BackFromTheDebt

If you are in BK proceedings, I assume you already have an attorney, and you know the suit will stop cold as soon as BK is filed. If you are in doubt, ask your attorney. I personally don't see the upside of continuing to litigate a case that will soon be dead. Maybe I am missing something.

First, your Credit Karma and Mint scores are NOT your real scores. They are only an approximation. Second, sometimes they change the algorithm used to compute the credit scores without any notice.

At some point the case will be closed. You can either file a motion in the court to dismiss the case with prejudice, or else just wait for the judge to dismiss the case eventually.

Synchronicity has a great arbitration agreement. PRA generally doesn't follow into arbitration. Consider filing an MTC. There are LOTS of threads dealing with Sychronicity and PRA, often this particular law firm, and many of the threads are specific to Texas. For the record, I have taken this particular law firm to arbitration for two different accounts. When a third account was sent their way, they decided they didn't want to deal with me anymore.

This is important. If you admit you had the card, or you might've had the card, then you are likely sunk.

That is very interesting. The problem is, judges do the darnedest things! They will ignore the case law, or even the written statutes, if they feel like it.

Do the letters show the county as well as the case number?

Thanks for the clarification, @BV80 Considering how weird some judges are, If I lived in Florida (which I don't), I would still very seriously consider ONLY filing an MTC in lieu of an answer.

Read this part of the answer carefully. Now, read it again. Make sure you understand this completely. What people on this forum from Florida have found is that if they answer at all, they are usually deemed to have waived their rights to arbitration. In other words: Sychronicity has a GREAT arbitration clause. You can use that to beat Midland most of the time if you get them into arbitration. The ONLY way to get use arbitration is to file an MTC instead of an answer. Not with the answer, not just before or just after the answer, but INSTEAD of the answer. Florida is weird that way. Sorry to belabor this point, but @nobk4me just gave you really good advice. I wanted to make sure you really understand what he is saying, and pay attention to what he advised you. Now, he also gave you a homework assignment. Time to get reading.

Well, the first thing is to read up as much as you can on the subject. What happens if AAA refuses the case is something you need to be prepared for. You need to read up on the subject, and see if you can find any situations where that has happened. Again, you should do this while you are waiting to see if Midland pursues the case or not.

I am not sure what possible advantage you could have by filing for arbitration right now. They already sued, so if you wanted to do some sort of preemptive arbitration, it is too late. Filing in arbitration now will wake up a dormant case. Why not let sleeping dogs lie? Sometimes your case gets put on the back burner for a law firm. Either they will figure it out, and try to serve you again, or they won't. If not, you probably dodged a bullet. If they DO figure it out, then worry about arbitration. Worst case scenario you have a little more time to work out an arbitration strategy. Best case scenario they abandon the case.

Can you do that? Depends on the arbitration agreements. As I mentioned, I once had 2 accounts with the same OC and the same law firm. I was able to combine them. One was a Citibank Sears card and the other was a Citibank Home Depot card. If one is Joe's Credit Card and the other is Credit Zero, that is a bit more problematic. As for something being "pre-trial". Yes, that is to scare you and put pressure on you. That also gives you some time to prepare a JAMS complaint plot out your strategy. What normally happens is: At some point they send it to a law firm. When the law firm gets it, they will usually send a dunning letter. You then send a DV. As soon as you get a response, you file in JAMS. Or, to be safer, you file in JAMS as soon as you hear from a lawyer. Once you hear from a lawyer licensed in the state of Wisconsin, you are very close to being sued. Until you hear from a lawyer, you are probably NOT being sued.

This is a pretty good summary. There have been three times I have filed in JAMS preemptively, and all have worked. The first time was when I had already been sued for a larger amount for a different credit card with the same OC and the same law firm, and had already gotten the judge to order arbitration in JAMS. Right before I filed, I got a letter from the law firm for the second amount, which was bound for small claims. I combined them in my filing, and caught them when they filed in small claims. I got them to drop that case. The second time was when the OC had made some really serious blunders on my wife's account, making it darn near impossible for them to win the case. They sent it to a law firm which was not registered in my state. Whoops. I filed in JAMS against both the firm and the OC. That was nice. That was settled quite nicely after discovery, when they saw how weak their case was. The third time was when a law firm let the case sit in a drawer for a while, and contacted me right before SOL. BUT, under Delaware law, which JAMS says. The law firm said they would sue me if I didn't file in JAMS within a certain deadline. I filed, and that was settled to my satisfaction right before the hearing. I agree that preemptive arbitration should wait until right before a suit. If there is a law firm involved, then you are right before a suit. If not, then wait.

I don't understand this at all. The OP is threatened with an amount that would go to small claims court. There is a small claims exemption for arbitration. Therefore you say the OP should wait to be sued before filing in arbitration???????? Once the case has started in small claims court, it is TOO LATE to file in JAMS. I know you just haaaaaaaaaaaate it when people file preemptive arbitration, but sometimes it is a winning strategy. Here, the OP has two choices: 1. File in JAMS, and hope Midland won't follow. Midland almost never follows, esp. not for $1300. If they DO follow, the OP has a chance for a settlement. or 2. Let Midland sue him in small claims. Midland will win about 100% of the time.

If I were in your shoes, I would seriously consider initiating arbitration against them pre-suit. For an amount that small, Midland probably wouldn't pursue the case in arbitration. If they drop the case, then pursue it in small claims, then argue res judica in small claims. Say the case was already brought into arbitration, and that the court has no jurisdiction. However, small claims won't put you with a great judge. The magistrates often have no idea what they are doing. That doesn't matter. In Wisconsin you can automatically appeal ANY small claims case to Circuit Court. You are in Dane County, which has by far the most consumer-friendly judges in the state. When the case is in Circuit Court, it is hear ab initio. What happened in small claims doesn't matter at all. At that point, file for dismissal on the grounds that the case was already decided in arbitration, and that they already lost the case. As an alternative, file for MTC arbitration. At that point you are NOT in small claims, and there was already an arbitration case. For them to win, they would have to (a) convince the magistrate that their case should go through anyway even though they already walked away from arbitration for that case, and (b) convince one of the most consumer-friendly judges in the state that they can just ignore their arbitration agreement.