Garnished wages for a unpaid cc?

You can go through this thread

http://www.creditmagic.org/fiacsna/fiacsna-services-2.html

MBNA was bought by Bank of America in 2006. In the same year it changed the name to FIA Card services , National Association.

Which company is calling you now? FIA or some other collection agency? You need to talk it out with them. Explain your situation I hope things will work out. Keep us posted.

Hi Williams

Do inform on as to what happens. What steps you took.

Demand validation from the collector.
When was your last payment--5 years ago, or 10?
I would also check with your courthouse to see if a case has been filed.

If someone has a debt, and it's AT LEAST 8-10 years ago, since it was 'not paid', and you NEVER heard anything about it ALL this time, can a CA come back NOW and demand a payment?? Just curious.

If someone has a debt, and it's AT LEAST 8-10 years ago, since it was 'not paid', and you NEVER heard anything about it ALL this time, can a CA come back NOW and demand a payment?? Just curious.

Absolutely. Time itself does not erase a debt. The SOL can run out, and you can send a cease and desist letter. If they sell it to another company who then contacts you, repeat the CND.

nmwilliams, what state are you in and what state were you in when you made the last payment? In five years, the SOL would have run in many states, but not ALL of them.

Ya mean......if it;s been THAT long, and the account was 'sold' to someone else, the SOL starts all over again??

No. SOL does not restart upon sale of a debt.

A debt is owed until it is repaid, forgiven, or discharged in bankruptcy...the SOL does not change that. If SOL expires, it is a defense you can raise if you are sued for repayment.

Today i moderately I got an idea about the SOL. Thanks a lot Morningstar. I was trying to get a grip on it but somehow there were confusions always. Thanks again.

STATE: ILLINOIS

Interest Rate

Legal: 5%
Judgment: 9%
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS (IN YEARS)

Open Account: 5
Written Contract: 10
Sales (UCC): 4
Domestic Judgment: 20
Foreign Judgment: Same as foregin jurisdiction
BAD CHECK LAWS (CIVIL PENALTY)
Triple check amount up to $500, attorney fees & court costs.

GENERAL GARNISHMENT EXEMPTIONS
15% of gross wages or disposable earings for workweek up to 45 x fed. min. hourly wage, whichever is greater.

Like I said in my first post, demand validation from the collector (but put it writing and mail it return receipt). Visit the debt forums at the top for more info...you'll find sample validation letters, and possibly mercantile's mailing addy. Good luck to you.

I think these are the numbers to Mercantile

Mercantile
Ph: (716) 929-8200
Toll Free: (800) 480-7094

These addresses might be of help

Mercantile Adjustment Bureau
Buffalo Office and Headquarters
6390 Main Street
Williamsville, NY 14221
Phone: 716-929-8200
Toll Free: 800-480-7094

Rochester Office
803 West Avenue, Suite 197
Rochester, NY 14611
Phone: 585-328-2200
Toll Free: 800-836-0592

Human Resources
Williamsville, NY 14221
Phone: 716-929-8352

Sales and Marketing
Williamsville, NY 14221
Phone: 716-929-8219

Am I to presume that you sent a DV letter, and now a new CA is collecting? If so, send a new DV letter to this CA. You may have to do this several times. It is a possibility that the CAs cannot validate, so they simply sell your debt to a new CA as soon as you demand proper validation from them.

Were you able to confirm your state's SOL? If the clock has run out, you could send a cease and desist letter (if sold, you'd need to repeat as often as needed).
You could try to file a complaint with your state's attorney general...if the SOL has expired, a call from the state might make them think twice about selling a bad debt to another collector. Hope this helps.

Please proceed as mrnstr mentioned. Demand a validation. There goes a sample of the validation letter
http://www.creditmagic.org/repair/sampleletter-debtvalidation.html

FIle a complaint with the AG's office. This helps a lot.

You are correct Dave. If SOL gets expired, the creditor cannot sue you to the court to collect the debt. But if you pay even a small amount after the expiry of SOL, your SOL rewinds and you become liable to pay back the entire debt amount. Moreover, these collection agencies buy these debts at a very low prices, sometimes even less than half the debt amount and on that puts high rates of interest pushing the debt amount to even double the outstanding debt. In this way they earn double and even triple the amount they purchased the debt. So if your SOL has not expired and you need to repay the debt, you should always try to settle between 60% to 80% of the amount they demand.

Can you be sued and a court date set with out your knowledge? Don't they actually have to serve you papers?

Yes, if the Statute of Limitation in your state has not expired, the creditor or the collection agency can sue you to the court and bring judgment against you. However, before they send you the summon from the court, it is not necessary that they should inform you. But if you receive the summon, you should always file a response to it and try to negotiate with the creditor for a repayment agreement. But if you do file a response to the summon, the judgment will go against your favor.

You can send a debt validation letter to the collection agency when you receive a summon, if you are not sure that you owe the debt. If they validate your debt before the court date, you should ask them for a repayment plan and try to pay off the debt. However, if they do not validate it before the court date, the judgment will not go against you, but for that you should send the debt validation letter by certified post as a proof that you have asked for validation. However, you should file a response to the summon first and then go for debt validation.

Carol has given you wonderful advice, please follow it and you will be okay.

So I am correct in thinking that if they wait until the actual court hearing to validate they can not collect on this debt? I would feel that would be fair because had they validated before hand the debtor could have set a repyment plan without the lost work, gotten a better deal, and avoided court costs.

if they did not validate by then they are not going too, if they don't prove they own it, even in court they have to validate or you will be found not liable to them for the money.

I agree, I am going through this now with a company, I have asked the for validation and they have not provided it, so I will ask them in front of the judge where they have to answer.

Okay now say you go to court and they do not have the proper validation with them. Can they later come up with the validation (if possible) and take you back to court or does this end it all?

Hi Fireyone
If you have asked for debt validation, much before the court date and 30 days have already passed from the date they have received your letter, then the judgment may go in your favor if they do not validate it. Now after this 30 days period, the creditors cannot come up with the validation and so most of the times, they sell off these debts to junk buyers. Due to this selling, after a few months, you may find the name of a new collection agency listed in your report from whom you may need to ask for debt validation again.

I see. I seen a couple posts where they asked for validation and didn;'t get it only to get a summons in the mail months later. Just didn't seem fair if they were trying to take care of the debt by getting it validated first and they were denied that right to validation.

The SOL thing can be confusing. I had a CA call me about a Credit Card I DID have. I still have a balance on it and I'm paying the Cc company what I can, every month. They have no problem with that. However..the CA says that THEY own it now and to start paying THEM payments. I asked them to send me something in the mail to validate what they are saying. They tell me they aren't "obligated to. they do everything by phone." Yeah...right. I told them " sorry, I can't help you then."

Hi sdchargers
Since you are paying back the debt to the credit card company every month, the cc company may not have sold off the debt to any collection agency. As you said that the CA is calling you up to pay the outstanding debt to them, they need to send you in writing that the credit card company has authorized them to collect the debt. Whenever, a debt is sold off to a CA or the authority to collect the debt is transferred to the CA, the CA has to send you in writing that the debt has been sold off to them and they need to send you a debt validation notice to let you know about your right to validate the debt within 30 days of getting their letter.

Yes, Mary is right. Even if the collection agency calls you up for repaying the amount to them, they need to send you a debt validation notice within 5 days of first communication with you in writing, to inform you about your right to ask for validation of the debt within 30 days. However, if the first communication is written, the debt validation notice is included with the letter they send you. On getting the validation notice, you need to send a debt validation letter by certified mail. Only if they can provide you with proper validation of the debt within 30 days of receipt of your letter, you need to come to a repayment agreement with them and pay them back, else you are not liable to pay them. However, all communication should be written. You can also pull out your credit report to see whether the name of the collection agency has been reported against your credit card debt.

SD I would send out the validation letter to the collection agency. We have seen on here the deciptful ways they gop about there business and at least you would have yourself covered and protected in case they would happen to try any of their ruthlesss tactics with you.

I am still amazed that these debt collectors do not bother getting the proof on debt when they buy it up. I know there are people out there unaware of their rights and probaly get taken advantage of quite often. I am glad they don't get the proof it just doesn't seem to make that much sense.

I bet that is the way they hope it will go that way they can make easy money.

I seen one post here that somebody posted asking about how to become a collector. Yeah, we love collectors here, I would hope that these are not popping up all over in peoples living rooms as a small business venture.

Proabaly are. I would think that line of work would be aggravating. They probaly get paid by commission. I hope someone around here doesn't get the urge to become one of them. Especially if they post with us. Kind of would be like a knife in the back kind of thing. The debt collecors world is getting smaller. I think the main money idea now is debt consolidation and credirt repair. I think the junk collecotrs field is pretty occupied and doesn;t need anymore people. Kind of like when there is a big need for doctors and everyone runs out an gets educated...by the time you are done the field is filled.

Did you check the statute of limitations? I am not sure what it is for california, I am sure that some one here will post it soon.

Hi Sheesh
All you need to do is to pull out your credit report and find out whether it is listed there or not. Most probably, the debt will not be listed in your report because the seven year time frame has already expired. As far as I know, SOL is 4 years for written contract and 2 years for oral contract. So the SOL might have expired and you need not pay back the debt.

Statute of Limitation in California is 2 years for oral contract and 4 years for written contract, open ended accounts and promissory notes. Now since your last payment has been over 7 years the SOL has already expired and you need not pay even a single amount.Moreover, the listing has also been removed from your credit report and so your credit score will also not be affected by the outstanding debt. Hence you are no longer liable for the debt. One important thing which you should always keep in mind is that, the creditors may sell off the debt to the CA and the CA may again contact you. In such cases you should never make any single payment because even if you make a small payment the SOL will rewind and you may be required to pay back the outstanding debt in full.

Sheesh. you really need to take everyones advice here and just let it go. It is past the SOL so they can not do anything to you legally. Also remember any payment restarts that SOL and then it will be four years form the date of the first payment you made to repay back the debt before the SOL is up again. Let by gones be bygones. It will fall off shortly if it hasn't already done so. Keep a copy of a cease and desist letter filed on your computer and if any debt collector gets to annoying you can send them a copy of the letter and they legally will not be able to contact you again.