badbusinessbureau.com[/url]

[bigun]

Kblue,

Others may be able to suggest a course of action on the lawsuit but, do not file for bk over $5K. Talk about making a bad situation worse!

my debts aren't that high ! at the most it's probably (with this one included) about 3,000.00 nobody out there wants to help me,I have tried all types of attorneys and they ALL sugguested chapter7 for me, I am self employed and really not making all that much to survive, I have no car loans,mortgage nothing at all, just trying to get this lein off my bank accts is nothing more than a headache. I ahve tried filiing my self told I can't only my lawyer can do that,then I may not even win- I have tried to get ahold of this ca "aka" attorney who started all this and he won't even return my phone calls, I have been hung up on after sitting on hold for over 4 hrs. at a stretch,disconnected every hr. while on hold. I ahve since (saturday) sent him a letter registered mail, I know he recieved it yesterday and who signed for it, now I have to wait and see if he even replies to this one. I have been fighting this since the beginning of January and got no place yet.
NYS laws are all screwed up I can't file for an appeal,I can go for small claims- nothing I exhausted ALL my avenues but ch.7

[Ladynred]

If your bank accounts are frozen, then there is already a judgment against you.

Why can't you file an appeal ??

There isn't anything that I know of that prevents a person from proceeding without a lawyer for anything. Its not always a good idea, but that is something we as citizens ARE allowed to do for ourselves !!

Have you gotten a copy of the judgment case file ? You need to look at the proof of service. Another person sued recently in NY was a victim of 'sewer service' in NYC and the process server blatantly LIED - made up a 'person' supposed living at this guys address. He was able to get a hearing for an appeal based on this, so its important that you find out EXACTLY who, when, and where the summons was supposedly served.

What method of payment did you use to pay off the original settlement ? Was it anything you can go back to your bank for and get copies of ??

supposedly I was served on August 27, by a sub server and supposedly at my address , they claim they also sent me 5 letters between that time and the court date- But I never recieved anything. City Court where the papers are from said that I have to have my attorney file to reopen the case, I can't do anything on my own ? I have the docket # and they looked it (all) up. I had the papers and everything to file,but was denied. I talked to 4 people there.
I paid everything with a m.o. and we had a fire so everything was lost in the fire- it was a nationwide collections, I contacted them ,and talked to the supervisor 3 times, to date I have had no response in him pulling my records for this account. So now I sent them a copy of the judgment with the (same) account # for the cc I owe (again) that I already paid off to them.
it's nothing but a nightmare ! no one wants to be cooperative,no matter what the threats are from me. I have filed a complaint with the AG office over this also,I just can't go and afford an attorney to straighten this out . I never recieved a judgement case file, in fact I never recieved anything from anyone except my bank sayiing they have a lein on my bank acct's until my judgement with Rushmore Recoveries is satisfied, then on the copy the bank recieved I guess from Mel Harris (Rushmore Recoveries) it states something about answering 7 questions,under oath and to the best of my knowledge-- I never got a questionaire with 7 questions ??? I was to send this I think to RR-- I have no idea ? I was going to try legal aid, but no lawyer wants be involved because of the lein. I talked to several bk lawyers and they will only help if I file bk. so maybe ch7 would be for me, I only have this $2200.00 cc debt they claim I owe mind you it was for a secured cc of $300.00 and a few medical bills, I have no loans, mortgages nothing. my van I own is only worth $400 bluebook- hell I'll pay them to take it from me !!!
maybe at the most with everything against me about 3000.00 in debt. I am self employed a dog groomer and I do it out of my home 3 days a week- I don't even make 400.00 a month.

[Ladynred]

They won't GIVE you the case file for the judgment, you have to go down to City Court and GET it, you ARE entitled to it ! In it is the proof of service with all the details. You really need to get that and find out just WHAT address they SAY they served the summons to and to WHOM ! BTW "sub server' is, I believe, short for "substitute service".

For this amount of money, the case had to be filed in Small Claims Court.

Were you ever mailed a copy of the judgment ? According to NYS and the NYC Court Act, you should have received a copy of the judgment.

It would be ridiculous to file BK over this ONE debt.

I don't understand the court clerks (or whoever) telling you that YOU can't file the papers if you had them there all ready. I know NYC has a few different civil rules, etc. but I don't know about REQUIRING a lawyer for something like this.

**On further research in the NYS Statutes and NYC Court Act, I can not find ANYTHING that says you HAVE to have a lawyer. I don't think I'm missing anything, but if one of our lawyers can find anything to the contrary, please, enlighten me.

Go to [url]www.naca.net[/url] and see if there is a lawyer in your area. They are consumer advocate lawyers and might be able to help you.

I did recieve a copy of the judgement with the docket #, as I said it also states-

quote " Now,therefore we command you,that you answer in writing under oath,seperatly and fully, each question in the questionaire portion of this supoena,each answer referring to the question to which it responds,and that you return the answers together with original of the questions within 7 days after reciept of this supoena. Take notice that false swearing or failure to comply with this suboena as a contempt of court unqoute--

I never recieved a questionaire ! how can I answer it ? let alone return it - when it don't say where to send it ??????

The top of the paper it says
"Informetion subpoena and questionnaire with restraining notice

This is a copy sent to me from my bank stating what bank accounts they are holding, they stopped activity on my 2 accounts and my daughters (I am the co signer). The judgement as entered 12-11-03 by the judge.

I never recieved anything yet from the courts or this Rushmore Recoveries c/o Mel Harris. I have tried to contact him since Jan. 12 by phone (since I recieved this letter) all I get is placed on hold until they can answer my call, then after about 2 hrs. on hold I get disconnected, I call back again sit on hold for another 2 hrs. finally speak to someone and I am told to get legal help and they hang up, once I was patched through to Mel Harris' office only to get his voice mail to leave my name & #, have yet for him to return my call ! this a long distance # not a toll free ! so now I have also incurred long distance charges and have gotten noplace !
I can't get back downtown anytime this week, I have my father on ventilator (which is coming out tomorrow) so he will pass on and the weather here is too bad to be driving.
another great year for me !!!!! I have been trying to fight this along with spending every available second at the hospital and trying to take care of my mother and my own family, this is just another big headache right now-- LORD do I need a DRINK !

[Ladynred]

Are you certain what you got was a copy of the judgment ?
That sounds more like the subpoena itself and the lawsuit (complaint) had questions in it that you were supposed to have answered. Since you didn't file an Answer to the Complaint, a default judgment was entered - and that allows them to levy your accounts.

AFTER the judgment was rendered, you should have gotten a complete copy of it mailed to you.

Try that [url]www.naca.net[/url] website and see if you can find a lawyer who CAN help you.

My condolences regarding your father, I lost mine in 1989

what I recieved from the bank is Information Supoena and Questionnaire with restraining notice. it is from the city court of Buffalo NY-- judgement was entered on 12-11-03,but I never recieved this until 1-13-04 from my bank who sent it to me on 1-9-04. nothing came from the ca or the courts. this paper is dated 1-6-04 I will try to enclose a scan of it- you read it, maybe you can make sense of it for me ?

I have tried naca, they list the one atty I already called, he won't touch it unless I file bk, none of them will ! what am I to do ?? I have been reading ever site for some sort of recourse, but there isn't a light at the end of the tunnel- unless I file bk. I really don't want to do that either, but I don't have $2200.00 to pay for a debt that was taken care of already !, my credit isn't bad either, I have one other debt for 300.00 and some misc. medical bills, mostly co-pays, that I could really pay off now- well once I can access my money I can.