They served me papers today!!!

[uscam]

What is the name of your state? Michigan

Hi there.

I am an American. I live in Latinamerica. I am a missionary. Today my dad called me from Michigan to inform me that a guy went there to serve me papers for a debt collection. He told the guy that i live abroad, but he failed to find out who was serving me papers.

I owe money to a couple credit cards, but before i left America I called them and informed them that I needed to get into a payment plan because i was going to the mission field, but they did not accept and after charging me with fee after fee, i just decided not to argue with them any more and stop paying them. Whenever i called the CC companies (expensive from here) they used to put me into these loops they use when they dont want to talk to you. I got tired of it and stop paying them!

Is there any way to find out who may be serving me these papers?
How do you advice I should handle this being out of the country?

I'd really appreciate any help you may have for me.

[JETX]

Originally Posted by uscam

Is there any way to find out who may be serving me these papers?

Yep. Read them.

How do you advice I should handle this being out of the country?

Do you have a valid defense against their claim?? If so, contact the court and ask for a REASONABLE continuance (for a month or so) in order to allow you time to return to defend yourself.
If not, then your actions really won't matter.

[uscam]

Thank you for your reply.

Well, the good thing is that i am in a position to re-pay. I simply dont know whom to pay, because my dad failed to keep the papers. Will they serve the papers to my dad? Because if they dont, how can i find out? That is my question!

I dont even know if i should call the court in Lansing or in Detroit. My dad lives in Lansing, but i used to live in Detroit, before i left the country. My bills were sent to Detroit.

Can i send a friend to represent me?
Can i hire a lawyer to represent me?

Can any of these people (attorney/friend) tell the judge, in my behalf, that i am willing to pay and negotiate a payment with the creditor?

The plane ticket about 1000 bucks and i can used that dough towards the payment.

[TiredOfAbuse]

Also remember that since you are not in the U.S. at this time, the debt(s) are tolling. What that means is the SOL (statute of limitations) is frozen in the state you left.

If you move back to the state you left, the SOL will continue from where it left off. If you move back into a different state of the union, then you have a brand new SOL to contend with. This is normally a minimum of 3 years.

If you can, pull your credit report. You can do that most anywhere there is Internet Access. The most recent collections may be the one also filing suit against you.

Another way is to check the docket of the local court house. You can use the Internet or telephone to do this. They tryed serving you at your parents, so check the county they live in. From that you should see who is named Plaintiff on the filed lawsuit.

They could get a judgement against you, but being unable to serve you properly you could get it tossed (if handled properly) once you do return.

Find out who they are, and write them a good will letter. Let them know you are not living in the states. Tell them you neither confirm nor deny the debt but that you will handle the situation when you return.

Chien: I would be grateful if you could audit my response. I posted what I would do in his situation. It's not too detailed, but I want to make sure I am on track. Thank you.

TiredOfAbuse

EDIT:

Well, the good thing is that i am in a position to re-pay. I simply dont know whom to pay, because my dad failed to keep the papers. Will they serve the papers to my dad?

Great news! See my advice above for finding out who they are. Contact them immediately (to avoid court) and remit payment. They could serve your father, but since you do not live there legally at this time, it would be improper service. As stated before they could lie about service and get a judgement, but with a little knowledge and effort you could get a judgement removed on your return. You would do this because even if you can pay now - a judgement really hurts your credit report.

Since you can and are willing to repay immediately, I can see the whole judgement debacle as a non issue. Good luck!