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I just Filed an appearance, idk what to expect at court, can someone give me more info. Especially on how to create my defense

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Midland Funding LLC 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Blitt & Gaines, P.C. 3. How much are you being sued for? $1,148.20 plus costs. 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) Synchrony Bank - Amazon Card. 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) I was served. 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) Younger brother received a summons packet at 2 PM on 12/26/18. 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? Process Service Requirements by State - Summons Complaint Yes. However, it did not come in a sealed envelope but rather a paper packet. What's more odd is that the packet has two front pages missing. 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? I did receive a collections notice from Blitt & Gaines a month or two ago. 9. What state and county do you live in? Illinois, Lake County. 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) No payments made. 11. When did you open the account (looking to establish what card agreement may be applicable)? 11/01/2016 12. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: Time has not expired on the debt for written, oral, and open-ended accounts. Statute of Limitations on Debts 13. 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. 14. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No I have not. 15. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? Note: if you haven't sent a debt validation request before being sued, it likely won't help create FDCPA violations, but disputing after being sued could be useful to show the court that you dispute the debt ('account stated' vs. 'breach of contract'). No I have not. Should I do this now after having received my served/summon packet on 12/26/18? 16. 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 did not receive an interrogatory. Unsure how long I have to respond to the suit as there is only a date in which I am to appear in court. This may be on the first two pages that the packet had missing? Here is an example of what the summons/complaint may look like: Sued by a Debt Collector - Learn How to Fight Debt Lawsuits 17. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Statements from the OC are only listed within the complaint. They only sent an affidavit from an affiant named Pat T. who is "an offer for Plaintiff and designated full-time employee of Midland Credit Management, Inc..." The affidavit only includes an online summary of account activity from Amazon.com's Synchrony Bank. There is no original contract included within the affidavit at all. (Please see included .pdf file). 18. How did you find out about this site? Looked online for Midland Funding LLC suing and well...there were some interesting articles on this site.

1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Capital One 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Blitt & Gaines, P.C. 3. How much are you being sued for? 3173 plus costs. This is for a "Charged Off" Account. Was served with Summons for Court, Periodic CC Statement, Affidavit from a "Whitney Moore" from Virginia and supposedly from Capital One. Update so far.... Was served in December 2018 with Court Date January 10th. Attended Court, and asked for Trail by Jury. This was granted. It has been continued for Bench Trail Set for April 9, 2019 We are in the period of Exchange Trail Exhibits. I have not received anything in the mail from Blitt & Gaines, only a few phone calls from their office that I let go to voicemail and they only leave a brief message advising this is Debt Collector. I guess I am unsure of what to do next. Do I attempt to ask for Exhibits from the Plaintiff? I.E. documents, ask for more information, ask for someone from Capital One Come to trail. Thank you in advance for your help, Jay

Basics: Sued by OC in Illinois for Breach of Contract. Amount under $10,000 Complaint states that "Defendant breached the Agreement" with Agreement as a capitalized term, however Agreement is not defined within the complaint. Plaintiff attached to complaint the last statement issued Plaintiff did NOT attached the actual Cardmember Agreement I have filed an appearance before the return date (an answer is not required as amount under $10,000) I have done research on this site and I know that I need to file a motion to compel arbitration. However to do that I need to find the cardmember agreement to cite the correct statute therein. I also have seen here that Illinois state law requires a breach of contract complaint to provide a copy of the contract. I've searched here: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/credit-cards/agreements/ and I can't find the correct cardmember agreement that applies to me. I have two questions: Do I need to file some type of motion to compel the plaintiff to provide the agreement? Or do I simply show up in court on the date they assign and ask for the agreement? This card is quite old (was active for a long time). What agreement would apply to this case? Would it be the active agreement at the time I opened the account or the active agreement at the time I made my last payment? Thank you everyone - your help is invaluable.

Hello everyone, I was served Saturday (7/22/2017) morning with a suit for unpaid debt. This is my first time ever dealing with a legal matter and I never even been in a court before except for jury duty. I'm nervous about this and will happen and what I should be doing. The date on the summon is 8/22/2017. I am lost at what I should do by then. I really need a step by step instruction. I have read a lot online and it is getting overwhelming. Do I need to submit an appearance? what about an answer? Am I expected to show up on that return date? Or maybe hiring an attorney would be the best for this? Since I don't understand any of the stuff written in the summons. I would greatly appreciate any guidance or help from anyone here. My financial situation at the time and now still have not improve to settle on this matter. 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Portfolio Recovery Associates 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Blitt and Gaines PC 3. How much are you being sued for? $4140.89 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) Synchrony Bank / GAP 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) 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 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? Not even sure if I even received anything from them 9. What state and county do you live in? Illinois - Jackson County 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) April 2015 11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out 5 years 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. 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? Date on the summon 8/22/2017. I do not receive a questionnaire regarding the lawsuit. I will attached the claims they made at the end of this post. 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Copy of the last payment made on the account prior to charge-off (Exhibit 1) and an Affidavit from Custodian of Record. Also attached the whole document provided.

Amendment form for motion to appear & answer I believe I may have been misguided by a volunteer attorney in filling out my "Motion To Appear And Answer". Question 1. My understanding is that if I write anything but "Deny" on the form, it automatically puts me in a position to receive a judgment. Is this correct? I would like to amend my motion but have been unsuccessful in locating the form even under the proper sublink on the Circuit Court of Cook County website. Question 2. I would greatly appreciate if someone can direct me to where I can print out the amendment form or would be willing to put a link to the form here in reply to my post. Question 3. Once I fill out my amendment form to reflect the change to "Deny", do I then need to file another motion to appear and answer or is that already a part of the amendment form? Thank you!

Would like to switch judge for my Illinois foreclosure case I've been unsuccessful finding the proper form on the Circuit Court of Cook County website. Question 1. Anyone know where else I could locate this or who could provide the form for me in your reply? Question 2. I believe I may have been misguided by a volunteer attorney in filling out my "motion to appear and answer form". My understanding is now that if I write anything but "Deny" on this form, it automatically puts me in a position to receive a judgment. Is this correct? 3. A judgment has not yet been placed against me. I'm under the impression that I must submit the Switch of Judge form prior to the judgment. Otherwise, that option will no longer be available to me. Is this correct? If this is correct I would greatly appreciate anyone who could quickly direct me to this SOJ form so I can submit it promptly. Thank you!

Hey all, Recently found out I'm being sued by Midland in IL small claims. I have yet to actually be served, so am taking this time to get as prepared as humanly possible! Here's the good ol Q&A: 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? Midland Funding, LLC 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) Blitt and Gaines PC 3. How much are you being sued for? $910.21 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) GE Capital/Synchrony (Walmart store card) 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) Haven't been served yet- letter from a local attorney prompted me to check online county court records. I paid the clerk for copies of the Complaint/Summons 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) Not served yet, but it appears they've been attempting in-person service to my home via a private process server 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? If they do it by the above method, yes it will be 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? I'd received dunning letters from them in the past that I foolishly threw away. No other communication that I recall 9. What state and county do you live in? Winnebago County, IL 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) 02/01/2014 11. What is the SOL on the debt? 5 years 12. What is the status of your case? I haven't been served yet 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? No 15. How long do you have to respond to the suit? ... Did you receive an interrogatory (questionnaire) regarding the lawsuit? The charge is "Contract Money Damages (SC) - Exceeds $500.00 but not $2,500.00". Once I'm actually served it looks like I have 30 days to respond. No interrogatories. 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. An affidavit from a Midland employee An affidavit from a Synchrony employee Bill of Sale re: sale of group of accounts purchased by Midland from Synchrony Purchasing Agreement re: sale of group of accounts purchased by Midland from Synchrony Computer printout with my name, account details, etc. purporting that my account was included in that purchased Final statement from Synchrony showing balance of $910.21

Hi everyone. I need to let you all know that you are super awesome with all this information!!! Where do I start? I have not been served. I received a third party letter informing me of a legal suit filed against me with the case number and the amount in question. I went online and discovered that the case was electronically filed. There is a date set for early August, then a trial date at the end of August. I'm not gonna panic, I'm a social worker & with recent Encore consent order I don't know how to move forward. Im also a member of the Midland' TCPA settlement suit...

I ran across this case where PRA lost summary judgment on an FDCPA claim and haven't seen it posted. Same areas covered as the CFPB order against Portfolio. It looks to me like some of these consumers will get paid both under the CFPB order (Sept 2015) and from the FDCPA lawsuit last month. Magee et al v. Portfolio Recovery Associates, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois, No. 12-cv-1624 http://www.insidearm.com/daily/debt-buying-topics/debt-buying/court-finds-settlement-offers-on-time-barred-debts-without-disclosure-of-the-fact-that-the-debt-is-time-barred-to-be-fdcpa-violation/ It appears to be class action. http://edcombs.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Magee-v.-Portfolio-Recovery-Associates-Notice-of-Class-Certification-and-Pendency.pdf

Yesterday was a light mail day. There was one piece of mail with the return address of Warren, MI. I knew immediately it was from Asset Acceptance. Let's go back in time to talk about my experience in dealing with them so you can see how this started, and now, how it has ended (spoiler alert: I didn't pay them anything). About 3 years ago I began receiving calls from them. I was excited to see BoA sell it off to them, as debt buyers are pretty easy to beat up on in court. I fired off a letter that disputed the debt in its entirety, and I demanded proof thereof. It was one of those 2 sentence letters, taught by Coltfan. The debt disappeared. The request sent the credit report trade line into disputed status and it sat. After about 5 months, a letter detailing a few odds and ends about my account charge off date, my personal information, and a lowly account statement showed up. It was back on. Asset didn't seem to take too well to my dispute, and as such, I received a dunning letter from their attorneys at Fulton, Friedman and Gullace the same week I received their validation response. I had a consumer attorney send FFG a validation letter. And again, I waited. Using the attorney worked very well. FFG never responded to the validation request, instead sending the file back to Asset. What is interesting, however, is that when other posters from this site used the same validation letter (sans attorney letterhead), they were all sued. Perhaps FFG knew it was fruitless endeavor and a loser, but alas, I'll never find out. The offer letters came in. Settlement amounts starting at 45%, which then became 55%. Last months discount rose to 75%. This months offer stayed at 75%, but included the following language in the letter: "The law limits how long you can be sued on a debt. Because of the age of your debt, we will not sue you for it. If you do not pay the debt, me may continue to report it to the credit reporting agencies as unpaid." So there it is. Happy Statute of Limitations birthday to me. On Monday, I'm going to send them one last letter: Dear Asset, I refuse to pay, don't ever contact me again.

Hi everyone, A summons was left for me today sticking out of my apartment mailbox. There is a space that says "Date of service (To be inserted by officer on copy left with defendant or other person)" which is blank (since it wasn't left with a person at all). Is that an appropriate way to be served? There are also two copies of the top sheet (the YOU ARE SUMMONED one). The lawsuit is from PRA and is regarding a credit card account that they apparently bought from GE Capital Bank/Gap. The complaint has my name and the county I'm a resident of, a statement saying that I opened a charge account with ge capital bank agreeing to make monthly payments, a statement saying PRA is "the successor in interest of said account... having purchased said account... in good faith and for value", a statement saying I did make purchases and charge the account but failed to make payments and the balance (>2500) "(See Client affidavit as Plaintiff's Exhibit No. 1)" and lastly a statement that the plaintiff declares me to be in default and demands payment of balance. Then there is "Exhibit 1" an affidavit from Virginia (I'm in IL?) signed by a notary public that "affirms" 6 points: 1 she is competent to testify, 2 she's an authorized employee of PRA and authorized to make statements on behalf of PRA about the records transferred to them from GE Capital Retail Bank/Gap which have become integrated into PRA's business records. 3 according to the records the account and all proceeds are owned by PRA, all of the banks interest in the account having been sold, assigned and transferred in 2012 and saying PRA has been assigned all of the banks original authority to do and perform all necessary acts for settlement. 4 that according to the records there was >2500 (edited exact amount) due (with the last 4 digits of the original account number) and owed as of 2011 and the last two aren't really relevant info to this post. There's no other information or proof, no DV or anything like that. I'm thinking my next step would be to call their lawyer and talk to them about a payment plan to avoid the suit going forward. Would this be a proper next step? I have very, very limited income and no consistent paycheck, I don't own any assets (house, car etc.) or have any money in the bank. We (family of 4) just live on the money we get, pay the rent and the bills and that's all we have. There's an appearance fee of $186 that I'd have to pay just for showing up to respond to the suit, even that is going to be a struggle to pay. I also read this: http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/General-Credit-Topics/Sued-by-a-Junk-Debt-Buyer-Portfolio-Recovery-Associates/td-p/2296511 about a woman who had argued that she never signed a contract with PRA and so owes them nothing (or something more polite to that affect), does that hold any water? Would that be an option should we end up in court? Advice would be more than appreciated. Thanks! Edited to add: If calling them tomorrow is the right thing to do, how should I talk to them, what should I say and not say? Edited again for the questionnaire: 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit? PRA 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.) BHLM 3. How much are you being sued for? See original post above. 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff) See original post above. 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?) Kind of served, summons was shoved half into mailbox and half sticking out. 6. How were you served? (Mail, In person, Notice on door) As above. 7. Was the service legal as required by your state? Process Service Requirements by State - Summons Complaint As understood (for IL) they are meant to leave it with a person, I'm not sure what point 3 means. They left it shoved into the side of the mailbox, which doesn't seem appropriate to me, but I may be wrong. 8. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? None. Possibly phone calls which were blocked. 9. What state and county do you live in? IL, USA. 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations) I believe it was 2010 11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: Statute of Limitations on Debts 5 or 10 I'm not sure. 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). - 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? No questionnaire, no answer requested because of amount, but appearance required in 16 days (2/20) with fee of $186. 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits. Affidavit. 17. Read this article: Sued by a Debt Collector - Learn How to Fight Debt Lawsuits

http://www.state.il.us/court/Opinions/AppellateCourt/2013/1stDistrict/1113658.pdf