pulpfiction0 Posted June 15, 2019 Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 I have 3 Midland accounts. All were purchased from Synchrony, which has an amazing arb clause (essentially they pay all fees). No, I haven't been sued on any of them. Balances are around 1-2k each. DV sent several months ago. Disputed all 3 accounts with the CRA's, and of course Midland verifies. They sent their usual 'we're not sure why you're disputing' BS letter as well. I'm considering filing 3 preemptive arb claims against Midland, as they seem to sue on every account and then immediately fold when arb is filed. I'd ten require CRA deletion in the settlement agreements to drop the arbs. Any potential pitfalls here? Given that I won't even have to pay the $250 consumer portion and that Midland never follows into arb, I'm not seeing any. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BackFromTheDebt Posted June 15, 2019 Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 I am not one of those people who say never to do a preemptive arbitration. I have done three, and all 3 worked out very well. However, all 3 of my preemptive arbs were very special situations. I don’t see anything special about your situation. You seem to have a rosy colored view of what arbitration will be like — that you will avoid pay the fees and Midland will remove all trade lines. I would be very surprised if that actually happened. It would be a pleasant surprise, but very surprising. If you really want to do a preemptive arbitration, you need to know the risks. What if Midland just ignores you, and neither you nor Midland ever pay the fees? What then if Midland sues on the account and challenges your MTC on the grounds that you filed in arbitration but never paid, therefore waiving your rights to arbitration? You were wise to ask before pulling the trigger. I don’t think you have this all planned out very well. You need to have a very well planned strategy in advance. BTW, here were the reasons why I did preemptive arb 3x: 1. Two accounts with Citi with the same law firm. One was already in court. I filed for both, combined the cases, hoping they would make a mistake and file in court after I filed in arbitration. They did. 2. I had very, very strong banking violations by the OC. It was my wife’s account. I could represent her in arbitration but not court. So I filed a preemptive arbitration. They folded after discovery, when I showed their lawyer all the violations 3. The case was SOL by Delaware law but barely within the SOL in my state. By filing in arbitration it raised the issue of whether Delaware SOL or my state SOL should be used. They folded while we were scheduling the hearing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NormInGeorgia Posted June 15, 2019 Report Share Posted June 15, 2019 @pulpfiction0 I would tend to agree with the points made by @BackFromTheDebt If you are already certain Midlands will sue, just wait until they do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pulpfiction0 Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 22 hours ago, BackFromTheDebt said: If you really want to do a preemptive arbitration, you need to know the risks. What if Midland just ignores you, and neither you nor Midland ever pay the fees? What then if Midland sues on the account and challenges your MTC on the grounds that you filed in arbitration but never paid, therefore waiving your rights to arbitration? Why would the fact that I didn't pay for the arb defeat my MTC in that scenario? Synchrony's arb agreement clearly spells out that they will pay all fees associated with the arb. Nevertheless, I'm inclined to wait it out. Given the volume of suits Midland files in my state, and apparently everywhere if judging by the frequency with which they come up on this board, I'm assuming I'll be sued on these accounts eventually. I just wish they'd hurry up and do so already ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pulpfiction0 Posted June 16, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2019 BTW, I should mention that all 3 DV letters to Midland have been sent via email to their corporate execs/compliance people, and have included an arbitration election statement. They've had my 3 accounts for 6 months thus far, and have barely heard a peep from them, outside of CRA reporting. It seems like most people get their 'pre-legal' letter within a month of the account being acquired. I wonder if they are treading lightly with me, due to the DV reaching the right people and the election of arb. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fisthardcheese Posted June 25, 2019 Report Share Posted June 25, 2019 On 6/15/2019 at 12:54 PM, pulpfiction0 said: I'm considering filing 3 preemptive arb claims against Midland, as they seem to sue on every account and then immediately fold when arb is filed. I'd ten require CRA deletion in the settlement agreements to drop the arbs. Any potential pitfalls here? The pitfall of absolutely wasting your time for no reason. They will ignore your arbitration and JAMS will close all your cases. Midland will then sue eventually anyway. On 6/16/2019 at 1:00 PM, pulpfiction0 said: I should mention that all 3 DV letters to Midland have been sent via email to their corporate execs/compliance people, and have included an arbitration election statement. Seems pointless on all counts. On 6/16/2019 at 1:00 PM, pulpfiction0 said: wonder if they are treading lightly with me, due to the DV reaching the right people and the election of arb. Any thoughts? Trust me, they do not think you are special. Only you and your mom feel that way. They will deal with your account the way their automated computer algorithms say it should be dealt with and nothing more or less. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pulpfiction0 Posted June 26, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2019 7 hours ago, fisthardcheese said: The pitfall of absolutely wasting your time for no reason. They will ignore your arbitration and JAMS will close all your cases. Midland will then sue eventually anyway. Seems pointless on all counts. Trust me, they do not think you are special. Only you and your mom feel that way. They will deal with your account the way their automated computer algorithms say it should be dealt with and nothing more or less. Interesting. They just deleted from all 3 CRA's upon re-disputing (within a couple of days, actually). Part of me hopes they're smart enough for this to be a walk-away. Another part of me hopes they're stupid enough to sue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aspacepig Posted February 14, 2020 Report Share Posted February 14, 2020 On 6/25/2019 at 6:02 PM, pulpfiction0 said: Interesting. They just deleted from all 3 CRA's upon re-disputing (within a couple of days, actually). Part of me hopes they're smart enough for this to be a walk-away. Another part of me hopes they're stupid enough to sue. Could you post your dispute wording here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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