Debt Collector filing lawsuit against me; I am in need of help!!!

[kelabug]

State: Kansas

I make too much for free legal aid but there are too many bills that I can't afford an attorney for help with this.


To start from the beginning of this mess we were struggling to pay all bills September 2007 so we looked into getting help. We found a company that seemed reliable enough so we signed up for their Debt Settlement plan; what we weren’t informed of is how the program really worked. December 2007 we ended that program and tried to get back on track with our creditors. Most of them were willing to work with us on payments but 3 were not; they wanted full payment of what was past due.

February 2008 I found a site that explained a bit of information to help with creditors; I drew up my own settlement plans for the 3 creditors that did not want to “play nice”. I included the letter with the current billing statement stub and a check; in the letter and also on the check I wrote “by cashing this check, you are agreeing to the new terms in the letter”. I also included in the letter that if they did not agree to the new terms to send back the billing statement stub, my letter, and my check in the self-addressed envelope that I included as well.

The check was cash and cleared the bank. I received March 2008 billing statement and paid the set amount agreed upon in the letter. I then received 3 letters from Bank of America in March 2008; 3/3, 3/5, and 3/13 all stating that they are needing complete payment ASAP. I replied with a letter on 3/17/08 stating that my letter from February 2008 was confirmed as agreed to by them cashing the check included with my letter.

On April 3, 2008 I received a letter from a company called Creditors Interchange from Buffalo, NY stating that they were in attempt to collect on the debt. I replied to their letter on April 18, 2008 with a Debt Validation letter. I never received any additional information from this company.

On July 7, 2008 I received a letter from a company called Frederick J. Hanna & Associates P.C. from Marietta, GA stating that they were in attempt to collect on the debt. I replied to their letter on July 11, 2008 with a Debt Validation letter. I never received any additional information from this company.

On August 7, 2008 I received a letter from a company called Cohen McNeile & Pappas P.C. from Leawood, KS stating that they were in attempt to collect on the debt. I replied to their letter on August 10, 2008. I never received any additional information from this company until…

On September 3, 2009 I received an envelope from them which included copies of the original billing statements from Bank of America, May 2007 to May 2008. Now April and May 2008 billing statements are one I never received. May 2008 shows a Charge-Off Adjustment of the full amount leaving the account with a New Balance of $0.00 and Total Minimum Payment Due of $0.00.


Then on September 9, 2009 we receive a Court Summons delivered by the Sherriff. The summons shows FIA CARD SERVICES, N.A. as the Plaintiff and signed by Cohen McNeile & Pappas P.C. It also has a Notice at the bottom reading:

This communication is from a debt collector and is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.
You are encouraged to contact our office at (877) 811-2677 (toll free) or at (913) 491-4050 in advance of the court date if you want to settle this matter.

In the Summons it shows they filed the petition on September 8, 2009. The next page after the petition is an Affidavit of Account dated August 11, 2008 and this has the wrong account number on it. Then next are the same copies of the original billing statements from May 2007 to May 2008. Then there is a page after those dated August 5, 2008 that would have been a reminder of the past due amount; this was never sent to me and it has the wrong account number on it. The last 2 pages are photo copies of the fine print terms that you can’t even read.


I replied to the Court Summons with our Answer to Summons. I mailed a copy Certified Mail Return Receipt to Cohen McNeile & Pappas P.C. on September 25, 2009. I faxed in a copy to the court house on September 28, 2009 and receive an email confirmation that the paperwork was received.

I just received in the mail on September 30, 2009 a Notice of Hearing. It states there is a Case Management Conference scheduled for October 23, 2009.


I feel that this has been done under-handedly and I should not have to go through this.

Any help would be much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Contact a Consumer Protection attorney asap. You need to know what steps to take next.

You might also contact world law direct on their home page and ask if they can help assign you a lawyer to assist on a pro bono or greatly-reduced cost basis. They might help draft the court papers and advise you so that you will be able to better handle the court process. They did so with my auntie when Chase Bank tried to sue her.

Your first mistake was sending them money under the conditions you sent them. As the obligator on a debt, you cannot change the terms. On the creditor can do that.

They cashed the check because they were under no obligation to agree to your terms, as noted above.

It is very, very unusual that so many collection agencies would have been involved in such an extremely short amount of time. It's even more unusual that the first collection agency didn't validate your dispute.

The collection agency who receive a debt validation letter has 30 days to respond. In your post, this 30 day period hasn't even elapsed before you claim yet another agency becomes involved. For instance, you claim you sent a debt validation letter to one agency on July 11, and did not receive a reply, yet, in less than the 30 day allotted time period, you received a letter from a new company in regard to the same matter. It's rather convoluted.

It would be very wise for you to consult with a Consumer Protection attorney, make an appointment to sit down and go over all the hard copy documents you have.

[kelabug]

Also to add,

I received a letter on October 17, 2009 from Cohen McNeile & Pappas PC stating they are requesting Motion Default Judgment; they state they did not receive my answer to the summons but I have proof the answer was received.

I have tried to get a lawyer to assist with this matter and the responses I have received is either they are not licensed in Kansas or they do not practice in this area of law.


Thank you for any help offered!!!

Too bad you're not in Florida. I suggest that you contact the law firm that handled a nasty situation that I had with Amex a while back. Long story short, my credit was screwed up because of a high profile credit card that I thought would be a good thing. The attorneys at this firm all specialized in litigation by and against debt collectors and the credit reporting agencies. The firm is called the Fair Credit Law Group and they are in Ft. Lauderdale. Again, I don't think they can help you because I specifically remember them tellling me they can't handle outside Florida, but I'm guessing they'll know the best person to refer you to in your state. Also, there's an article discussing your situation on the page they have with links to articles.