can they count my income and step-son income?

[strongbus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maine

Ok here is the back story. My wife before meeting me got one of those payday loans and was paying it back. She though it was payed back. Well we just got a phone call stating that someone will be by later today to server her with papers saying shes being sued for not finishing paying it off.

2 things. 1st My wife gets SSDI stepson gets ssi and i work 28 hours a week.

2. I know under Maine law that if this goes to court that there is a spreadsheet that based off things such as income and household size that the judge will use to determine how much a month my wife will be ordered to pay to pay it off.(had to go to court 5 or so years ago for my own pass duo bill so learn some stuff watching other cases)

What I want to know is will the courts only count my wifes SSDI or will the courts count my income as well as step-sons ssi when figuring out the amount.

we just got off the phone with the place that is handing the legal stuff and offered them what we though we could pay towards it but they said it was to low they want it payed off in under 3 month and we can't afford it. We wish to pay it off but what they wanted($180 a month for 2 months or 140 a month for 3 months) was just outside of what we can pay. we where looking more for the 35-50 a month range. Just looking for info i can use to call them back and say ok if you take her to court you only going get x amount a month form a judgement or you can work with us outside of court and get more a month.

Can anyone point me to somewhere on the internet where there might me info that i can use to guess how much a month the courts might order? tried myself and can't make heads or tails of it.

edit ok just found out on a legal aid site that under maine law ssi and ssdi seam to be exempt form debt stuff. so just woundering if they can count my income or not

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Maine

Ok here is the back story. My wife before meeting me got one of those payday loans and was paying it back. She though it was payed back. Well we just got a phone call stating that someone will be by later today to server her with papers saying shes being sued for not finishing paying it off.

2 things. 1st My wife gets SSDI stepson gets ssi and i work 28 hours a week.

2. I know under Maine law that if this goes to court that there is a spreadsheet that based off things such as income and household size that the judge will use to determine how much a month my wife will be ordered to pay to pay it off.(had to go to court 5 or so years ago for my own pass duo bill so learn some stuff watching other cases)

What I want to know is will the courts only count my wifes SSDI or will the courts count my income as well as step-sons ssi when figuring out the amount.

we just got off the phone with the place that is handing the legal stuff and offered them what we though we could pay towards it but they said it was to low they want it payed off in under 3 month and we can't afford it. We wish to pay it off but what they wanted($180 a month for 2 months or 140 a month for 3 months) was just outside of what we can pay. we where looking more for the 35-50 a month range. Just looking for info i can use to call them back and say ok if you take her to court you only going get x amount a month form a judgement or you can work with us outside of court and get more a month.

Can anyone point me to somewhere on the internet where there might me info that i can use to guess how much a month the courts might order? tried myself and can't make heads or tails of it.

edit ok just found out on a legal aid site that under maine law ssi and ssdi seam to be exempt form debt stuff. so just woundering if they can count my income or not

Your wife is actually judgement proof because she is on SSDI and that cannot be garnished. So, they are not going to get any more that she is willing or able to pay anyway.

I also think that they were bluffing about the court case, because they don't warn you in advance that they are going to serve you.

 

[strongbus]

thanks LdiJ for that info. That what we though and are trying to talk them into something we can afford. Also one more thing. I called our states debt protection place and they are sending a paper for my wife to fill out. Seams Maine has a law that says payday loan place have to be licensed in the state. Also they said 75% of the payday loan places will offer and give loans in ME are not licensed, If this is the case and that payday loan was not licensed for ME what effect would that have on all of this?

 

[LdiJ]

thanks LdiJ for that info. That what we though and are trying to talk them into something we can afford. Also one more thing. I called our states debt protection place and they are sending a paper for my wife to fill out. Seams Maine has a law that says payday loan place have to be licensed in the state. Also they said 75% of the payday loan places will offer and give loans in ME are not licensed, If this is the case and that payday loan was not licensed for ME what effect would that have on all of this?

I cannot answer that question because I am not familiar with that. All I can tell you is what I said before.

Morally your wife should pay the debt, and she can pay it in whatever amounts you can realistically afford. Legally, she could probably get away without paying the debt at all.

 

[strongbus]

thanks again LdiJ. As i said she wants to pay it if its a legit claim and she owes the money. We are just looking for info so we can get the collection place to accept that we can only afford to pay 35-50ish a month instead of the 140ish they want us to pay.

 

[strongbus]

ok if anyone can answer fast. If we call the bill collectors what can we tell them to get them to agree to what we can afford to pay?

such as tell them that cause of my wife on SSDI. that she is judgment proof so no mater what they want she only going have to pay them what she wants/can no matter what happens.

edit: just final got someone in their office beside a secretary acting as a go between to the lawyer part of the place. When we tried to explain what we could afford and explain what we have learned here and though calling local legal aid and the state debt protection place i was told they don't take anything less then $120.00 a month, and if we won't agree to that then wait for the papers and they see her in court.

Any sugestion as to what to do to get ready for this?

 

[LdiJ]

ok if anyone can answer fast. If we call the bill collectors what can we tell them to get them to agree to what we can afford to pay?

such as tell them that cause of my wife on SSDI. that she is judgment proof so no mater what they want she only going have to pay them what she wants/can no matter what happens.

edit: just final got someone in their office beside a secretary acting as a go between to the lawyer part of the place. When we tried to explain what we could afford and explain what we have learned here and though calling local legal aid and the state debt protection place i was told they don't take anything less then $120.00 a month, and if we won't agree to that then wait for the papers and they see her in court.

Any sugestion as to what to do to get ready for this?

If I were her, I would start sending them payment anyway, in affordable installments. That is of course, assuming you have the proper address to send the payments to.

Other than that, there really isn't anything to prepare.

 

[strongbus]

wish it was that easy to just mail them payments of some sort but they say that they only accept credit/debt/prepaid cards they don't take personal checks or money orders. Don't wana go there cause I know that they would just take the amount they want and not the amount we wana give them.

 

[cosine]

wish it was that easy to just mail them payments of some sort but they say that they only accept credit/debt/prepaid cards they don't take personal checks or money orders. Don't wana go there cause I know that they would just take the amount they want and not the amount we wana give them.

What is your issue with a prepaid card?

 

[strongbus]

cause they will only take the info if we agree to their amounts, and they said that they will only try to take that amount and not a lower amount. I would have no issue if i knew that if i put $40 on the card and they accepted that each time but they said they will try for what they want each time(baring a court order for a lower amount).

 

[LdiJ]

cause they will only take the info if we agree to their amounts, and they said that they will only try to take that amount and not a lower amount. I would have no issue if i knew that if i put $40 on the card and they accepted that each time but they said they will try for what they want each time(baring a court order for a lower amount).

In that case, seriously, I would just ignore them. I doubt they will file anything, but if they do, then your wife needs to attend court and explain that her only income is disability.