Who is suing?

[buster94]

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania
My sister called me for advice, so I referred her to a lawyer. In the meantime, maybe someone here can help.

My sister just received notice that she is being sued for $1500+ from a CC account she had in 2001 with Household Bank. She did have an account which she said she has paid in full and has not been used since 2001. She received no notices, statements, etc. since then. Unfortunately, she does not have any records from them; she paid with money orders. Her Credit reports also shows that the account has $0 balance. The company suing her is Great Seneca Fincancial Corp. She cannot find any contact infor for them-- only a lawyers number in York, PA. She tried to speak with the original cardholder who told her the account was sold to another bank. They could not tell her the date or the amount due when it was sold. They did give her another number. She is now on the third bank, who is giving her the same non-info. We don't own it now, we don't know when it was sold, we don't know what amount was owed on it.

Has anyone else had this trouble with this CC company? She's slightly mentally disabled and I think maybe she's being scammed.

[Ladynred]

he company suing her is Great Seneca Fincancial Corp. She cannot find any contact infor for them--

Great Seneca = Walpoff & Abramson in ****land, they are one in the same.

If Great Seneca is suing her its NOT a scam, they are real and they are NASTY. Calling the creditors is not going to help, once they sell off the accounts they wash their hands of it. Great Seneca is likely the last purchaser of the account. The only way she can deal with this at this point is to contact the lawyer that GS hired to sue her.

Her Credit reports also shows that the account has $0 balance.

What ELSE does it say ?? If the Household sold the debt, it WOULD say $0 balance - transferred to another lender. What does her credit report say is the date of last activity ? Does she know with any precision WHEN it was last paid ?? Is there anything on her reports that says what the STATUS of the debt is .. ie. 'paid', charged-off, etc. ??

PA has a 4 year statute of limitations. If it was last paid in 2001, then the SOL has most likely already expired and THAT is her defense against this lawsuit - the debt is likely time-barred.

[buster94]

Her report says "charged-off." Is that the same as paid or does that mean the debt was sold? There is nothing about owing anyone else, collections, etc. She said she was never contacted about late payments, missed payments, debt being sold, nothing. No collectors ever called her to collect. The last time the account showed activity was 2001. The suit is the first time she heard of it. She's lived in the same place for the last 8 years. She also does not know how they can say she owes $1500+ when her limit was 400. I hope she finds a good legal aide lawyer if they are as nasty as they sound. Thank you.

[Ladynred]

Her report says "charged-off." Is that the same as paid or does that mean the debt was sold?

Noooooooo.. its far from the same as paid. It means the creditor wrote if off as a bad debt for non-payment !

There is nothing about owing anyone else, collections, etc.

If its showing a zero balance, it should say 'transferred or sold', but they don't all do that consistently. The collection agency/junk debt buyer that has the debt now probably IS on her reports somewhere, most of them leave their tracks right away.

The last time the account showed activity was 2001.

Well then, unless that last activity was December 2001, the debt is past the Statute of Limitations (SOL) for legal action to collect the debt. This is your sisters 100% affirmative defense to get this debt thrown out of court ! The lawyer you referred her to MUST be given this information so he can use the defense. If you don't use it - you lose it !

She also does not know how they can say she owes $1500+ when her limit was 400. I

Her limit has NOTHING to do with what's owed now. When you default on a debt they apply the default interest rate which is always significantly higher than the regular rate. Over the course of 4 years, this adds up and if they added a bunch of late and/or over limit fees before charge-off, that balloons it too. The amount in the Complaint probably includes attorney's fees and court costs on top of the rest.

[buster94]

Having never been in this situation, I haven't a clue as to how to help her. Your advice is most appreciated. She did call the attorney's number and it is the company you said it was.

Would you recommend that she try to settle this or should she find a good lawyer and just go to court at this time? The documents say the suit was filed in July 2005 but she was not served until Jan. 2, 2006 with a court date of Jan 27, 2006. Maybe I should give her the money for an experienced attorney as opposed to legal aide? She only works part-time as she collects SSDI for mental illness.

And thank you for not calling me dumb although this is one area I know I haven't got a clue.

[Ladynred]

NO, I would not offer to settle this at all ! The SOL on this appears to be expired, that means she can get this thing stopped dead in its tracks using the expired SOL has her affirmative defense. Paying them ANYTHING will reset the SOL, you don't want that happening. Call the court and find out EXACTLY what date the suit was filed. IF the debt was last paid before July 2001, then the SOL expired. If it was last paid AFTER that date, they may have beat the clock. I would STILL use the SOL defense though.

The documents say the suit was filed in July 2005 but she was not served until Jan. 2, 2006 with a court date of Jan 27, 2006.

I would question that. Usually there are time limits for the time between the filing of the suit and serving the defendent the Complaint.

I don't know where you are in PA, but you might want to contact this PA consumer lawyer: [url]www.pennlawyer.com[/url]. He's very good and if he's too far away from you/your sister, he may be able to recommend someone closer to you.

[buster94]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

We will contact him. He's within a half hour of each of us.

[Ladynred]

Excellent ! I'm glad he's relatively nearby for you

[zippysgoddess]

I am in PA, and due to being disabled myself, as well as my husband being disabled for a time and collecting SSDI, I am very familiar with this stuff. If you need any more advice or information please feel free to let me know and I will gladly help. You can post here, as I will be notified of a new post, or you can feel free to email me at [email]verwon@gmail.com[/email] as I check that email several times a day, everyday.

Best of luck to both of you!