Civil Complaint Filed

I had a credit card debt charged off as "bad debt" and it was "sold" to a collection agency. This agency hounded me at work until I sent them a "cease communication letter" because my understanding of the law was that I did not owe them. I tried contacting the original credit card company to resolve the matter was told that they had no record of the debt in their system. More than a year went by and I received a letter from an atty stating I had 20 days to dispute the debt (which I did). I also believed I had 30 days to dispute a debt. Well on the 20th day I responded in writing to the atty. On that same date, the atty filed a civil action against me. My first question is do I not have 30 days to respond and secondly, do I owe the collection agency? I have to respond to the civil complaint within the week. I have not had a response from my atty and am going to try and defend on my own. I was also wondering if the statute of limitations would apply. It had been years since any payment was made on the debt because of financial hardships and most of the ($4,600) is late charges and overdrafts that the original creditor put on the account once I could no longer pay.

How old is the debt and what state are you in? It may be too old to enforce. You may be able to assert that the statute of limitations is a defense--ie that it is too late to sue now.

State of Pennsylvania. The credit card company charged it off in 2003 and I'm sure I hadn't made a payment way before then. I'm bothered more by the fact that I thought I had 30 days to dispute a debt and the atty who sent me the letter filed the suit after only 20 days ???

See debts and judgments: http://www.worldlawdirect.com/article.php?id=1758

How does an Arbitration matter defer from a Jury trial?

It is not a court proceeding; the arbitrator talks to both sides and makes a decision.

If you would like you may fax those two documents to 1 209 436 2281 and WLD lawyers will review the communication; you may be entitled to various damages. etc. (Put your email address on the fax.)

Regards.

Is my understanding of the law correct that if after 4 years (from what I have seen on the PA Judiciary filing website) has gone by since the last payment, the Statute of Limitations applies?

I filed a response to the civil complaint in question. Today I received from the attorney who filed the complaint a "Notice Of Intention To Take Default". How could they send this after I sent them a copy of the Date/Time Stamped response? I'm miffed by this whole situation. Do I need to respond to this since I filed my response within the 20 day time statute?

You need to send them a copy of the response and file with the court. Call the clerk of the court and arrange that if you have not done so already.

See also http://www.worldlawdirect.com/articl...complaint.html