Served a summons by credit card company

[semerick]

So far we really have nothing to complain about. After we got the summons, we were very nervous, just like you. But we talked to someone from CSA's litigation dept. who answered all of our questions. She said there's always the chance of a judgement, but more than likely we'll settle this account before it gets to court. By suing, they've just moved themselves to the top of our list and will probably get more money in the end. The CSA litigation dept. rep. said they will be contacting us again about a week before the court date to provide us with an answer to present, but she's hoping it won't get that far.

However, I am nervous about our credit report and what's going to show up from collection agencies. I was told that collection agencies don't normally report, but I'm not sure of that. The good news is I was told by American Express who we settled with earlier this year that our account will be reported as a zero balance, paid satisfactorily and they assured us they would never pursue us for the remaining balance. We will get a 1099, but we were told by CSA we can file for insolvency so we will not be taxed. Our CSA Rep. said she will get us all the information and forms we need to do this.

So far CSA has come through by responding to every concern we've had. I correspond with them by either phone or by email almost every week and I've always gotten a quick response. Last week when we go the summons, our counselor was out on vaction (of course) which is why we were so nervous...especially after hearing some of the comments from others on this site. But, once our counselor returned and we heard from the Ligitigation Dept. Rep., and got our questions answered, we're feeling much more confident. Our counselor also assured us this CSA is not the same company listed on the "do not use" list of a website mentioned in an earlier message. They said that company is no longer in business.


So, for the moment, I'm fairly comfortable with how things are going. Hopefully it will stay that way. Good luck with your court case. Let us know if you have a negative experience. We'll do the same.

 

[Ladynred]

She said they can then only make you pay the award if you get a judgment against you, which they aren't likely to do.

Not likely to do ?? Not true, if you owe them enough, its VERY likely they will have the award confirmed and turned into a judgment against you.

She said if I get a judgment on me it would stay on my record for 7 years.

Not entirely accurate ! An unpaid judgment can stay on your credit report for the entire term of the judgment -which could be up to 20 years in some states - or the 7 years, whichever is longer !

 

[jdul]

Our counselor also assured us this CSA is not the same company listed on the "do not use" list of a website mentioned in an earlier message. They said that company is no longer in business.


So, for the moment, I'm fairly comfortable with how things are going. Hopefully it will stay that way.

Are you still happy with things? We are either going to sign up with CSA or Debt XS and can't decide. I hate to go this route and know that all the books say don't hire these agencies and pay the fees - do it yourself - but even with the fees we may be looking at 50 some cents on the dollar - could I do that well myself??

Anyway, I too am upset and anxious about the fact that CSA is listed on the "do not use" list of that website. Your counselor said that that doesn't really refer to them but to some other company - but that website actually has a link that directs you right to them - CSA in TEXAS! This is the only thing that is keeping me from signing with them. Any thoughts? Does anyone know if there is any way to find out from that website why they have CSA there? CSA does have a pretty good BBB report.

Debt XS is not on the do not use list - but has more complaints on the BBB report - 36 in 3 years. I contacted them and they say that isn't much considering they have over 8,000 clients. Does anyone have any strong feelilngs about these companies? I really need some help.
Thanks.

 

[semerick]

Overall, we've been happy. But, I am still a bit "miffed" at their marketing material which leads you to believe you won't be sued. We've been sued by Citibank who, we found out later, sues just about everyone. And I wasn't too happy that no one at CSA mentioned you can receive a 1099 from the credit card company for the the amount they write off (which includes all the late fees and interest since your last payment.)

However, we've always had quick and good responses to our questions and concerns. We've already spoken to someone at the CSA litigation Dept. concerning Citibank who said it's unlikely will get as far as going to court. Hopefully we'll be able to settle before then (as soon as we save the extra money, that is.) I've already spoken to the attorney hired by Citibank and they are anxious to settle, but by letting CSA handle it, we'll hopefully get a better percentage. If it does get as far as court, the CSA litigation dept. prepares our response for the hearing. In addition, one of the CSA settlement coordinators came through with information on filing for insolvency with the IRS and what form to use to offset the 1099's we'll be receiving.

We have always had a CSA Client Rep. who I correspond with on a regular basis either through email or by calling to either ask a question or get a quick status of where our accounts stand. I recommend you ask for their email id's. It makes life much easier.

CSA has settled two of our accounts, American Express and Chase, both at about 40 percent of our original debt owed. I can't imagine trying to do that myself. CSA may charge a hefty fee, but for us, they've already paid for themselves with just those two settled accounts. And we still have several more to go so by the time we're done, I believe it will have been worth it.

Hope this helps!

 

[jdul]

People at CSA and Debt XS have been pretty open with me about the 1099 issue - they just say that the form 982 will get us out of having to pay the taxes on the debt forgiveness so we're hoping that is the case since we are definitely insolvent as in negative net worth.

As for the lawsuits, you are correct that everyone is downplaying them and basically telling me that "less than 1% of their clients get sued" and if they do, their litigation dept. will help you and it will be no big deal. What do you think? No big deal? I have Citibank too and hear that they are hardnoses about the whole thing and don't go for the "typical" 40% - do you have any fell for this yet?

Is the only reason that CSA has only settled 2 accounts for you so far is because that is all that you have been ready for so far (per your savings plan) or is it because they have been unable to work out anymore deals with anyone?

Did you ever find out why the one website lists them as "do not do business" with? Or did you just not pursue it since you had already signed up with them anyway? If you don't mind my asking, did you seriously consider any other companies and if you did, why did you pick them? One of the reasons that they have made it to our final list is because they will at least spread their fee out over a longer time unlike some of the companies who wanted all their fee so quickly. We were worried if they had their fee THAT fast - what was their incentive to keep on top of our case??

Lastly, I would LOVE to do this myself and everyone says that I should - but how do I even go about it?? Who do I contact at the companies and if I do it on my own - maybe I can save the fees but how am I going to negotiate a 60% savings??? I don't have that kind of experience?

Anything else you can tell me would be a huge help since I'm looking at possibley paying this company $25,000!
Thanks.
A person whose life has spun horribly out of control.....:-(

 

[hlam]

California

I am curious too as I recently signed up with CSA. I know that I can do it myself, but I am totally lost and would not even know where to start. I want to pay what I owe, but with the interest rates on my CC's I would be paying for 20 years. I don't want to file bankrupcy either. CSA stated they will try to negotiate my accounts to 40% of the value owed, but like previous posts did not mention the 1099. My total debt comes out to approximately $30,000. I know that my credit will be trashed years to come, but I am sure I can rebuild my credit slowly after I settle all my debts.

CSA has been quite good to me since I signed up with them. They've managed to answer all my questions and helped me with a NAF request from MBNA. I posted another thread regarding this as well.

What concerned me was the "do not use" list. I hope what was posted earlier about it being anothe company is true. I am also nervous now since CitiBank is amongst one of my creditors.

Anyhow, I am glad someone had good results with CSA. I received a summons from Eskano's for Household just 2 days ago. Strange considering this is the first notice I received from them.

 

[Ladynred]

Did the lawsuit or the summons contain the '30 days to dispute' verbage ??

Once again, 1099's don't necessarily mean a tax hit. If you can show you were insolvent when the settlement occurred - and clearly you are - then you do not have to claim that 1099 as income.

 

[semerick]

First of all, I'm sorry for not replying sooner. I've been sick (I'm on disability) and really not able to sit long enough to type out a message. I'm getting better now and just able to sit down and review my email, etc so I wanted to be sure and send you an answer. You're right about the 1099 issue and CSA explained it to us too. If you do a search on the IRS website, you'll find the Insolvency form.

You're also right about Citibank, we're still being sued, and from the few conversations I've had with their attorney, they're not likely to settle for 40 percent. We haven't had the funds to settle the rest of our accounts, which is why we haven't settled Citibank or any of the others. We're still trying to save enough funds to continue.

Other than not being told about being sued, I'm fairly happy with CSA, especially since they changed their customer service department. They now have one customer service phone number to call which is picked up by the next person available. Prior to this, you had a customer service rep. assigned to you. We started out with a great customer service rep. who always answered the phone and responded quickly, but were later were switched to a really bad one. That can make or break your whole experience. I was calling, leaving messages (because she never picked up the phone) and not getting a response unless I called someone else and had her tracked down. I sent her email that I never got an answer to for weeks. I have a feeling she's not there anymore, but not a problem. Their new method of customer service is much better. The last person I talked to at CSA customer service was great.

Another aspect of CSA I like is that they have several times either skipped or reduced our monthly payment to them due to us being on a fixed income and having unexpected expenses. If you run into trouble paying them, you can either request to pay only 10% of your fee for up to three months, or ask for an addendum to be added to your agreement reducing your payment for the remainder of your contract. I've heard repeatedly from their customer service people that they want to work with us and not add to our stress.

I've never heard any more about the "do not use" list. I've decided not to worry about it. My experience (other than the problems I mentioned above) has been good and everything seems to be getting done as it should. I can't even imagine trying to do this on my own. I do think having a company represent you gives you an advantage and make it seem more legitimate. And just with the two accounts they've settled for us so far, they've already paid for themselves. We didn't look at any other companies before signing with CSA. The first time we talked to them, we liked what we heard, and I did some searches on Internet and found nothing I thought was bad, so we didn't look any further.

I hope this helps. I hope your experience has been good so far too. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[olgethorpe]

Hmmm....

Okay, there's another thread going at https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=201375
where the person seems to be having troubles with CSA. I'm really curious as to what is different about your situations. I would guess that there is some criteria that determines whether CSA can actually help people, or if they just take their money. It would be interesting if you two could compare notes.

And...the fact that CSA is now using the "next available rep" approach to helping people also tickles my paranoid bone. By chance do the people that answer the phone have an accent, or even an unusual way of phrasing things? I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they're in India now...

 

[semerick]

One other comment I forgot.

We have checked our credit report since settling two of our accounts. They are listed as "settled" on our report. The other accounts are listed as "discharged." We've already been told by a creditor that "settled" is good and "discharged" is bad. Discharged means that your debt has been sold or turned over by your creditor to someone else, i.e., debt collector, etc. What CSA advertises is true. Once your accounts are listed as settled on your credit report, they can be removed and your credit score will start to go up.

 

[semerick]

I haven't spoken to anyone with an accent yet. CSA is located in Dallas and I haven't even heard a Texan twang. But, they're definitely in Texas since I've called the main number and they answer the phone.

However, I know what you mean about Indian accents. Most of the credit collection calls I've gotten have Indians working for them. American Express uses a company called Global Vantedge located in India. One bonus to dealing with Indians...they're much more polite than your average debt collector.

I'd be very interested in comparing notes with the other CSA client. I'll check the other thread and let you know what I think.

 

[semerick]

I checked the other post and it sounds like the trouble is with the creditors and collection agencies, not CSA. We had a lot of trouble too. Even though CSA repeatedly sent the Cease and Desist and Power of Attorney, some creditors/collection agencies still called and sent notices. We haven't had any issues with different addresses, but we had plenty with phone calls. I more than once posted a complaint on the FTC website (which, by the way, is a waste of time.)

All you can do is keep referring them to CSA by either giving them the CSA hotline number or faxing any letters/summons. I've had CSA reps. tell me, that's what we're getting paid for. We signed up in January, and even though it's taken almost a year, the calls have finally stopped. We still get letters, but I just keep faxing them.

 

[olgethorpe]

Okay...

I'm really not trying to be negative here, and I'm really hoping that your adventures with CSA do turn out to be entirely to your benefit...but I need to point out a couple things.

"Settled"...particularly if it says "settled for less than full amount" is a NEGATIVE on your credit report, and the only way it disappears is after 7 years when it falls off.

"Discharged" does mean its been passed on to another CA, and its only a matter of time before they'll start hassling you all over again. In fact, having some accounts settled alerts the other CAs that there's money in the water and just makes them that much more agressive. And, having new CAs to deal with means CSA has a whole new set of things to charge you for.

And, the fact that they've got a local / Texas phone number doesn't mean anything. With today's telephone technology, a 714 area code number can be transferred instantly to anywhere in the world. Lack of a texas twang should be a dead giveaway that it ain't texas...

I guess I still advise being very much concerned about whether CSA is doing you more harm than good. I see posts on the discussion forums at www.creditinfocenter.com all the time about people winding up in deeper after credit counselors have taken their money...

 

[semerick]

I have a question for LadynRed:

We're still being sued by Citicorp. That account is in my mother's name with me (her daughter) as a cardholder. We're both on Social Security. All we have, besides the house, is our cars and household possessions. I understand in Tennessee, we have a $4000 exemption for personal items. They also can't take away a person's mode of transportation. That leaves the house which is in my mother's name and the name of a friend of mine. My mother is moving on November 15th to an apartment. If she does a quit claim to remove her name from the house, is there anything Citibank can do to impose a judgement? Is there anything else they can do?

Thanks for your help!