SolomonKing Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 Here are the particulars: 1. Who is the named plaintiff in the suit?Bank of America, N.A. 2. What is the name of the law firm handling the suit? (should be listed at the top of the complaint.)Blatt, Hasenmiller,Leibsker, & Moore, LLC 3. How much are you being sued for?Just under $5000. 4. Who is the original creditor? (if not the Plaintiff)FIA Card Services, N.A./Bank of America Corp. 5. How do you know you are being sued? (You were served, right?)Served with summons 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?Received one letter from different law firm (Hanna & Associates) in April. 9. What state and county do you live in?Maricopa County, Arizona 10. When is the last time you paid on this account? (looking to establish if you are outside of the statute of limitations)July, 2013 11. What is the SOL on the debt? To find out: 6 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).Awaiting me to file an answer 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. 20 days (served on Dec 30th) 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. 1. I am a resident of Maricopa County.2. Me (name misspelled) and my (non-existent) wife are married.3. I was the holder of a credit card issued by the plaintiff4. I accepted and used the account and agreed to the terms & conditions of said account.5. I used the account. An affidavit signed by an employee of Bank of America, N.A.("Custodian of Records") is attached.6. A balance of $XXXX.XX remains.7. Plaintiff has requested payment and I have refused to respond or pay.8. My last payment was in July of 2013.9. I am not on active duty in the military. Did you receive an interrogatory (questionnaire) regarding the lawsuit? No 16. What evidence did they send with the summons? An affidavit? Statements from the OC? Contract? List anything else they attached as exhibits.They attached an affidavit signed by an employee of Bank of America, N.A. ("Custodian of Records").They attached a copy of a billing statement from February 2014, with my account number blanked out except for the last 4 digits. The balance listed is the same as the amount for which I am being sued. I guess I'm asking if it is even worth it to answer. I'm not sure I have any defense. But I also cannot pay that debt. I am currently destitute. I have had no job for several years due to taking care of my father, who passed away in 2013. The little money I received from him has run out. I have no property (I rent), & no car (I borrow my mother's) or anything else of value in my name outside a checking account with $8 dollars in it currently. I have begged and borrowed to pay rent & utilities for the past 4 months. However, I believe I am going to be employed again within a month or so, but if i don't answer, I'd probably have my wages garnished, which could put me right back into poverty. I'm not sure that bankruptcy is an option, and I don't know if I could scrape up enough money to hire an attorney, much less get the case dismissed. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any advice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolomonKing Posted January 5, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 The misspelling still has my legal name contained within it, if that makes any sense - they just added an extra letter. It's been misspelled on the statement since the beginning and even though I asked them to correct it, the bank never did. My non-existent wife is listed as Jane Doe. I forgot to add that I had closed this account in 2010 and was only paying the balance. The copy of the statement they attached shows no activity, just a balance and interest. Not sure if that means anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted January 5, 2015 Report Share Posted January 5, 2015 The name could be a typo and there's nothing in the married part. AZ is a community property state, so they add a spouse to cover their bases. The statement they attached is the charge-off statement. It is all that is required in AZ to establish what is owed in an uncontested case. Your biggest strength right now is your financial situation - if you can prove that you are destitute they are wasting their time going after you. If you answer and defend long enough to get to court-ordered mediation they may come up with a killer settlement offer. Otherwise they are eventually going prevail and garnish if/when they find you working. Even then there is a limit to what they can take (or nothing) if you make little enough. As an OC they will probably follow into arb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I believe the minimum amount of total debt for Ch. 7 bankruptcy is $10,000. This one debt would not qualify you, but if you have other debts that could push you over, you might qualify. One possibility is to fight this thing in court and run up BofA's legal bills. If you can cost them another $5,000 in legal, they will ask the court to make you pay it, in which case you would then be over the $10k minimum. This strategy would only work if BofA doesn't have a capped legal fee agreement with Blatt, and there's no real way to know this until you get to the end of the case where they submit the legal fee affidavit.A little bit of tough reality here - the chances of you beating this are almost zero. If you have nothing, of course they can take nothing. On the other hand, as far as BofA knows you could eventually end up with a decent paying job. Since judgments in Arizona can be renewed an indefinite number of times, this debt could follow you to the grave if you are never able to pay it or file bankruptcy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 One thing. Can you upload the affidavit? That may be your silver bullet. Remove your personal info, of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolomonKing Posted January 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I appreciate the assistance. Here's the affidavit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I got excited until I read the second page where she actually identified the account statement. On an account stated claim, I wouldn't hold out much hope at beating them on records, etc. I also wouldn't expect a significantly different outcome from arbitration.You should be able to find a bankruptcy lawyer to give you a free consultation. My advice is to find a way to settle or see if you have enough debt to file bankruptcy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I just did some research and found that there is no minimum amount of debt to qualify for personal bankruptcy. An attorney will cost you around $1,500 on the low end. I've heard of people doing a simple Ch. 7 pro se with their only costs being the $335 filing fee. If you really have no income and no personal property, and this BofA debt is your only obligation, it seems it couldn't be simpler than that. It appears you can even get the filing fee waived!http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/RulesAndPolicies/rules/BK_Forms_1207/B_003B_1207f.pdf(This form says the fee is $299, but the court website says $335. I'm guessing it's gone up and this form hasn't been updated.) I'd still talk to a BK attorney on a free consultation to make sure there isn't anything about your situation that could complicate things for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Bring the completed BK paper work to the mediation session. Start the bidding at 100 bucks to settle... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Bring the completed BK paper work to the mediation session. Start the bidding at 100 bucks to settle... I like it!But... I was told that threatening BK doesn't work because people that intend to file BK just do it. I do have to think the complete lack of any seizable assets in OPs case would have to make BofA think twice on this one though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 I thought I read somewhere that someone got leverage with the completed paperwork. I believe it was a case like this where the cupboard was bare anyway. I assume the paperwork would clearly show the defendant's financial state in stark terms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Seaward Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 No doubt, it might work. I might have heard what I did from a BK lawyer who would have motivation for convincing me to hire him. In the end, though, his comments proved to be true in my own case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goody_Ouchless Posted January 6, 2015 Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Since this is an OC case, I'm very interested in what they will say when they hear that the defendant is broke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolomonKing Posted January 6, 2015 Author Report Share Posted January 6, 2015 Thanks again guys. I really appreciate all the advice. I am in the process of getting some free consultations and will let you know how things develop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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