debt collection procedure...

Well Lilchicken,

dont be worried. If you need a lawyer visit naca.net which is a store house of details of good lawyer.
DO attend a hearing for debt collection. Take all the necessary papers that you have as proof of payment and in case of any important first-hand witnesses let then accompany you to court.

At a court hearing the creditor’s lawyer will ask you about how much property you own, how much money you make, and what your expenses are. In case the lawyer does not ask about your expenses and debts, you should explain these when the judge asks if you have anything more to say. You have to give your side of the story even if you are not asked about it. Make a list of debts and expenses and use the list in the hearing. This will help the judge to see how much you can afford to pay the creditor.

Dont get so worried. Everything in life happens for the first time. Keep your cool and have your food on time. You have to survive to appear before court.
Can you provide me with some contact information like email id or just register so that i can send a private message. I have some more information. May be reading it will help you out.

Hi lilchicken,

Its a sad scenario I can see. Look if the credit card has not been paid then do inform the court regarding your problems and take all the important documents with you. But remember never agree to any amount of payment that you will not be able to pay. This is very important. If you give the truth you will be able to get out of it more easily. So be honest about your financial condition to the judge.

Lilchicken,
You need to make sure that you answer the summons, I am going through this now with providian. It started exactly this way. What state are you from? You may want to call an attorney or the courthouse to find out how long you have to respond. If you don't respond, they will win by default. In my case I had thirty days, I have been going through this process for over a year now. I had another one that sued me, it was capital one, they would not work with me until they sued me. So I guess my questions are.
What state are you in? and is this a collection agency or the original creditor suing you?
If it is the original credit, you will need to deal with them directly. If it is a collection agency, you need to have them validate the debt.

First thing is to calm down, take a deep breath, you are not the first to go through this and you won't be the last. I know it is really scary, but I am telling you from someone who recently went through both scenarios and still going through the one, it will be ok. When I got my summons, I was really scared and did not know what to expect. See, I am ok, and you will be too. Can you answer the questions I asked, I will come back later and see if I can help you and give you some direction on this. There is no debtors prison, the most they can do is get a judgement on you and it is dependant on your state law on how they can collect that, if even at all.

I paid one of mine off and the other will be going through the arbitration, I am a little nervous about this, not real sure what to expect, been trying to read up on the subject, not much information out there.

Sometimes they sue to show they are serious about the debt collection, especially if it is the original creditor, but as goodnatured said, there is no debtors prison, so all they can do is collect thier money, hopefully it will be at a rate that you can afford. You can't get what is not there. As goodnatured says, calm down, this is overwhelming, but it will all pass and you will learn something from the experience that you can come and share here. Good won't be alone with this subject, hang in there.

what state are you from, each state has a different set of laws pertaining to garnishments, if you post what state you are from I can try and help you find the information.

Lil...goodnatured has some very good questions and from reading her previous posts she is knowledgeable in this area..let us know a little more information and hang in there. you're not alone and you will be ok. lots of folks here to support you

go to naca.net and see if there are attorneys available in your area, I would think there should be. How much is the debt you are being sued for?

Ok that may work in your favor the fact that you are in a settlement program shows that you are actively trying to resolve your debt issues so be sure to have that information and all paperwork associated with your settlement program in hand. all you can do lil right now is keep talking to us letting us know how you are and respond to the suit show up in court. I know that good will be along soon to find out what washington laws are, in the mean time, have you checked the debt forum for information? there are so many people who are going through similar situations and you may find their stories comforting. you don't have to register if you don't want to (I don't think so anyway) to search for information in their site map. type in sued in superior court and see what information comes up. we know you're scared and being scared is ok, it's natural but i'm hoping that you visiting the debt forum as well as this forum will help ease you a bit. I would think that with your financial situation a judge would be understanding especially when you have actively initiated a DMP

lilchicken, go to this link, http://www.courts.wa.gov/appellate_trial_courts/
http://www.courts.wa.gov/
there is a ton of information ther that you can read on what the court proceedings are going to be like, bounce around the page and do a little research.

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Hope the post above helped you, it tells you how the whole process works at the time of garnishment. The other links are separate, with more information. I am still looking for more information for you, I am going through a similar deal here in Pennsylvania, I am trying to find you all the information that I have gathered for myself.

Great effort Good. You have already given the information I had saved for lilchicken.

Hi Tina,

I think you have already got a lot of information that has been given by good. You can mail me in case you need some more help. We all are there for you.

Sounds like you guys have it all covered, nothing like first hand experience to go by, see good, you get to pass the information that you learned through your experience on to some one else and take some of the fear and anxiety away. Good job good and Laura.

Oops, so sorry Laura, I was just going by what has happened to me, didn't mean to step on your toes, so sorry. I have had a terrible experience with a debt collection agency and it is still going on. It will end here in the next few months, hopefully.

Angela,
We don't call anyone, we are just a bunch of people who have had debt issues that share our experience, problems and the ways that we dealt with it. If you want post some of your debt issues and if anyone has suggestions they will post a reply.
By the way, welcome to the forums. Hope you decide to register and participate with us.

Welcome Angela, guest is right, the debt forums go into many more issues about debt and have alot more individuals familiar with alot more debt collectors. You can get a lot of good information from them from their own personal experience. I used to be really active in the debt forum, it is a very good resource for someone who needs advice on debt collection. goodluck.

wow, good, you must have done a ton of research, how did you find all of this? How did you know what to look for?

For the time being for live help is available in the debt forum as I can see. Hope some day we will have it here as well. That would be the greatest achievement for our community what say?

Angela if you have any problems regarding the debt issue you can always discuss with us. We are there to help you out.

Right Laura, many of us here have been to the debt forum or have experienced a bad situation with debt ourselves. If you list your problems or situation we may be able to help you out.

My summons was attempted to be served and I was not home, the sheriff left a note on the door and I took it to the sheriffs office the next day, I did not want it lingering out there and could not sleep that whole night. I did not know what it was for. I was surprised to find the sheriffs department involved in this type of activity, but I guess they will serve anything that they get paid to serve.

That was one year ago, I am just now getting ready to go through arbitration on this case. I think it will be sometime in January, over one year after the initial summons was served. I think, I hope I have a good chance of winning. I will update the site when I get more information.

I think I would have to do the same thing good, it would bother me to know something like a summons was out there with my name on it and I did not know what it was, I would not want them serving it to me at work either, so I probably would go pick it up to avoid the embarrassment of having the chance of them serving it at work or somewhere other than home if they can do that.
Keep us updated on how this all plays out, sounds like it has been a long rough road for you. Hopefully it will work out in your favor, please let us know.

I was so stressed out worrying about who was suing me I had to go get it the next day, after I got it, I still stressed for about three days, was really worried about it. It has been over a year now and I am not as worried about it, but still concerns me, hoping that I win the case.

I would be stressed to good, I would be the same as you nervous wreck until I got it all straightened out.

Lilchicken, did you desert us or what?

No idea why the forums are thronged with so many spams. Lilchicken seems to have deserted us Good. She might be busy with the summons. She was really scared.

I guess then we will wait and see if she returns.

Spam will show up anywhere it seems, if there is an open door, it will get through. Just alot of work removing it.

Thank you Laura fo ryour response. I'm shaking and haven't been able to eat dinner since i received this summons. I've never been sued before and it's scaring the heck out of me. I'm trying to do a debt settlement but i've been told citibank is very difficult to deal with. My house is about to foreclose and all i got is a temp job and a car that's late on payments for 2 months already. How will i ever pay them back and how will the judge view this?

Just a question posed to all. Dont you people think that she should have gone for a chapter 7 with all this? I just wanted to know what other ways could be there.

You can fight a summons, if you can't afford an attorney it is best to get to know the law as much as possible and go for it, I am going to be doing this here soon. some things I need to research are.

1. What is proof of ownership of the debt? a third party says they own this debt, the aribitrators say that they not only have to prove that I owe the debt, but that I owe it to them.

Any help here would be greatly appreciated, I really need to start getting prepared. thanks all

If you have the application of the debt with you or the receipts of the payments then those will act as proof of the ownership of your debt.

Some one here will give some idea. This is what I had been advised to do.

I do think that you have had to sign a contract with them, their company, I would suggest asking bud hibbs, he has a whole web page on this very issue.

If they have access to your account, yes they can. Most debt collection work illegally. All you can do is talk to your bank and do a reverse pay if the debit was not authorized.

collectors are very sneaky on how they collect, you may have to close out your account and open a new one to keep them out of it, Like Mary said, go to the bank asap and tell the bank that you did not authorize these funds be taken, they will assist you on completing the necessary paperwork to collect your money back. I would not wait too long to do this though, the sooner the better because I think there is a time frame of like 90 days on this and I don't know if that is for every state or every bank, so I would go first thing in the morning if I was you. goodluck hope to see you come back with some good news.

File bankruptcy if you can't afford to settle or make reasonable monthly payments (reasonable to the creditor, not you). I understand Citibank to be pretty aggressive.

I've been reading this ENTIRE thread. I'm SOOO impressed, on the help other people give those in distress. As we go through our own issues, we don't 'see' there are others who are in the 'same boat' we are in..or even worse than us. I commend ALL OF YOU, on this forum.