How to avoid court and pay debt to Credit Card Co.

[debtfreeplease]

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Ohio

I am being sued by First Rsolution Corp due to a Chase credit card bill. Account was charged off in 2001. Amount due is $9100 at 24% interest. My ? is, I would like to pay this debt, and I DO NOT want to go to court. I am self employed so at this time I can only pay about $75-$100 per month. I would like to write a letter to First RC and state that I will pay. I understand that I have to send a copy to the court as well. Is what I want to do advised? Does the court then drop the civil action if First RC agrees to an arrangement of payment. How do I handle this debt without going to court? Also, I do not want to pay the 24% interest that is listed. Can I offer First RC a settlement with a monthly payment or no interest? Please advise and Thank you for your time!

 

[willingtocope]

Be careful...

First, you need to be absolutely sure you are being sued. Did you just receive a letter from FRC saying "suit" or did you actually receive a notice from your local court. In either case, check with your local court to make sure a suit has been filed. If no suit has been filed, you rights under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act have been violated...Note that the FDCPA has nothing to do with whether you owe the debt or not...its only intended to make the debt collectors play fair.

Second, if you haven't already, send them a letter, certified, return receipt requested, asking for full validation of this debt and their right to collect it. Just because they say they can, doesn't mean they have the legal right to take your money.

Third, remember that "settling" with a debt collector is not the same as settling with the original creditor. They seldom take payments, and they'll give you a very hard time about such things. You have to be very careful to make sure that if you pay them something, it actually gets credited to the account. And, settling a debt with a debt collector will not improve your credit rating unless you specifically get something in writing that says it will.

 

[debtfreeplease]

I hope I'm doing this right (the way I'm responding to your post). Thanks for responding willingtocope. Yes, I do have a civil action suit from our court. I will do as you suggest and send a cert letter to collector requesting their right to collect debt. Do I also send a copy to the court? (as I have to "answer" this complaint within another 15 days...would that letter act as an "answer"?)
One more ?. If it may not be safe to pay collector and have account cleared, how do I settle this with Chase and have the court know it is settled? Thanks again. Sorry if this is not the place to address this, but since you are being so helpful, I'm hoping you can answer my other ?'s above.

 

[JETX]

I have the answers, but will wait for 'willingtocope' to respond...... hopefully, with some legally ACCURATE answers this time.

 

[debtfreeplease]

Jetx - Any info you can give me will be greatly appreciated. I want to settle this if possible, but also want to know the normal process if this ends up as a judgment against me.

 

[willingtocope]

Respond to suit..

Okay, if you are 100% sure court papers have been filed (you should still check with the court, if you haven't already) you must respond to the suit. You might want to try to find a consumer attorney in your area to help. If the suit has been filed, its too late for a DV letter to the lawyer. Answer the questions and send the papers to the addresses indicated on the suit. Do not include an offer to settle. Note that it is legitimate to answer some of the questions "I lack sufficient knowledge to admit or deny these allegations." In other words, don't admit anything you aren't 100% sure of...like for example the amount owed, the attorney's right to collect, etc.

Then, be sure and show up in court on the date specified. A lot of CA lawyers expect people to just roll over and pay the money...its possible he won't even show, in which case the judge might dismiss. If he does show, you may have an opportunity to discuss the case before court, in which case you may reach a settlement. If you do...get it in writing and make sure it includes agreement to have the item deleted from your credit reports.

Again, there are a lot more learned people than I on the other web site I mentioned, and you'll get accurate answers without being belittled.