Debt collectors attorney refuses to respond

[s10sleeper]

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

Sorry, this may be a little long but I have had some trouble with this one

I received a summons to court about a month ago due to a credit card debt of about 500 dollars. I had been getting letters from this collection agency for a couple of months, however the letters only stated the name of the collection agency and did not say what the debt pertained to.

I finally found out it was a credit card debt when I got the summons. It did take me awhile to attempt to follow up as I had to prepare for brain surgery. For about 3 days prior to my surgery I tried to reach the law firm with the numbers stated on the summons, however, all I would get was a repeated automated statement saying "press star to return to the menu" which did nothing. I tried entering the extension in and it usually never did a thing and a few times it said it was no longer a valid extension.

I contacted the clerk at the court who said all I could do is contact them even though I told her the numbers didn't work. So I looked online, found a list of direct numbers at the main branch, tried them, found one that went through and left a voicemail. I got no response.

I sent 2 emails and got nothing back either.

I am concerned as my only income is SSDI and I am aware they can't levy or garnish it, but who knows.

So far, I contacted the attorney general who said I can file a complaint, but I think my final step is to send them a letter proving that I cannot be garnished, and have no assets to put a lien on.

Along with this, they also at one time tried calling me awhile back and my father answered as I wasn't home, they even told him who they represent and what it was involving, which i believe is against FDCPA.

I just want to make sure that I am going about it correctly as according to all of the complaint websites everyone has these problems and then they end up with their accounts frozen.

 

[tranquility]

You file a complaint? For what? The attorney TRIED to talk to you through letters (And, probably, phone calls.) for a while. You refused to respond to them, so they decided to motivate you.

It worked.

Now, the proper way to get them to talk with you is to file an answer or to respond to the charge appropriately.

(Telling the father may be a violation. But, that will not change the underlying issue.)

 

[s10sleeper]

You file a complaint? For what? The attorney TRIED to talk to you through letters (And, probably, phone calls.) for a while. You refused to respond to them, so they decided to motivate you.

It worked.

Now, the proper way to get them to talk with you is to file an answer or to respond to the charge appropriately.

(Telling the father may be a violation. But, that will not change the underlying issue.)

Tranquility,
You obviously did not read what I posted, rather than being spiteful, please understand, I know I may be longwinded but it is due to my ADHD.

How do you call someone that does not give you a valid phone number?

The reason for the complaint is that is what the Attorney Generals office told me to do, I haven't done it yet.

The ATTORNEY never once sent a letter, it was the collection agency, and if you would have paid attention, the letters did not state what the debt was for.

I called the court and admitted I owed the debt, I will not deny the debt, it has just gotten out of my hands as incurring hundreds of thousands in medical expenses has limited me. Even the court has no different phone number for the law firm. I am waiting for my statement from SSA to send with my letter to the company. I have already typed and will be sending certified, as I stated earlier I am responding and explaining.

I never refused to respond, at certain times I was not home, others they called after 9, which I was asleep, I have epilepsy and so many times am not capable of speaking on the phone.

I spoke with the collection agency over the phone before they filed the summons. I told them my situation, it is a little impossible to pay on debts when your own medication costs exceed your disability income.

They were the ones that gave me phone numbers that did not work. My phone numbers were all valid, I even told them the best number to reach me at was my cell, and I gave it to them. They also told me to close out any retirement accounts to get the money to them.

Plus, they were calling and reaching me more than once a day sometimes. But whenever I got the calls, they identified themselves as a collection agency for the credit card, but did not identify the name of their company.

If I had any choice in the matter, I would have paid the debt on time, however, I have no money, only disability. The threats to levy my account and garnish my income, I have found out were not even legal, as I found out just recently. It is clearly stated in the Social Security Act, as this is no form of child support, back tax or student loans

BTW, tranquility, It is rather amazing how many people are not understanding of the circumstances that people on SSDI and especially those with uncontrollable epilepsy have to face and the costs, plus the difficulty of trying to prevent debt occurring. Read up and you will find out that of people with disabilities, epileptics have a higher number of bankruptcies. It is one of the most expensive disorders to live with and the least understood.

 

[tranquility]

I read and understood your story. You owe the money. The Attorney only has to respond to you during discovery. All the ADHD rubbish about how your story is somehow special shows only that you have little understanding of the law.

BTW, tranquility, It is rather amazing how many people are not understanding of the circumstances that people on SSDI and especially those with uncontrollable epilepsy have to face and the costs, plus the difficulty of trying to prevent debt occurring. Read up and you will find out that of people with disabilities, epileptics have a higher number of bankruptcies. It is one of the most expensive disorders to live with and the least understood.

Even higher when they ignore repeated attempts to contact them and work out a deal.

Just like you did.

 

[Zigner]

I know this will sound harsh...

All your medical problems didn't prevent you from spending the money...

 

[s10sleeper]

I understand that, but the debt occurred while I was not having problems, and I was maintaining the payments. It was a timeframe when I was trying to fix my credit. After that my health took a major dive, I fought and fought to keep bills paid up. I keep a budget form, and have a listing of my debts.

All I am honestly trying to find out is what to do in this situation due to what is going on. If I had the money I would pay it, but first I have to keep myself alive, otherwise the debt wouldn't get paid either.

I try to work with all of the debt collectors and have set up agreements with some, and they are willing to work with me, however a person can only pay so much at a time. There is a difference to debt collectors asking for a small payment and setting up an arrangement and the ones that demand the full amount.

I do not say I am special, as many others have it worse off than me, I am trying to figure out the actual laws, and what to do in circumstances such as this. I was wanting to figure out the way to communicate with them as I have been informed that once it goes to court I am to contact the attorneys. The way people talk on here sound exactly like the spiteful debt collectors, I was figuring that there would be unbiased people here, but never mind, just ignorant people that refuse to view that there are 2 sides to everything.

As far as understandings of law, I do not know everything, I do not try to, but in order to get information or give it you can't be biased on it either.

 

[You Are Guilty]

All I am honestly trying to find out is what to do in this situation due to what is going on.

You may not want to see it, but the only answer has been provided:

Now, the proper way to get them to talk with you is to file an answer or to respond to the charge appropriately.

It's either that, or ignore it (and well, you see what can happen when you ignore it).

 

[s10sleeper]

as I said, I responded to the court, I admitted to the debt. I was just trying to figure out the legal way to get in contact. I do know that it has to be with the attorney since it was passed to them.

I haven't wanted to fight it, but, i already got the answer from the bank and social security, i am sending them the statement I received from ssa and a bank statement. The bank told me they are required to send a letter denying any attempts at garnishing or freezing my acct and social security has a letter for me to send that if the attorney has any disputes to contact them. both places told me that the money cannot be garnished. It is one thing for me to willingly make a payment I can afford and another to have all of it taken at once. That was my concern, however it just took speaking to someone who actually knows what they are talking about.

 

[You Are Guilty]

You are still missing a few points here.

1. The lawyers do not have to "talk" to you, ever. Their sole requirement is to respond, if necessary, to anything you file within the legal framework of the lawsuit against you. That's it. They never have to speak a single word to you if they don't want to. (And so far, it's pretty clear they don't want to).

2. You still need to respond to the suit. Even if you admit to owing the debt, you may be able to negate, or at least reduce some of the other fees they are going to claim, like interest, legal fees, court costs, and whatever else they can dream up.

3. You are also confusing the fact that your income cannot be garnished with the fact that they are still going to get a judgment against you. Albeit, a judgement they probably will never collect, but hey, you never know, maybe you'll hit the lottery; receive an inheritance; get a job; etc. in the next few years while the judgment is still valid.

Bottom line - fight the lawsuit now, and don't worry about them trying to collect later.

 

[swalsh411]

I'm not surprised nobody wants to talk to you. If they have a slam dunk case then it will be an easy win and they get to tack on interest and legal fees.

 

[s10sleeper]

You are Guilty,
I appreciate where you are coming from, and understand what you mean.
I know there will be a judgment against me, but as far as a major case, their only chance is to work with me in order to get paid. This is the reason I have decided to send the letter and info to them and send it certified requiring signature.

The reason for the issues that I am trying to situate is that I tried all I could do to work something out before court, as I could not make it to court due to brain surgery but this is the only time a law firm would not respond. They also stated they would accomodate according to ADA in the summons, which was also why I was calling, and since the court told me that was something to speak with the firm about I tried. In my previous situations of being summoned to court, the law firm answered and what they did for me was that we made payment agreements that as long as I made a monthly payment they pushed off the court date. This resulted in never having to go through court with them.

The issue with the ADA is also a reason that the Attorney general told me to file a complaint.

Being that I am insolvent financially, the generic term is Judgment Proof in tort law, they have nothing they can do other than to work with me. A judgment may be granted against me, I know that, and stay on my credit for 8 years if I recall correctly. But there is not much more they can do. As far as garnishing income and such, they have to be aware of SSA section 207
Social Security Act 207
This is the reason that both the banks and social security told me.


As far as getting any further on the case, my next step is to contact Kansas Legal Services for assistance as they are able to handle these issues for me or at least give advice.

As far as discussing my ignorance of the law, I admit I have a lack of understanding of certain issues. There are multiple areas of law I am familiar with as when I was majoring in college it was in both Accounting and Finance as a double major. However, even attorneys many times have to refer back to books or to prior cases to know how to handle certain things.

Tranquility, Being accused of the ADHD rubbish and thinking I am special due to health issues shows how ignorant you are of people that do have problems while you yourself think you are perfect. Put yourself in a perspective, imagine you are doing great just out of college, making good money, building a retirement account and a savings account, while also using credit cards as most americans do, but making regular payments. Now imagine getting into a major accident causing massive brain trauma that is permanent and you can no longer work due to problems of your body not functioning correctly plus memory troubles. What is your choice? Most would apply for disability, which is time consuming and normally takes a number of appeals, you end up with attorney fees, have to use all of your savings to pay for everything in the meantime and are now broke and in debt. If this occurred at a young age, you may make the same amount as the federal poverty level. Now you can't afford to file bankruptcy and for 2 years are not eligible for medicare so have to pay your own medical costs plus many medications are not even covered by them. This results in the previous debts going into collections and you don't have the money to pay them. How would you handle this situation? I am just curious as you seem to think you are perfect and never have any troubles.

Before making hateful statements such as that, do some valid research on the costs of these situations and dealing with them in general. It is not as easy as you may think.

 

[Proserpina]

You are Guilty,
I appreciate where you are coming from, and understand what you mean.
I know there will be a judgment against me, but as far as a major case, their only chance is to work with me in order to get paid. This is the reason I have decided to send the letter and info to them and send it certified requiring signature.

The reason for the issues that I am trying to situate is that I tried all I could do to work something out before court, as I could not make it to court due to brain surgery but this is the only time a law firm would not respond. They also stated they would accomodate according to ADA in the summons, which was also why I was calling, and since the court told me that was something to speak with the firm about I tried. In my previous situations of being summoned to court, the law firm answered and what they did for me was that we made payment agreements that as long as I made a monthly payment they pushed off the court date. This resulted in never having to go through court with them.

The issue with the ADA is also a reason that the Attorney general told me to file a complaint.

Being that I am insolvent financially, the generic term is Judgment Proof in tort law, they have nothing they can do other than to work with me. A judgment may be granted against me, I know that, and stay on my credit for 8 years if I recall correctly. But there is not much more they can do. As far as garnishing income and such, they have to be aware of SSA section 207
Social Security Act 207
This is the reason that both the banks and social security told me.


As far as getting any further on the case, my next step is to contact Kansas Legal Services for assistance as they are able to handle these issues for me or at least give advice.

As far as discussing my ignorance of the law, I admit I have a lack of understanding of certain issues. There are multiple areas of law I am familiar with as when I was majoring in college it was in both Accounting and Finance as a double major. However, even attorneys many times have to refer back to books or to prior cases to know how to handle certain things.

Tranquility, Being accused of the ADHD rubbish and thinking I am special due to health issues shows how ignorant you are of people that do have problems while you yourself think you are perfect. Put yourself in a perspective, imagine you are doing great just out of college, making good money, building a retirement account and a savings account, while also using credit cards as most americans do, but making regular payments. Now imagine getting into a major accident causing massive brain trauma that is permanent and you can no longer work due to problems of your body not functioning correctly plus memory troubles. What is your choice? Most would apply for disability, which is time consuming and normally takes a number of appeals, you end up with attorney fees, have to use all of your savings to pay for everything in the meantime and are now broke and in debt. If this occurred at a young age, you may make the same amount as the federal poverty level. Now you can't afford to file bankruptcy and for 2 years are not eligible for medicare so have to pay your own medical costs plus many medications are not even covered by them. This results in the previous debts going into collections and you don't have the money to pay them. How would you handle this situation? I am just curious as you seem to think you are perfect and never have any troubles.

Before making hateful statements such as that, do some valid research on the costs of these situations and dealing with them in general. It is not as easy as you may think.

How did you end up paying attorney fees for a disability claim? They take those on contingency....

Not that it's really important. It's all emotion and nothing relevant to the matter at hand - at all.

 

[s10sleeper]

Actually, due to the severity of my epilepsy, and having already been on disabilty years ago, I did not have to appeal more than once as I found my old doctors statements of my diagnosis. Plus, the money came out of my 401k and Kansas Legal Services helped at a lowered cost, but that lowered cost still had to be done up front. At that time, figuring out how to be able to survive was more important. If it weren't for the problems that arose, I would have continued paying everything and keeping all of my bills up.

You are right, alot is emotional, but that is because too many narrow minded people can't imagine what life is like for others, as they think they are too good for that. Besides that, there is such a stigma for people that are legitamately disable in fact up until recently more than 20 states banned epileptics from getting married at all and some even required spaying and neutering just like dogs. And another reason that I may get angered about it is the fact that compared to other medical conditions, research funding is lowest for epilepsy, the average amount given for research is about $35 per epileptic and it all comes from private individuals and corporations. Compare it with others, even cerebral palsy and MS, and especially cancer, which is averaging about 1000 times more per patient. Plus most medical insurance will not cover clinical trials for epilepsy, but they will for cancer.

This is the reason I got on them about the statements about my disability, it is already hard enough to try to come up with funding for these experimental procedures plus the medications. I wasn't trying to use it as an excuse, but explain that it was a major part of the reason for the bills piling up, and also the reason I lost my job as HR figured out a loophole. Any additional bills I incur willingly, I pay when they come due, or I do without.

Why this had to erupt into this, I don't know, as rather than willingly answering questions truthfully and unbiased they just started placing blame. I know that the debt is mine and never argued it, I was just asking what I could do within the law or what to expect to come from this given the circumstances of my income.

BTW, Swalsh, even if they tack on interest, which they are at 10% apr accrued monthly. As someone previously stated about me winning the lottery, the only other chance they would have is a miraculous cure of my disability so that I could work again, which if that happened, I would be more than happy to pay back the debt collectors. Last time I spoke with the an attorney about a situation about an attorney coming after me, even if they get judgement against me, they may have to pay their own fees. Along with that, the most recent attorney was only able to get 50 dollars in fees for a bill of 490 dollars.

It isn't real easy in Kansas to get alot from suing someone.

 

[Proserpina]

Besides that, there is such a stigma for people that are legitamately disable in fact up until recently more than 20 states banned epileptics from getting married at all and some even required spaying and neutering just like dogs.

I would love to see the legal citations for this. Really.

I mean recent citations.

And another reason that I may get angered about it is the fact that compared to other medical conditions, research funding is lowest for epilepsy, the average amount given for research is about $35 per epileptic and it all comes from private individuals and corporations. Compare it with others, even cerebral palsy and MS, and especially cancer, which is averaging about 1000 times more per patient.

And this, too.

Plus most medical insurance will not cover clinical trials for epilepsy, but they will for cancer.

Do you know how clinical trials work?

 

[Proserpina]

My apologies. It doesn't matter anyway.