Being sued by bar clay (OC) in Arizona

[Matt871]

So it comes. I have many credit cards and I have fell behind on paying. Around $60,000 in credit card debts. I lost my job and was unable to find work, I have degenerate disk disease and can not stand without pain. I went to college and am a student with four kids living on student loans.

Here is the thing, I have a paid off home here and a home in another state that my grandmother left me when she died. Both homes are cheap. one was a $30,000 hud the other is worth about $80,000. I have been planing on selling the az home, and move to the other home in the another state where employment for my field will give me a job. Right now I make nothing and my children get food stamps, we have a car worth taking as it's $2000 above what the arizona exemption allows. 

I filed today an answer in the courts saying I have no idea what the debt is. I also got a waver of all the court fees because I have no income, only student loans. My question is if they get a judgement on me and my family, will that become an automatic lien on my home preventing me from selling and moving to another state? will they go after the home my grandmother left me? 

My end goal is just to sell the AZ home and pay off the debts I owe from the other state. 

What should be my next move now that I filed an answer saying I have no idea what the debt is? Should I show the other side I have no income and my family is on food stamps? Will they drop the case with that info? 

Thank you !

[Harry Seaward]

6 hours ago, Matt871 said:

My question is if they get a judgement on me and my family, will that become an automatic lien on my home preventing me from selling and moving to another state?

You didn't say how much this particular debt is, but it's pretty unlikely they will put a lien on any of your personal property over a credit card debt. Legally they could, and if it was a $100,000 debt, that might make sense, but not on the average credit card debt. 

6 hours ago, Matt871 said:

What should be my next move now that I filed an answer saying I have no idea what the debt is?

Talk to 3 or 4 bankruptcy lawyers.

6 hours ago, Matt871 said:

Should I show the other side I have no income and my family is on food stamps? Will they drop the case with that info? 

Probably not, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Just don't admit to the debt or agree to make any payments. 

When was your last payment on this debt?

Finally, Barclays has a decent arbitration clause in their agreements. We had another member a few days ago that was planning to try it out against them. If bankruptcy isn't a viable option, and if this is a small enough debt, their cost of arbitration could very possibly be a deterrent to pursuing their lawsuit.

[Matt871]

Hello, thank you for the reply Harry.

The debt we have with bar clay is $5500. We also have $55,000 in credit card debt and $45.000 have been sold to junk debt buyers/Third party. Our fear of going CH 7 is that we would lose my grandmothers home that she left us in another state, and we plan to move to this winter to that home as there is more work up there. Currently with the home left to us we have two homes paid off. The trailer home we are in now is isolated and we have not been able to find work here so we must sell move. 

The last date of payment was July or August 2017 all the credit cards were not paid at that time due to loss of job and running out of unemployment. 

I am thinking that they will set a court date next, should I file arbitration and hope this whole thing goes on long enough to sell the house here, leave and offer to pay back a percent from the other state?

[Matt871]

I think I messed up, I was reading this site tonight for a few hours and when I filed my answer I did not raise arbitration as an affirmative defense. I also marked that the court had jurisdiction over this case in my answer. 

Do I wait for the other side to give me proof of the debt because I said I have no idea what it is, and then seek arbitration? 

[Harry Seaward]

So let's back up a minute.  Your first post was "I", "me" and "my". I assumed you were unmarried.  Now you're saying "us", "we" and "our", and if you are married this potentially changes things.  If you are married, was your spouse named in the real estate you inherited?  Did the lawsuit allege you are married and/or name a "John/Jane Doe"?

When did you file your answer?  You have 21 days to amend your answer (e.g. to include arbitration and deny jurisdiction) without permission from the court.

[Matt871]

The credit cards from barclay were in my name alone, but they are saying my spouse benefited and it is known by them that we were married at the time So they are going after me and my wife for my credit cards, The real estate in AZ and the other state is in both our names now.

In the state the other home is in, they have what is called "tenancy by entirety" saying each spouse owns 100% of the house and that no debt against one spouse alone can threaten the home. The AZ home should be sold this winter, so I am not sure how they will do things going from a community property state to a none CP state and if the home we move into will be protected. The homested exemption in the state would only protect half the cost of the home. 

Should we, I go the arbitration way even though we have zero income right now other than student loans? If they come back and say ok, we will take half, I doubt i can come up with it until the AZ home sells. I filed the 15th. 

The timing is bad because we are half way though fixing this place up to get it on the market. Our idea was to work on our all debts as the home sale would give us the cash we need to do so. oh well

[Harry Seaward]

16 hours ago, Matt871 said:

they are saying my spouse benefited and it is known by them that we were married at the time So they are going after me and my wife for my credit cards,

Ok, this is what I was wondering.  They are doing it 'right', in that they have to sue the marital community (both of you) in order to take from either of you.

16 hours ago, Matt871 said:

In the state the other home is in, they have what is called "tenancy by entirety" saying each spouse owns 100% of the house and that no debt against one spouse alone can threaten the home.

The thing is they have to know about the other home in order to be able to do anything about it.  If it's not identified in any public records here in AZ, it's unlikely they will find it until at least after you move, and if you never tell them you've moved, it's not very likely they will find it after.  They can do a skip trace and possibly find you that way, but if they see you as an empty bag now, they probably won't bother.  Was the home left to you as part of a trust that?  You can search county recorder records to see if you name comes up with any hits.

16 hours ago, Matt871 said:

Should we, I go the arbitration way even though we have zero income right now other than student loans?

Arbitration will probably give you the longest amount of time before they get a judgment.  If the house will sell within the next 6 months, you wouldn't have a judgment in that amount of time even if you stayed in court and put up even a little bit of resistance.  

[Matt871]

Thank you for the reply Harry. Very informative. I just found out Target is suing me now as well and hasn't served me yet. The barclay people sent me paperwork, that I am not going to fill out, saying maybe it was fraud if i don't know what the debt is about? I am not going to claim fraud and will just stick with I don't have enough knowledge of the debt to say for sure it is mine.  

Yes, it was left as part of a trust. The Arizona house was emptied of everything a year ago but extra beds and a tv. We came back here to fix it up for sale when we were served for barclay. After I finish replacing the deck wood, overhang wood, painting the inside and out, it’s going to be on the market. Hopefully it will sell quickly. I’ll put up a fight until then. 

 

 

[Matt871]

It has been two months now from the time I filed an answer. 

The sent me some fraud paperwork that I didn't fill out and barclay sent me a letter saying the deny the claim of fraud. I never told them fraud, just that I had no idea of what the debt was.

How long can they just keep the case open for without sending in anything to the courts? 

Case Events:

Date	Time	Matter Type	Event	Result
9/18/2018	12:00 AM	Notice	Scheduling Notice	Issued
9/14/2018	12:00 AM	Answer	Answer	Filed

 

Documents: (Available at Court House)

Document Type	Document SubType	Document Caption	File Date
Civil Documents	CIV - ORDER	CIV - WAIVER GRANTED	9/14/2018
Civil Documents	CIV - ANSWER	CIV - ANSWER	9/14/2018
Civil Documents	CIV - SERVICE	CIV - SERVICE	9/13/2018
Civil Documents	CIV - PAYMENT RECEIPT	Payment	8/28/2018
Civil Documents	CIV - COMPLAINT	CIV - COMPLAINT	8/28/2018

 

Also target filed but never served me and the case was dropping for not being served. Now I get a copy of the letter saying the lawyer for target has changed. If the case was dismissed how are they changing the lawyer? 

Case Events:

Date	Time	Matter Type	Event	Result
11/12/2018	12:00 AM	Terminator Program	Order of Dismissal - Lack of Service	Completed
10/12/2018	12:00 AM	Terminator Program	Notice of Dismissal for Lack of Service	Completed

[Clydesmom]

4 hours ago, Matt871 said:

I never told them fraud, just that I had no idea of what the debt was.

Same thing to an OC.  You either opened the account or you didn't.  The answer of "I lack sufficient knowledge blah blah blah" doesn't work with a suit by an OC.  The only defense(s) to an OC suit are either identity fraud or the SOL expired.

4 hours ago, Matt871 said:

If the case was dismissed how are they changing the lawyer? 

The new lawyer can re-file.

[Harry Seaward]

5 hours ago, Matt871 said:

If the case was dismissed how are they changing the lawyer? 

Because it was dismissed without prejudice, meaning they can sue you again and again until the case is adjudicated on the merits (i.e trial where everyone presents their evidence and the court makes a ruling), the  SOL expires or the case is dismissed with prejudice for some reason. 

[Matt871]

I see. Thank you both.

Question, Portfolio recovery bought about $30,000 of my debts. I don't know why that one would buy about half my debts. I hear that one can fight them because they are third party.

When I move out of state, what is to stop them from getting a default judgement on me here? I wasn't going to let them or anyone know I moved. Should I keep checking the courts, then hire a lawyer in AZ to fight them? 

 

[Harry Seaward]

1 hour ago, Matt871 said:

I hear that one can fight them because they are third party.

I wouldn't chance it. The laws and rules have changed significantly in the last few years to the extent that you can be found liable with PRA using a single account statement, a 'generic' bill of sale and affidavit from PRA. They've done this tens of thousands of times and don't often make a mistake that you can exploit. 

What you can exploit is a JDB's complete unwillingness to arbitrate these cases. The one caveat I would give is that for the total amount you owe PRA, it would make sense for them to follow you into arbitration, provided they could get all of the debts heard in a single consolidated case. We've seen reports of JDBs walking away from $30,000 debts, and have never seen them follow one single case to arbitration, so I would say your odds at using arbitration, even on the amount you owe, are much better than trying to fight it in court.