auc2infinity Posted December 12, 2003 Report Share Posted December 12, 2003 sorry for this long email.... 1. Hi, maybe someone can help me. My brother had an account with American Express (Credit Card) and he defaulted with them meaning that he did not pay them back the money he owed on the credit card (~$20,000.00), he used it for his business expense and when the business went bad he could not pay. He did talk to the creditors and told them he can't pay etc., but you know how that goes and now he got a letter from some attorney/firm asking for the payment in full. He is unemployed at this time and the letter asking for the money is dated Dec- 2003 and they want full payment by Jan-2003 or else they threaten to sue him. Can you give some advice? Can they really take him to court or is this a scare tactics by collection agencies paying some attorney's a few bucks to scare people and to collect the money. We thought since it is American Express, they tend to be a bit more serious about collecting? Please help with advice...should he ignore the letter from those attorneys or should he call them 2. The other thing I wanted to ask you is this. When I was in school I lived with my brother and I was an authorized user on the same account, once I graduated and started working I closed my portion of the account 2 years ago and had paid off the portion that I had owed on the account 2 years ago and opened my own card accoutn with AMEX (have it for the past 2 years in excellent standing)...Do you think they would come after me as well since I was an authorized user on his account 2 years ago? I checked my credit file and it does show that I terminated the relationship with the AMEX account 2 years ago and there is no negative information listed on my credit bureaus... I was a bit concerned since they may not be able to get the money from my brother that he owe on his account that they may try to get it from me instead since I had this relationship o the account 2 years ago...thank you very much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativechild48 Posted December 13, 2003 Report Share Posted December 13, 2003 Is this a business card or a personal card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auc2infinity Posted December 13, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2003 it is a regular personal green card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativechild48 Posted December 13, 2003 Report Share Posted December 13, 2003 8) First of all they cannot come after you if you were an authorized user, he was and is responsible for the card. Although it is a personal card and was used for business, he has the protection of the FDCPA. If the lawyers are collector Lawyer make sure he holds on to that letter(s) because they are not supposed to threaten make a complaint to the FTC and your AG. Read at the top of this page the FDCPA. Yes in all probability they might file a law suit against him. If this happens, he must file an answer and appear at the appointed time and let them know what happenend and the reason why he is insolvent.Good luck,native Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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