Search the Community

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Bank of America 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Stillman law office 3. How much are you being sued for? 7k 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) BofA 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) yes, served 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) in person 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? Only stillman saying that BofA may invoke its right to sue you - I called stillman to talk about it - i said I could pay later after my disability cleared - they sued anyways 9. What state and county do you live in? MI, Wayne county 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) 2013 SoL is not applicable 11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: 6yrs 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 looking it up online (many states have this information posted - when you find the online court site, search by case number or your name). suit served 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. 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? Did not receive a questionnaire. 1. That the defendant herein is indebted to the plaintiff upon open account or pursuant to contract, and defendant accepted same. 2. Plaintiff has completed performance and defendant agreed to pay the account, copy attached. 3. There is presently due and owning, over and above all legal counter claims, the sum of $6917.91 4. Plaintiff requests judgement for $6917.91 plus court costs. Here is an example of what the summons/complaint may look like: Sued by a Debt Collector - Learn How to Fight Debt Lawsuits 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Attached is a form from BofA simply stating my name, account number, amount owed, and the last interest charge. Is this worth it to fight since its BoA directly not a JDB? I have just been cleared for disability (is that any kind of defense?) - i was in a bad car accident and that's why I couldn't pay it...I called stillman and told him i could pay after i got cleared for disability and he sued anyways. Very scared I dont know what to do!!!

Hi All, I had been fighting Midland and Stillman for a few months when I discovered this forum today. I had my motion to strike their bogus affidavit denied in court today and I'm wondering what my next steps should be. 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Midland Funding LLC Assignee of GE Money Bank 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Stillman Law Firm 3. How much are you being sued for? Around $900 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) GE Money Bank 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) Received a noticed of default judgement forwarded in my mail 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) Was never served, although a process server provided an affidavit to the contrary 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? No, the process server stated he served me personally, but I moved from the address two weeks prior to when he said he served me. Not so coincidentally, it was supposedly on the very last day the summons would have been valid. 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? None 9. What state and county do you live in? Michigan, Wayne County -- Oakland at the time of Summons and Complaint 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) 2009 11. What is the SOL on the debt? 6 years 12. What is the status of your case? Suit served? Motions filed? You can find this by 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). Default judgement granted, motion for dismissal of default judgement granted "process servers lie" says the judge, he also said I had 21 days to answer, I did and also filed motion to strike affidavit of MCM employee attached to complaint, motion to strike denied today, now going to pre-trial. 13. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) Yes 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? Already answered, waiting for pre-trial notice. 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Summons and Complaint, affidavit of MCM employee claiming to have personal knowledge of MCMs accounts.In response to my motion to strike, they sent a brief stating that the affidavit was not evidence, but merely an attempt to establish a prima facie case and without it they would just have to prove their case in the usual way. During my hearing today the judge said that he liked where I was going when I told him that I wanted to strike the affidavit because they had no standing to sue, but that they were right about the affidavit not being evidence and that he would have granted my motion to dismiss if I had filed one instead of that motion. Now I'm wondering if it's too late to do that now that it's going to pre-trial. I was all prepared to request discovery knowing that they don't have squat from the original creditors when I 'discovered' that Michigan doesn't allow discovery in small claims until judgement or at the judge's discretion (I asked him about this in court and he basically said no, that comes later). I've done so much research, but now I'm not sure what to do next. Advice anyone? Thanks in Advance

I've received a "verification of the debt in question" letter from the Stillman Law Offices. In the letter I received: A signed contract from Jan. 23, 2006, with my signature and SSN on it. 4 months of billing statements from Feb 2011 to May 2011 with nothing but late fees and interest listed on them. This is my reply to their letter. Dear Ms. Wyman; This letter is in response to your correspondence of December 26, 2013. Pursuant to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, § 809(, 15 USC 1692g, please provide ALL of the information to validate the above-referenced alleged debt. This is NOT a request for “verification” or proof of my mailing address, but a request for VALIDATION made pursuant to the above named Title and Section and Fair Credit Reporting Act § 611 (a)(1)(A) [15 U.S.C. § 1681i]. I respectfully request that your offices provide me with competent evidence that I have any legal obligation to pay you. Please provide me with the following: 1) Provide proof of what the money you say I owe to you is for; 2) Explain and show how you calculated what you say I owe; 3) Provide me with copies of any papers that show I agreed to pay what you say I owe; 4) Provide a verification or copy of any judgment if applicable; 5) Identify the original creditor; 6) Prove the Statute of Limitations has not expired on this account; 7) Provide proof that you are licensed to collect in the state of Michigan; and 8) Provide proof of your license numbers and Registered Agent. At this time I will also inform you that if your offices have reported invalidated information to any of the three major Credit Bureau’s (Equifax, Experian or Trans Union) this action might constitute fraud under both Federal and State Laws. Due to this fact, if any negative mark is found on any of my credit reports by your company or the company that you represent I will not hesitate in bringing legal action against you for the following: 1) Violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act; 2) Violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act; 3) Defamation of Character If your offices are able to provide the proper documentation as requested, I will require at least 30 days to investigate this information and during such time all collection activity must cease and desist. Also during this validation period, if any action is taken which could be considered detrimental to any of my credit reports, I will not hesitate in bringing suit on against you. This includes any listing any information to a credit reporting repository that could be inaccurate or invalidated or verifying an account as accurate when in fact there is no provided proof that it is. Pursuant to the Fair Credit Reporting Act § 611 (a)(5)(A) [15 U.S.C. § 1681i], should your offices fail to respond to this validation request within 30 days from the date of your receipt, all references to this account must be deleted and completely removed from my credit file and a copy of such deletion request shall be sent to me immediately. It would be advisable that you assure that your records are in order before I am forced to take legal action. This is an attempt to correct your records; any information obtained shall be used for that purpose. Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated. Please do not hesitate to contact the undersigned via the USPS at the address listed above should you have any questions or concerns. Very truly yours, Lostboy38 P.S. Ms. Wyman, you failed to sign the cover letter dated December 26, 2013 bringing into question the validity of your notice. I assume that it is an over sight and you will provide me with a signed copy as soon as possible. Failure to supply a signed copy within 10 days will be taken to mean that this is a JDB chasers illegal means of threatening an innocent consumer. Any advice?