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And so the fun begins. Got served a complaint about 10 days ago. Still have 11 to answer. Been lurking here while putting together my answer to the complaint. Now I need some guidance as to how to proceed. I have read all of the topics in regards to AA and Michigan I could find here and they are great. I am trying to decide the best game plan. What I am thinking right now is to file a motion to dismiss in lieu of answer. This is intended to put them on notice I am going to fight. I would then file my answer with request for jury trial and counter-claim (still a work in progress). I will add it below, looking for any suggestions. Also would the counter-claims and request for jury trial send me out of district court to circuit or federal court? 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Asset Acceptance, LLC. 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) FULTON FRIEDMAN & GULLACE, LLP 3. How much are you being sued for? 3K and change 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) DELL FINANCIAL SERVICES / CIT ONLINE BANK 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) SERVED IN PERSON 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) IN PERSON 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? YES 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? Recieved notice from AA in July 2012 that they purchased account and demanded payment in full. Sent DV in July, 2012 by normal post (I know). No response from AA. Recieved letter from Fulton Friedman & Gullace LLC in October 2012. Sent DV in October (certified). Recieved response early December from FG&G listing very little information other than CO, OC, 4 digits of OC account number, open date, last payment date, claim balance, interest due, and states that "Additional documents relating to the reference account have been requested". Last contact was when I was served on 02/12/2013. 9. What state and county do you live in? Michigan 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) Not sure if I ever did. They never gave me enough info to research. They claim last payment was 06/10/2009. Was opened on 04/20/2006 11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: 6 Years in Michigan 12. What is the status of your case? Suit served? Motions filed? You can find this by a) calling the court or looking it up online (many states have this information posted - when you find the online court site, search by case number or your name). Served. Have about 11 days remaining to answer summons and complaint. 13. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No. 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. Yes. Sent one to AA at first notice. Sent second when recieved 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? VERIFIED COMPLAINT ACCOUNT STATED NOW COMES the Plaintiff, ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC, by its attorney, and for its Complaint against the above named Defendant(s), states to this Honorable Court as follows: The Defendant(s) resides within this court’s venue and venue is proper in this court. The amount in controversy is within this courts jurisdiction. The Defendant(s) has an agreement for a/an INSTALLMENT LOAN, originally with DELL FINANCIAL SERVICES/CIT ONLINE BANK. The Defendant(s) has defaulted in payments on the above mentioned account, said account being shown in the Affidavit. See Exhibit “A” (Affidavit) and “B” (Statement of Account not previously sent to Defendant). ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC purchased the account shown in the attached Exhibits “A” and “B” and was assigned all rights to the account in the normal course of business. ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC has notified the Defendant(s) of the above mentioned account and the Defendant(s) has failed to pay for same. There is presently due and owing over and above all legal counter-claims the sum of $3,XXX.XX which includes interest at the statutory rate. See Exhibits “A” and “B”. ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC requests Judgment for $3,XXX.XX plus interest, costs, statutory attorney fees, pursuant to MCL 600.2441.I declare under penalty of contempt of court that to the best of knowledge, information and belief that this is good ground to support the contents of this pleading. FULTON, FRIEDMAN & GULLACE, LLP THIS IS AN ATTEMPT TO COLLECT A DEBT BY A DEBT COLLECTOR. ANY INFORMATION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. EXHIBIT “A” STATE OF MICHIGAN ) ) ss. COUNTY OF MACOMB ) AFFIDAVIT OF ACCOUNT I am an employee of ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC (“Plaintiff”), a DELWARE LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY, and am competent to testify to the facts set forth in this affidavit. I am familiar with the manner and method by which ASSET ACCEPTANCE, LLC creates and maintains its business records pertaining to this account. These records are kept in the regular course of business and were created at or near the time of the event. To the best of my knowledge and belief and upon review of the records in my possession, [DEFENDANTS NAME] (“Defendant”) established an account with DELL FINANCIAL SERVICES / CIT ONLINE BANK herein under account number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-0025. That after establishing said account, Defendant(s) incurred charges and/or fees and/or interest upon said account. Defendant(s) defaulted on their payment obligations with regard to said account. Upon information and belief, Plaintiff’s predecessor(s)-in-interest performed all of the conditions of the contract required by said contract. Thereafter, Plaintiff purchased said account for value and is now the owner of said account. That as a result of Defendant(s) payment default, the Defendant(s) named herein is/are justly indebted to the Plaintiff in the amount of $3,XXX.XX together with interest at the statutory rate. Signed: GINA VINCI Notorized Dated 2nd November 2012. ============================== EXHIBIT "B" AA Logo/Letterhead Their account number 12-XXXXXX Original Creditor Account Number XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-XX-0025 My Name My Address City, State, Zip Date Account Information November 2.2012 ASSET ACCEPTANCE LLC, A LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY ORGANIZED AND EXISTING UNDER THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF DELEWARE. ASSIGNEE OF DELL FINANCIAL SERVICES/CIT ONLINE BANK Purchase Date: 06/xx/2012 Charge off balance: $3,XXX.XX Statutory interest rate: 5% Date of last payment: 6/9/2009 This is a communication from a debt collector * Not previously mailed. ==================================================== If you are inquiring about a the best way to sue someone, you need to answer the following questions (as much as possible): 1. Who are you suing? ASSET ACCEPTANCE 2. How old is the debt? Opened 4/2006. Last payment reported 6/2009 3. If the person harrassing you about the debt is a collection agency, Is the debt being reported on your credit report? YES 4. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) This means you wrote or called Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. NO 5. Has the collection agency sent you a letter, called you on the phone? How did you learn about the collection? Recieved notice from AA in July 2012 that they purchased account and demanded payment in full. Sent DV in July, 2012 by normal post (I know). No response from AA. Recieved letter from Fulton Friedman & Gullace LLC in October 2012. Sent DV in October (certified). Recieved response early December from FG&G listing very little information other than CO, OC, 4 digits of OC account number, open date, last payment date, claim balance, interest due, and states that "Additional documents relating to the reference account have been requested". Last contact was when I was served on 02/12/2013. 6. What state are you in? MICHIGAN 7. What kind of debt is this? (credit car, auto loan, student loan). AA Claims it to be an INSTALLMENT LOAN which I think means it is an Open Account. 8. What kind of violations do you THINK the collection agency has committed? What section of the FDCPA do you think has been violated... Still researching this. Will be posting my answer to the complaint shortly which will have this listed. Also trying to see how to tie this against their consent decree with the Feds.

I just received my initial disclosures from A$$et Acceptance. Initally I didn't think much of them but as I thought about them a bit and read them a bit closer, some I found some interesting things and need to know if they are worth my time and what I should do. Keep in mind that these are in Utah and they are not actually filed with the court. From what I understand, this means there is nothing to file any motions against. Below is a summary of what I found. 1. The most glaring thing was that they listed Asset Acceptance and Dell Financial Services as "Individuals With Discoverable Information and May Call Fact Witnesses" The rule indicates that they need to provide the name and address of each Individual. As these are companys and not individuals it would seem that they have not complied with the rule. Am I correct in my thinking here and if so, is it worth my time to address and how should it be addressed? My concern is that if I don't do something, they can use ANY employee from the 2 companies under the excuse that they disclosed. 2. Under Asset's listing as a witness, the provide the following. Subject of Testimony: account history, communications between Plaintiff and Defendant, any communications regarding this account, account transactions, account liabilities, account obligations, account records, account balance, interest rate, finance charges, terms and conditions, contract, agreement, charge off, chain of title, assignment, sale or transfer of the account, any amendments or notices concerning the above, and payments made, if any . Summary of Testimony Defendant applied for a credit account. At the time the account was opened, Defendant was provided with an agreement setting forth the terms and conditions of the contract between the parties. Defendant accepted and used the credit account and thereby assented to all terms of the agreement. Defendant agreed to make periodic payments whenever there was a balance due on the account. Periodic statements were sent to the Defendant reflecting transactions, interest rate, charges, or fees. Defendant failed to pay according to the terms and conditions on the credit account or as required by equity. Plaintiff holds all rights to the account The thing that has me wondering is the summary of testimony. Assett cannot possibly testify to just about all of this as they are not the OC. Correct? If so is it worth my time to address and how should I address it? My initial thought on this is that I should send the attorney a letter pointing out their definicies and requesting that they clarify. And then if they don't, file for Sanctions and a Motion to Compel. Thoughts?

Hi Everyone, A BIG thank you for all of you who have been so helpful thus far. I hope and pray you are all doing well. I have started a new thread for this part of my journey against Asset. Here is a link to previous post: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/topic/319510-asset-acceptancehsbc-summons-received-in-mi-next-step/page-2 I filed my answer March 22. received the Notice to Appear for Pre-Trial conference on April 29. With my answer I submitted the DV letter I had sent (regular mail, I know, STUPID!!), so the Judge will at least know I had done something. I heard from peanutrs that I should file an affidavit, as stated: "Just want to make sure you do your own AFFIDAVIT and make sure you file it right away. If you don't respond (file) an affidavit denying everything, then it is easy for the Plaintiff to get a "account stated" claim." If this is something I need to do, let me know. I thought that filing my answer denying all, and affirmative defenses, along with the DV letter I had sent out was all I needed to do until I received the Notice for the pre-trial conference. What should I do to prepare for the conference as far as paperwork and such? Thanks again, buddyapple

Hi Everyone, Linda7 has asked me to start a new post on my situation. ANY sound advice would be of great help. This is the last collector I have after me. My others have been settled, with 1 judgment awarded. My current open accounts are up to date and in good standing. THANKS! I'm here in MI, and I'm in the same boat as blindspot99. Here is his post: http://www.creditinfocenter.com/community/topic/319237-asset-acceptance-vs-me-michigan/ The only difference is that mine is an HSBC card that AA got ahold of. Around 9K. I have about 12 days left to respond to the summons/complaint. I am currently checking on my CC origination date to see if JAMS can be used. If not, would I be better off just trying to fight it in court rather than the other arbitration methods? I could pay the fees to begin, but I don't know if I would have the money to pay if an arbitrated amount was awarded, it would just be hoping they would back off before going through it. What would happen if I wasn't able to pay the arbitrated amount? I did send a request for DV back when I first received their initial letter, but sent it regular mail and can't find any of the paperwork. I may have contacted them in May 2012 when I was trying to settle some other accounts, and they wouldn't go below 50%. I do not know for sure.The other 3 settled for 15-20% and I settled those. I have 1 judgment from 2012. Was not aware of the things I am becoming aware of now or I would have at least filed an answer and appeared. Maybe delayed the judgment a little at least. I'd like to go the same route he's thinking about, using Savoir's simplified guidelines. I agree I think it's best to keep things simple with the answers, while giving them the impression I have some idea what's going on. Challenging them to produce OC documents and such. Where my argument would head would be in their Exhibit B (account) page on my summons where they state in the account Info window that they are an "ASSIGNEE of HSBC Bank Nevada, OR ITS SUCCESSOR IN INTEREST." Yet they state a PURCHASE DATE of 1/2011. How can you be BOTH an ASSIGNEE and OWN the debt? Either you are assigned the debt to collect by the OC, or you purchase the debt outright from HSBC and are colecting it for yourself, RIGHT?? It would be like buying a car private party, then, when you have an accident, tell them that you were assigned the car by the previous owner! Would that be considered a fraudulent statement? Anyway, I'm unclear on trying to use the Arbitration route if I proceed with answering the complaint. I need to know if I still have have the option if I file an answer to the complaint or not. I would like to keep that arbitration option open if they decided not to drop the lawsuit. How would I intergrate that into my answer. If someone could help me I'm using Saviour's template, but need to know what else to put after his ends to make it a complete document for filing. So glad I found this forum, wish I had found it earlier. Thanks and blessings to all of you who give your sage advice and guidance here!