Wolpoff Saga continues

[nervousinohio]

Hi...Ive posted before...but Wolpoff filed a suit against me in Ohio for a Discover card. They never provided validation which I sent within time frame and have proof they received. I was never served because they left out part of my address! I saw it on county courthouse website. It says failed to serve due to lack of sufficient address.

Long story short...Ive tried contacting Discover directly to try and settle and they will not talk to me....keep referring me to Wolpoff whom I do not wish to deal with.

Now yesterday....Wolpoff sent a letter addressed to me at a relatives house (wrong address) and its your typical dunning letter telling me to call to try and settle this debt. It also states in it that at present time no attorney there has reviewed my account. Wouldnt an attorney have to look at the account and their records for them to have filed a suit against me back in Jan?

I am so confused and dont know what steps to take next. The balance is also a couple hundred dollars more on the letter now than what Discover wrote off or the amount they filed on the suit.

Any suggestions or help greatly appreciated. I want to try and settle but with Discover. Wolpoff has tricked me in the past on another account.

Thanks in advance.

[Robert Nashville/Savannah]

Several thoughts come to mind but it’s difficult to know what another person should do without knowing all the facts.

First, has the lawsuit been tabled because they could not server you? If the suite is going forward then you MUST deal with that. It sounds, however, as if the suite has bee withdrawn/can’t more forward.

Assuming that, one though is that the relative that received your letter should have returned it unopened with the words “Not at this address” on it…although you can still accomplish the same thing by enclosing the opened letter inside another an simply stating the letter was opened in error and that the person it was addressed to does not live at this address.

I say that because while you should not try to “hide” from your creditors, you are not responsible for making the job of the CA easier and in this case, it sounds as if they are being truly incompetent so why help them out???

Another option is to take the misaddressed letter and, based on it start/continue the DV process (I’d be very clear that you’ve already requested validation which they ignored and are now in violation of the law by continuing to try to collect without validating (assuming your initial DV was timely).

Ultimately, if this is a legitimate debt, you may HAVE to deal with this CA – there is no other choice if the OC is unwilling to deal with you directly. That means that eventually, you’ll either have to pay and/or reach a settlement. Just be sure that any settlement is in written form and signed before you ever give them any money.

If they do actually sue you (again) you will at least have some mitigating factors in your favor (their obvious incompetence) and you may have one or more violations to support a counter claim/counter suite of your own.

I wish you well!