New here & being sued. Confused & scared.

[Jenny22]

Hello! My name is Jenny. I've been reading the past couple of days over this forum to try to find some answers and while I have and they have all been so helpful, I still am so confused.

My husband received a summons via sheriff last Sunday for his Capital One account. Here are the answers to the questions I am supposed to answer.

1. Who is suing you? Frederick J. Hanna & Associates (suing my husband)

2. For how much? $1,057

3. Who is the original creditor? Capital One Bank

4. How do you know you are being sued? Summons

5. How were you served? Were you served? Sheriff

6. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? A couple of letters from original creditor and one letter from attorney.

7. Where do you live? Georgia. Although this account originated in Texas.

8. When is the last time you paid on this account? Its my husband’s acct, not sure. Probably 2004?

9. What is the status of your case (if anything has been opened)? You can find this by a) calling the court or looking it up online (many states have this information posted daily). I just received summons on Sunday.

10. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No

11. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? If not, don't bother doing this now. No

12. Does your summons require a response? (Look hard!) If you don't get a questionnaire with your summons, you are still probably required to answer it in writing. 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?

Yes, this is what is scaring me – it says we have 30 days to answer but then on the next page it says 10 days to pay the money or they will sue and we will be responsible for atty fees. So which is it?

13. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affadavit? A statement from the OC? Anything else they attached as exhibits?

Just the summons and a page with the account number and balance and then a customer agreement, but nothing with his signature or any hard evidence that we owe the debt.

14. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: 4 years.

So if I dont pay their demands in 10 days then it will for sure go to court and we will have to pay all these court and lawyer fees? Do I request validation? How do I answer the summons? I've never been through this before. My husband is a full time student and we owe so much money to the IRS. If we get hit with this, it will financially sink us. I just dont know what to do. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated.

[mparksmagic]

Is the debt his? Was the debt purchased by the law firm suing you or are they just representing the OC?

If the debt is his, make sure he reviews all the numbers to make sure they add up correctly. Did he make any payments that are not showing. If you do not believe you have a good defense (wrong amount, out of sol, etc) try to call the attorney suing and make a settlement offer, something easy you both can afford with a repayment plan. Unfortunately after reading your post again you are probably still within SOL. You need to verify who you are being sued by, Capitol one or a JDB. Then question their standing to sue in your answer. Search these fourms for "answer" to see how to answer the complaint or call the clerks office on the summons to ask, they are usually very helpful.

13. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affadavit? A statement from the OC? Anything else they attached as exhibits?

Just the summons and a page with the account number and balance and then a customer agreement, but nothing with his signature or any hard evidence that we owe the debt.

There is case law stating that sometimes this is all they need, but not always, depends on the judge. If you are being sued by a JDB the balance requested must be the balance on the OC's records.

So if I dont pay their demands in 10 days then it will for sure go to court and we will have to pay all these court and lawyer fees? Do I request validation? How do I answer the summons? I've never been through this before. My husband is a full time student and we owe so much money to the IRS. If we get hit with this, it will financially sink us. I just dont know what to do. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated.

Don't get yourself too stressed about it.. Yes it is an issue that needs to be handled appropriately, was the debt incurred while you two were married. If they do get a judgment and the debt was incurred while you were married they may be able to garnish your wages/bank accts as well depending on state laws. However, usually the amount cannot exceed 25% of your wages. That is a long way away though and you have not even tried to fight yet, so dont even think about losing yet. Sometimes if you just show up to court asking for proof in front of the judge, they will drop the case.

Bottom line, ask for proof, file an answer, if they dont provide proof go to court and ask for proof, If they do provide proof, make a payment plan with them.

I know that was all a bit discombobulated, but hope it helps...

[Jenny22]

Ok, thank you, that is helpful to know that. This account was set up just after we were married. I believe the OC still owns the debt.

When responding to the summons, should I use the debt verification sample letter format?

[mparksmagic]

no.. i always try to say stay away from form letters. But this is a different story, you are not DV'ing them because they actually own the debt and the FDCPA does not apply now. Since the OC still owns the debt, most likely they have an original contract or enough supporting documentation that the courts will find in their favor. So IMO you are not really in any position to fight and you should try your best to settle. You can still request proof though, but if you take that road, it may end up in a judgment against your husband

He must file an answer according to your states civil procedure or a judgment will be entered in favor of the plaintiff, be quick you only have as much time as the summons states. You may want to seek a lawyer. Some give free initial consultations, search http://www.naca.net If you cannot afford a lawyer you can always check with the clerks office for more info, although they cannot give you any advice. The clerks contact info should be on the summons. Your husband needs to call them and ask what he needs to do to deny the allegations and file an answer as he has not been afforded any evidence that in fact the debt is his. You need to get him to do the work because when/if court date does come, he wont know what to do and your work wont hold up in front of a judge as it is truly not your debt (even though you may be garnished according to state law).

[Crediwizard808]

I believe your being setup by the wording in that summons........

What right do they have as a debt collector to tell you to fill out any paper work, summons or not?? do you have ANY contractual agreement with them??

Why would you think of making a settlement with a debt collector that you have no agreement with ?

Those questions on the summons are loaded questions, you answer them its an easy pay day for them as you basically telling the court its your debt for 1k and ect ect ect......you have NO grounds to walk on once you fill out that paper work, you have a summons, then go to court and set a date and fight your battle there, DO NOT HELP THE OPPOSITION EVER !!.....

Let them come to court and SHOW the Judge, YOUR CONTRACT WITH THEM and WITH YOUR SIGNATURE AND CHARGE SLIPS AND Details how they arrived at the amount IF its even yout debt, your attitiude ITS NOT YOURS cause YOU HAVE NO CONTRACT WITH THE COLLECTOR, NONE.....Fight your battle in court and you do not need an atty for that, the burden is on them to furnish all the information to prove thier case, your attitide is ITS NOT MINE......let them prove it is, DO NOT SETTLE A DIME prior cause who knows who they are, they have not proved who they are and how you owe them did they??? Those are LOADED Questions if you read it......i am not an atty but naca.com is the site for a local atty to help you if you chose.....always feel free to send me a private too, REMEMBER NO CONTRACT NO DEBT ! IF THE OC still has the Debt , the DC will have no problem showing up to court with the paper work right??? Let them prove it, I have been thru this before as well as some of my friends........."its NOT mine, PROVE ITS MINE" is our motto DO NOT NOT NOT CALL THE COLLECTOR, They will record you AND can trip you up and your stuck......go to court, they want to go, you go , they may hope you do not show up cause they get default judgement, but you go and fight them, again I am not an atty just my thoughts. !

Hello! My name is Jenny. I've been reading the past couple of days over this forum to try to find some answers and while I have and they have all been so helpful, I still am so confused.

My husband received a summons via sheriff last Sunday for his Capital One account. Here are the answers to the questions I am supposed to answer.

1. Who is suing you? Frederick J. Hanna & Associates (suing my husband)

2. For how much? $1,057

3. Who is the original creditor? Capital One Bank

4. How do you know you are being sued? Summons

5. How were you served? Were you served? Sheriff

6. What was your correspondence (if any) with the people suing you before you think you were being sued? A couple of letters from original creditor and one letter from attorney.

7. Where do you live? Georgia. Although this account originated in Texas.

8. When is the last time you paid on this account? Its my husband’s acct, not sure. Probably 2004?

9. What is the status of your case (if anything has been opened)? You can find this by a) calling the court or looking it up online (many states have this information posted daily). I just received summons on Sunday.

10. Have you disputed the debt with the credit bureaus (both the original creditor and the collection agency?) No

11. Did you request debt validation before the suit was filed? If not, don't bother doing this now. No

12. Does your summons require a response? (Look hard!) If you don't get a questionnaire with your summons, you are still probably required to answer it in writing. 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?

Yes, this is what is scaring me – it says we have 30 days to answer but then on the next page it says 10 days to pay the money or they will sue and we will be responsible for atty fees. So which is it?

13. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affadavit? A statement from the OC? Anything else they attached as exhibits?

Just the summons and a page with the account number and balance and then a customer agreement, but nothing with his signature or any hard evidence that we owe the debt.

14. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: 4 years.

So if I dont pay their demands in 10 days then it will for sure go to court and we will have to pay all these court and lawyer fees? Do I request validation? How do I answer the summons? I've never been through this before. My husband is a full time student and we owe so much money to the IRS. If we get hit with this, it will financially sink us. I just dont know what to do. Any advice you can offer is greatly appreciated.

[jangel]

I had no choice but to answer the summons served to me. If

I did not answer within 30 days to the attorney and the clerk

of the court they would automatically win by default......so if

this is the case you have to answer summon and then go to court when date is set. The court clerk said I would be informed and could

have input as to when it would go on docket.

I had no form to fill out just had to send a written reply. Of course, I replied that I DENIED the debt was mine...now it up to them to prove it and I don't think they can do that...so

hoping it will be dismissed.

Don't admit it ...make them prove it you owe them anything.

Mine was a 3rd party junk debt buyer. ..supposed debt never on any credit report, out of satute of limitations. I think they just send some of these out and hope they can scare someone into settling to stop the threatened action. Mine was big time money right at $20,000.00...but they were eagar to settle for $10,000.00...no way

I will give them a penny. but I can sure empathize with your stress.

Good luck but make sure you don't automatically default if you don't

answer summon....validate the debt or deny it that is all that is required.

Good luck,

jangel

[divemedic]

Jenny-

first things first. Make sure that there really has been a suit filed against you. Go to the clerk of the court and give them the summons, make sure it is real.

Next, find out if it is Cap1 suing/sending you this, or a JDB.

If a JDB, send a DV immediately.

Was there any wording at all in the documentation about "This is an attempt to collect a debt...." or "You have 30 days to dispute the validity..."? If so, this is surely a JDB you are dealing with.