CC and Court Pretrial. What is it?

[Dolly1948]

I live in Ohio. I am married, only source of income for me is Social Security Disability check. I owe on a CC. Now there's a date set for me to appear in court for a "pretrial settlement conference." What is it? Do I have to go? (Hard for me to walk.) What can I expect. I can't afford to pay it because of medical bills and Rx. I own nothing. House is only in husband's name. I don't own a car. All I have is my checking account that my checks are deposited in. My husband is worried that he'll have to pay. I said not to worry that the credit card was soley mine. I'm not well and this stuff only make my condition worse. Please help me understand what this is all about. I only owe $818.00 on this card. Thank you in advance.

 

[zippysgoddess]

Well first of all, it will surely be more than $818 now, they will have added late fees, jacked the interest rate, overlimit fees and etc.

Plus if they are pursuing it through collections they will add fees for that and fees for the court filings, so you can expect it to just get bigger.

The settlement conference is just that, before they do an actual suit, they want to meet you with to see if you can settle this amicable so they can get the money that you owe them. They will want information about your income, finances, assets and etc.

You do not have to go, but if you don't, expect the lawsuit to be filed immediately and expect to be compelled to provide that information by the courts.

Wether or not your husband can be held responsible would, I think, depend on if you are in a community property state, I am not sure if Ohio is or not, but I am sure someone will pop in to tell me if I am wrong or if he will be responsible and etc.

If you don't go to the settlement conference, as I said they will file the law suit. If you don't attend that hearing, they will get a default judgment against you. Yes, your SSDI is safe, however, that will not stop them from putting a lien on your bank account to take whatever money is put in there. Then you will have to fight with them to prove it is exempt monies and fight to get it back from them. You can expect a protracted battle there, as once they get their hands on it, they don't like to have to give it up again.

Judgments also have the nasty habit of hanging around for a long time and are often renewable, so if they get one and can't get any money from you now, they can just sit and wait until you do get something worth taking to recoup their loss.

The statute of limitations for a written contract, which is what most judges in the US are treating credit cards as, since you sign for the purchases is 15 years, so I am assuming you are still well within the time frame for them to sue you. A judgment would be good for 21 years and renewable for additional 5 year periods.

You may be judgment proof if Ohio isn't a community property state, but you can expect your credit to be totally messed up, and they will never stop wanting their money, plus they will continue to add fees and interest, so you can expect the amount to continue to grow. They will also flood you with calls and letters to try to intimidate you into paying it.

You may want to attend this conference to see if you can come up with a payment agreement that you can afford so you can avoid the lawsuit and other problems it may result in.

 

[Ladynred]

Ohio is NOT a community property state.
Your husband can NOT be made to pay your credit card debts.

I would definitely appear for the conference, to NOT do so means you lose automatically, even though it appears you have nothing they can get from you.

 

[Litigation!]

only source of income for me is Social Security Disability check.

My response:

How long have you been disabled?

How long have you been on Social Security Disability?

Dates, please.

IAAL

 

[weenor]

Well first of all, it will surely be more than $818 now, they will have added late fees, jacked the interest rate, overlimit fees and etc.

Plus if they are pursuing it through collections they will add fees for that and fees for the court filings, so you can expect it to just get bigger.

The settlement conference is just that, before they do an actual suit, they want to meet you with to see if you can settle this amicable so they can get the money that you owe them. They will want information about your income, finances, assets and etc.

You do not have to go, but if you don't, expect the lawsuit to be filed immediately and expect to be compelled to provide that information by the courts.

Wether or not your husband can be held responsible would, I think, depend on if you are in a community property state, I am not sure if Ohio is or not, but I am sure someone will pop in to tell me if I am wrong or if he will be responsible and etc.

If you don't go to the settlement conference, as I said they will file the law suit. If you don't attend that hearing, they will get a default judgment against you. Yes, your SSDI is safe, however, that will not stop them from putting a lien on your bank account to take whatever money is put in there. Then you will have to fight with them to prove it is exempt monies and fight to get it back from them. You can expect a protracted battle there, as once they get their hands on it, they don't like to have to give it up again.

Judgments also have the nasty habit of hanging around for a long time and are often renewable, so if they get one and can't get any money from you now, they can just sit and wait until you do get something worth taking to recoup their loss.

The statute of limitations for a written contract, which is what most judges in the US are treating credit cards as, since you sign for the purchases is 15 years, so I am assuming you are still well within the time frame for them to sue you. A judgment would be good for 21 years and renewable for additional 5 year periods.

You may be judgment proof if Ohio isn't a community property state, but you can expect your credit to be totally messed up, and they will never stop wanting their money, plus they will continue to add fees and interest, so you can expect the amount to continue to grow. They will also flood you with calls and letters to try to intimidate you into paying it.

You may want to attend this conference to see if you can come up with a payment agreement that you can afford so you can avoid the lawsuit and other problems it may result in.

Please make sure that your legal information is accurate when posting....Statutes of limitations in contract actions vary by state...The only three states that the SOL is 15 years on written contracts are Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia. In addition, many states treat credit cards as revolving credit or open accounts and thus there is a different SOL. In Ohio that SOL would be 6 years. In addition, in many cases payment tolls the SOL and/or revives it. So with revolving credit the SOL would be 6 years after the last payment was made.

 

[zippysgoddess]

And please re-read my post, I said:

"The statute of limitations for a written contract, which is what most judges in the US are treating credit cards as, since you sign for the purchases is 15 years, so I am assuming you are still well within the time frame for them to sue you. A judgment would be good for 21 years and renewable for additional 5 year periods."

SHE IS IN OHIO! She says it right in her post. If you cannot pay attention to what you are reading, then don't criticize someone else.

You can do a search on here, there are various posts about it, and see that many judges are now treating credit cards as WRITTEN CONTRACTS!

I have been here a lot longer than you and I know what I am talking about.

If I am not sure, as I wasn't about whether or not Ohio is a community property state or not, I will say so as I did in my post.

Weenor, you need to find something better to do with your time.

 

[Ladynred]

It has NEVER been proven that the SOL for credit cards in OH is 6 years. The OH statutes are rather ambiguos as the do not specifically define a credit card as written or 'not in writing'. The sad FACT is that judges in OH are NOT BUYING into the 6 year SOL and are ruling using the 15 year SOL for written contracts. I have read hundreds of accounts by OH residents all over the state who have TRIED the 6 year SOL, showed the TILA to judges and the OH 2305.07 staute and been summarily smacked down and told that credit cards are written contracts, the TILA means nothing to them, and ruled AGAINST the defendent. There was a member who used to post here very regularly.. a judgment enforcement/collector who confirmed the 15 year SOL rulings as well.

There have been too many separate stories with the SAME outcome - judge ruled by the 15 year SOL. If you go into a courtroom in OH trying to win with the 6 year SOL - you're most likely going to LOSE. Since none of thse cases happen in a court of record, there is no case law to disprove the 15 year SOL, nor prove the 6 year SOL.

 

[zippysgoddess]

Thank you Lady!

 

[cissycicle]

Thank you Lady!

Well, but, wait, I thought weenor invented this site AND wrote all laws for our country. My mistake. weenor doesn't know how to read with accuracy, much less comprehend what is written.