GypsyButterfly
Member
What is the name of your state? CA
This will be a lengthy post, but, I wanted to give as much information as possible. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. Thank you, especially, for any advice you're able to give. The plaintiff's collecter & attorney are one in the same. How convenient for them. Does it usually work that way?
On Sat, the 18th of this month, my husband received a summons. It was in regards to an outstanding credit card debt we incurred while I was going through cancer and other health issues. I wasn't able to work for a long time and he took temp jobs, because, he was my caretaker.
One of the things, which is stated in the summons, is a notice had been sent that this action would be taken, if, we didn't handle it. If something was indeed mailed, we never received it. If we had, we definitely would have dealt with it before it had gotten to this point. We would have appreciated it being something we would have needed to sign for. The last letter we have from them is almost four years old. Shortly after that, his credit report reflected a chargeoff. Imagine our surprise & dismay to receive this summons.
We've always intended to take care of this, but, have never been in a position to do so. We're still not. I recently had two crowns put on & a root canal done. I need more dental work, but, have to wait until we can get the other paid off or at least down. The only reason we were able to get that done is, because, the dental office I went to contracts with a program called, CareCredit. The dentist submits how much the work is to cost and CC approves all or part of it. Then, the customer, for example, us, pays CC back in monthly installments.
We want to be able to make an arrangement with them to pay in monthly installments. Unfortunately, handling this, when we're in a better position, doesn't seem to be an option. We will pay what we can each month until the debt is gone. They'd probably like the whole amount, but, we're praying they'll be willing to work with us on this reasonably & amicably.
I went to the self-help section of the court info site for CA. The first thing it recommended was contacting the plaintiff to try to resolve the matter between us. I emailed the attorney(was that wrong?), because, they'd be involved in the decision anyway. I sent a message last Fri, the 24th & again this past Wed, the 29th. We haven't received a response yet. Today, we sent a certified letter. If they sign for it, we know they got it at least, even if, we don't hear back from them. I guess that's their right to ignore us, but, besides being rude, it seems unprofessional. They might be able to afford all these costs. Still, why go through it if we're not trying to fight them?
I also checked my husband's credit. The credit card company is no longer listed there. I also saw they(the collector/attorney)looked at his report twice last year. It was with Transunion which has the least accurate information(we'll need to correct that). Is it possible they removed it so they could take this action against us? Or, it reached the time limit it was supposed to be on there & it dropped off & they were just waiting for that to be able to take this action?
Though, we don't want to involve the court any further, we do want to have something on record from us. We couldn't find a simple form which stated, in effect, that we received the summons & are trying to work it out with the plaintiff. Is there such a thing? If not, it would be useful. What kind of form should we use? We can't afford the fee, so, we'll ask to have that waived. We just want them to know we're trying to be responsible about this. Speaking of the court, the meeting we're to have with the judge is for six months out. I think that's partly due to him wanting this to go away. I'm sure he'd prefer we get this settled before that time.What is the name of your state?
This will be a lengthy post, but, I wanted to give as much information as possible. Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this. Thank you, especially, for any advice you're able to give. The plaintiff's collecter & attorney are one in the same. How convenient for them. Does it usually work that way?
On Sat, the 18th of this month, my husband received a summons. It was in regards to an outstanding credit card debt we incurred while I was going through cancer and other health issues. I wasn't able to work for a long time and he took temp jobs, because, he was my caretaker.
One of the things, which is stated in the summons, is a notice had been sent that this action would be taken, if, we didn't handle it. If something was indeed mailed, we never received it. If we had, we definitely would have dealt with it before it had gotten to this point. We would have appreciated it being something we would have needed to sign for. The last letter we have from them is almost four years old. Shortly after that, his credit report reflected a chargeoff. Imagine our surprise & dismay to receive this summons.
We've always intended to take care of this, but, have never been in a position to do so. We're still not. I recently had two crowns put on & a root canal done. I need more dental work, but, have to wait until we can get the other paid off or at least down. The only reason we were able to get that done is, because, the dental office I went to contracts with a program called, CareCredit. The dentist submits how much the work is to cost and CC approves all or part of it. Then, the customer, for example, us, pays CC back in monthly installments.
We want to be able to make an arrangement with them to pay in monthly installments. Unfortunately, handling this, when we're in a better position, doesn't seem to be an option. We will pay what we can each month until the debt is gone. They'd probably like the whole amount, but, we're praying they'll be willing to work with us on this reasonably & amicably.
I went to the self-help section of the court info site for CA. The first thing it recommended was contacting the plaintiff to try to resolve the matter between us. I emailed the attorney(was that wrong?), because, they'd be involved in the decision anyway. I sent a message last Fri, the 24th & again this past Wed, the 29th. We haven't received a response yet. Today, we sent a certified letter. If they sign for it, we know they got it at least, even if, we don't hear back from them. I guess that's their right to ignore us, but, besides being rude, it seems unprofessional. They might be able to afford all these costs. Still, why go through it if we're not trying to fight them?
I also checked my husband's credit. The credit card company is no longer listed there. I also saw they(the collector/attorney)looked at his report twice last year. It was with Transunion which has the least accurate information(we'll need to correct that). Is it possible they removed it so they could take this action against us? Or, it reached the time limit it was supposed to be on there & it dropped off & they were just waiting for that to be able to take this action?
Though, we don't want to involve the court any further, we do want to have something on record from us. We couldn't find a simple form which stated, in effect, that we received the summons & are trying to work it out with the plaintiff. Is there such a thing? If not, it would be useful. What kind of form should we use? We can't afford the fee, so, we'll ask to have that waived. We just want them to know we're trying to be responsible about this. Speaking of the court, the meeting we're to have with the judge is for six months out. I think that's partly due to him wanting this to go away. I'm sure he'd prefer we get this settled before that time.What is the name of your state?