Massachusetts.
Okay, so here is my long story. I had a Visa card with Providian back in 1998. In 2001 I had to leave my job due to a severe nervous breakdown. I had to fight back and forth with Providian because I had the debt cancellation on my card should I become unable to work. Because I did not have a physical issue they argued that I could not use it. After months and months of letters sent to them and on the phone with them several times a week they FINALLY agreed to allow me to use it. I got a few more crazy statements from them (I would get one with a 0 balance one month and one for the full amount due the next) Finally, I got everything with them cleared up. At eight months pregnant my husband and I moved back to MA from RI. When we moved I threw away all old documents we had, thinking I would not need them again. I heard nothing more from them, I didn't receive statements or anything until I moved back to Attleboro in January of 2002. I received a letter from a debt collector for the full amount I had owed PLUS tons of interest. I immediatly sent a letter to both Providian and the debt collector letting them know the entire situation. I heard nothing back from anyone on this subject until June of 2006. I got a disturbing phone call from a debt collector who threatened to garnish my husband's wages (can they even do that, we weren't married when I applied for the card), he told me to sell one of my cars to pay the debt (we owe more on our cars than I could sell them for, in fact I'd just had to refinance one so we could pay our rent that month). He told me I was lying and he knew for a FACT that I had assests. I have NOTHING. I tried reasoning with them and he kept threatening me. I sent them a letter telling them I wanted them to stop contacting me and I would deal with Providian myself.
I immediatly called Providian, they have NO RECORD of my account BUT when I gave them my SS# they said my account had been turned over to Arrow Financial. I called Arrow and tried to deal with them. I told them if this is my debt I'm happy to pay it but I need something in writing. Next thing I know I was served a summons! I've had two pretrial conferences and a third is scheduled. I had before we went to court written to the lawyers office and spoken with them on the phone offering to pay them $50 a month because that's all I can afford BUT I refuse to pay the crazy amount of interest they are asking for. I have a lot of issues with this case, first is that Providian shows up on my credit report as an account in good standing, there is nothing on my credit report showing that Arrow Financial is after me, the lawsuit states they are suing me for a Providian Mastercard when I had a Providian Visa AND the account number on my credit report is NOT the same number they are trying to sue me for (the lawyers office told me sometimes they change to account numbers once they go into collections???).
I asked at the pretrial conferences for proof of this debt. They told me they would have something to me by the 5th of November. Sure enough in yesterdays mail I received a packet to photocopied statements from Providian from June 2001-October 2002. I swear on my life I have never laid eyes on these statements before. All of the address info is correct BUT they claimed in an earlier conversation with me that I had not received anything from Arrow because they didn't have my address. I am just so utterly confused by all of this. I cannot afford a lawyer, they keep telling me to just "borrow" the money to pay it off, I cannot get a loan and I have NO ONE to borrow the money from, if I did believe me after over a year of this I would have paid them just to get this stress out of my life. I just don't know if I have a leg to stand on here because my next pretrial conference is on the 14th of this month and that's when we have to decide whether to push for trial or not. I have to be completely honest, I have anxiety disorder and I am a stay at home mom. Between my husband having to miss work for these court dates and the stress of them I feel like I'm going to lose my mind. I dont' know if there is anything I can do at this point but I would sure like to try. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.What is the name of your state?
Okay, so here is my long story. I had a Visa card with Providian back in 1998. In 2001 I had to leave my job due to a severe nervous breakdown. I had to fight back and forth with Providian because I had the debt cancellation on my card should I become unable to work. Because I did not have a physical issue they argued that I could not use it. After months and months of letters sent to them and on the phone with them several times a week they FINALLY agreed to allow me to use it. I got a few more crazy statements from them (I would get one with a 0 balance one month and one for the full amount due the next) Finally, I got everything with them cleared up. At eight months pregnant my husband and I moved back to MA from RI. When we moved I threw away all old documents we had, thinking I would not need them again. I heard nothing more from them, I didn't receive statements or anything until I moved back to Attleboro in January of 2002. I received a letter from a debt collector for the full amount I had owed PLUS tons of interest. I immediatly sent a letter to both Providian and the debt collector letting them know the entire situation. I heard nothing back from anyone on this subject until June of 2006. I got a disturbing phone call from a debt collector who threatened to garnish my husband's wages (can they even do that, we weren't married when I applied for the card), he told me to sell one of my cars to pay the debt (we owe more on our cars than I could sell them for, in fact I'd just had to refinance one so we could pay our rent that month). He told me I was lying and he knew for a FACT that I had assests. I have NOTHING. I tried reasoning with them and he kept threatening me. I sent them a letter telling them I wanted them to stop contacting me and I would deal with Providian myself.
I immediatly called Providian, they have NO RECORD of my account BUT when I gave them my SS# they said my account had been turned over to Arrow Financial. I called Arrow and tried to deal with them. I told them if this is my debt I'm happy to pay it but I need something in writing. Next thing I know I was served a summons! I've had two pretrial conferences and a third is scheduled. I had before we went to court written to the lawyers office and spoken with them on the phone offering to pay them $50 a month because that's all I can afford BUT I refuse to pay the crazy amount of interest they are asking for. I have a lot of issues with this case, first is that Providian shows up on my credit report as an account in good standing, there is nothing on my credit report showing that Arrow Financial is after me, the lawsuit states they are suing me for a Providian Mastercard when I had a Providian Visa AND the account number on my credit report is NOT the same number they are trying to sue me for (the lawyers office told me sometimes they change to account numbers once they go into collections???).
I asked at the pretrial conferences for proof of this debt. They told me they would have something to me by the 5th of November. Sure enough in yesterdays mail I received a packet to photocopied statements from Providian from June 2001-October 2002. I swear on my life I have never laid eyes on these statements before. All of the address info is correct BUT they claimed in an earlier conversation with me that I had not received anything from Arrow because they didn't have my address. I am just so utterly confused by all of this. I cannot afford a lawyer, they keep telling me to just "borrow" the money to pay it off, I cannot get a loan and I have NO ONE to borrow the money from, if I did believe me after over a year of this I would have paid them just to get this stress out of my life. I just don't know if I have a leg to stand on here because my next pretrial conference is on the 14th of this month and that's when we have to decide whether to push for trial or not. I have to be completely honest, I have anxiety disorder and I am a stay at home mom. Between my husband having to miss work for these court dates and the stress of them I feel like I'm going to lose my mind. I dont' know if there is anything I can do at this point but I would sure like to try. Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.What is the name of your state?
