Citibank, NA Summons

[ReadSS]

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit?

Citibank N.A.

2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.)

Smith, Debnam, Narron, Drake, Saintsing &Myers, LLP in Raleigh, NC

3. How much are you being sued for?
$4,000

4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff)

Citibank (South Dakota) - in July 2011, Citibank SD merged with Citibank NA

5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?)
Process server delivered summons to my home. It has been filed with the court, but they haven't yet filed an affidavit of service

6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door)

In person by a process server. She told me if I had any questions, to call the number at the top of the legal papers (attorney for the Plaintiff's number)[/COLOR]The cover sheet did a beginning case number with the last 4 numbers not included (I am guessing bc they are waiting for my response to assign a case number. Strangely enough, four numbers had been handwritten with a green pen?? Maybe to give the impression that a court date was impending? I called the Court of Common Pleas - not until they submit an affidavit or notice that I had been served

7. Was the service legal as required by your state?
yes

Process Service Requirements by State - Summons Complaint

8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued?

I haven't spoken to the plaintiff's attorneys, though they have sent letters asking me to contact them regarding alleged debt and had been calling my phone incessantly until I blocked their number. I have tried to call Citibank a few times. I was told my account was now handled by a "citi-approved" business vendor....when they transferred my call, another Citibank rep transferred me again - to the Plaintiff's attorney's office. I have tried for several months to log into my Citibank account. I cannot access any information. The website states - There was an error processing your request.

9. What state and county do you live in?
Spartanburg County, South Carolina

10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations)
March 2011

If it is of any significance, the account was past due four months before the Citibank merger. No transactions by me since 10/2011.

11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out:
South Carolina is 3 years

Statute of Limitations on Debts

12. What is the status of your case? Suit served? Motions filed? You can find this by a) calling the court or b) looking it up online (many states have this information posted - when you find the online court site, search by case number or your name).

Complaint has been filed, but as of Thursday, no court date. I am preparing my answers and affirmative defenses now.

13. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?)

No. To be honest, I've buried my head in the sand (regarding all of my credit card debt) due to protracted divorce and child custody litigation which after 2 years is still ongoing. I looked at my CR and the account has been charged off, but it's still listed under Citibank.

14. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? Note: if you haven't sent a debt validation request, don't bother doing this now - it's too late.

No

15. How long do you have to respond to the suit? (This should be in your paperwork). If you don't respond to the lawsuit notice you will lose automatically. In 99% of the cases, they will require you to answer the summons, and each point they are claiming. We need to know what the "charges" are. Please post what they are claiming. Did you receive an interrogatory (questionnaire) regarding the lawsuit?

I have 16 days left to respond. The Nature of action is debt collection.

The Complaint
The Plaintiff complaining of the Defendant alleges and says:

1. The Plaintiff is a National Bank.

2. The Defendant resides in...

3. The Plaintiff provided credit to the Defendant pursuant to a revolving credit agreement, and the Defendant has failed to pay Plaintiff.

4. The Defendant owes $4,000, according to the Affidavit of Account annexed hereto as Exhibit "A" and incorporated herein by reference.

5. That the business transaction described herein may be a consumer credit transaction as contemplated by the South Carolina Consumer Portection Code. Defendant is in Default and Plaintiff is entitled to the amoutns as referenced above. The amount is determined by assessing all due charges to the Defendant's account.

6. On information and belief, the Notice of Consumer's Right to Cure, as contemplated under S.C. Code of Laws Ann. Sections 37-5-110 and 37-5-111was sent to the Defendant or is not required.

Wherefore, Plaintiff demands judment against the Defendant in the amount of $4,000, with interest at the statutory rate from the date of judgment until paid in full, and costs.

By: (signature) Signed by attorney for Plaintiff


[B]**Should the attorney be signing the complaint or a representative from Citibank?
***This sentence is also included at the bottom of the Complaint: "This communication is from a debt collector. The purpose of this communication is to collect a debt."



16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits.

[COLOR="black"]Exhibit A is an Affidavit of account written by an emplyee of Citicorp Credit Services, a subsidiary of Citibank, who claims she is a custodian of records she has personal knowledge of both Citibank SD and Citibank NA due to maintaining [B]and recording information in Citibank's records. Her affidavit states she has knowledge of and access to Defendant's account. Citibank's records show the account's history, including charges made, interest and/or fees assessed, payments received...etc.

Citibank and CCSI maitain records and the account information in the ordinary course of business, which is made at or near the time of each event recorded by someone with personal knowledge of the events, or from information transmitted by someone with personal knowledgeof the each event, and a business duty to record such information

The Account information reflects charges were made on the account to purchase goods and services and/or obtain cash advances. Defendant was provided periodic billing statements for the account when there was account activity, which described the charges on the account, along with the interest, fees, payments, credits, and the amount due on the account. Attached hereto and incorporated into Exhibit A are true and correct copies of the account statement transaction detail for the period from 7/5/2011 to 8/2/2011 that was sent to Defendant.

The account information shows that the account statement was either sent to the defendant by mail or electronic mail. The attached account statement does not reflect any disputes on the account.

As reflected in the account information, defendant did eventually fail to make required payments on the account.

As a result in the account information, defendant is presently in default on the account. As of the date of this affidavit, the balance is $4000.

Also attached to the paperwork - 2 notarized statements - one verifying the affiant and the other verifying that I am nonmilitary.

One account statement is attached for Jul 5-Aug 02, 2011 - it shows the quoted balance owing - shows no transactions. The statement has 0 % interest charges. The charges are listed as 3 different types of balances - Offer 4, Offer 5, and standard purchases.


Also from the statement, "Important Notice About Your Account" - announcing merger. "All references to Citibank (South Dakota) N.A., in your account documentation, including the Card Agreement, and in communications about your account should be deemed to refer to Citibank, N.A"

**The statement appears to be altered in several places - minimum payment due date, the payment due date, the types of balances where the charges are broken into different categories (Offer 4, 5, etc), fees charged and interest charged. In these places, there are different font types and sizes, whereas much of the the rest of the statement copy uses one font type and size consistently. There also appears to be fields added to the statement - such as New Balance (after minimum payment due) - it seems out of place (added), along with Late and minimum payment warnings (which doesn't align with the info listed above. I know 100% I never received this statement and the authenticity is questionable to put it mildly. It appears to me to be manufactured. Another note which may not be significant - the slip where you can detach and mail payments - the address is Citi Cards, Processing Center, Des Moines, IA 50363-001. Shouldn't there be a mailing address or PO Box for payments?

My account number only has the last 4 digits on the statement copy and only the last 4 digits are also cited by the Complaint and the Affidavit of account made by CSSI. My full account number is never given in any documents.

Thoughts?

[usagi555]

Their 1st averment is accurate. If they have your name and address correct, so is the 2nd. Those should be admitted. You pretty much need to deny everything else, or you are guaranteed a loss. #5 does call on you to admit or deny some issues that you may not know because, I'm betting that you have a layman's level of knowledge of the law, and that calls for some legal conclusions. You are going to get much more knowledgeable real quick now that the game is on, whether you want to or not.

The affidavit is a standard thing, and it appears that the attorneys hired by Citibank are on the ball for collection attorneys. They already had the affidavit of non-military, which they are required to have by law if they are going to get default judgment against you. Default is what they want. You can piss in their Cheerios by responding to this summons.

As for the authenticity of the statement, a sloppy layout does not make a document any more or any less of a business record. It's probably a printout of an electronic record.

Don't rely on them only having the last 4 numbers of the account. You can bet that if they need to, they'll produce the other 12 real quick. The entire 16 digit number isn't in the public record this way.

Also, get used to using the word "alleged." It's not "my account," it's "the alleged account." It's not "my balance," it's "the alleged balance." Do not slip up in writing on this. If you use alleged often enough, it should cover an occasional slip up where you say something like "the account" or "the balance." If you are going to fight this, never refer to anything as yours.


PS: EDIT THE AMOUNT OUT AND ANY OTHER SPECIFIC INFO THAT COULD BE USED TO IDENTIFY YOU! $4k is close enough.

[ReadSS]

So there's nothing unusual about the debt collector disclaimer at the bottom of the Plaintiff's complaint, if the plaintiff is actually Citibank?

Also, it is signed by an attorney? The Complaint? Is this standard?

[BV80]

Originally Posted by ReadSS

So there's nothing unusual about the debt collector disclaimer at the bottom of the Plaintiff's complaint, if the plaintiff is actually Citibank?

Also, it is signed by an attorney? The Complaint? Is this standard?

The Plaintiff is Citibank. The reason for the disclaimer is because debt collection attorneys are liable under the FDCPA.

Yes, attorneys must sign the Complaint. This is from the SC RCPs:

RULE 11
SIGNING OF PLEADINGS; ATTORNEYS

(a) Signature. Every pleading, motion or other paper of a party represented by an attorney shall be signed in his individual name by at least one attorney of record who is an active member of the South Carolina Bar, and whose address and telephone number shall be stated.

[legaleagle]

Check my recent posts for information on Citibank