Being sued by unifund

[MelaneyStizza]

As the title states, I'm being sued by UNIFUND CCR, LLC. I was served yesterday. I've been doing a ton of research but I'm unsure how to answer. The amount they claim I owe is not the same as the last statement I have from Citibank. In fact, I disputed this information with all three credit bureaus and it was deleted. If I remember correctly they never sent me a debt validation, it was only deleted. The SOL is still in effect as the debt was charged off in October of 2018. 

Is it possible to contact the credit bureaus to get information about my dispute so that I can include it in my answer? 

If I receive that information am I able to counter sue? 

[BV80]

18 minutes ago, MelaneyStizza said:

As the title states, I'm being sued by UNIFUND CCR, LLC. I was served yesterday. I've been doing a ton of research but I'm unsure how to answer. The amount they claim I owe is not the same as the last statement I have from Citibank. In fact, I disputed this information with all three credit bureaus and it was deleted. If I remember correctly they never sent me a debt validation, it was only deleted. The SOL is still in effect as the debt was charged off in October of 2018. 

Is it possible to contact the credit bureaus to get information about my dispute so that I can include it in my answer? 

If I receive that information am I able to counter sue? 

Even when an account has been charged off, a creditor can add interest to the charge-off balance.

Unifund was not required to validate the account unless you sent a validation request within receiving a collection letter containing the 30-day  validation notice.  

[Clydesmom]

3 minutes ago, BV80 said:

Unifund was not required to validate the account unless you sent a validation request within receiving a collection letter containing the 30-day  validation notice.  

I see the OP is in Texas.  If they invoked the Texas Finance Code in their DV to Unifund (not the bureaus) then they were required to validate.  Texas is one of the few states that gives added protections to it's residents.  If the OP sent the dispute to the bureaus then Unifund was not required to answer at all.  If the dispute was sent to Unifund and the Finance Code was not invoked and it was outside the 30 day window they did not have to respond.

 

[MelaneyStizza]

I've never been sent anything from unifund, no phonecalls, nothing otherwise I would have disputed the information. I had no idea the debt had been sold to them until yesterday. I disputed the account with the original creditor. 

[BV80]

30 minutes ago, MelaneyStizza said:

I've never been sent anything from unifund, no phonecalls, nothing otherwise I would have disputed the information. I had no idea the debt had been sold to them until yesterday. I disputed the account with the original creditor. 

Since you never sent Unifund a dispute, you don’t have a counterclaim.  Are you being sued in TX Justice Court?

[MelaneyStizza]

Yes I am. Williamson county court. 

[BackFromTheDebt]

It might be good if we can get @texasrocker on this thread. 
 

Often, the best way to fight these cases is with arbitration 

Citi has a small claims exemption.  iIRC, that exemption does not apply to Texas Justice Court.  So you may wish to file a MTC.  
 

 

[MelaneyStizza]

I'm glad to hear that exemption doesn't apply here in Texas. I'd love to hear more about how to propose that in my initial response/answer. Thank you!! 

[nobk4me]

On 12/19/2021 at 1:15 PM, BV80 said:

Even when an account has been charged off, a creditor can add interest to the charge-off balance.

But, I thought the only way they could do that is to keep sending statements.  To add interest without sending statements is a violation of TILA . . . or so I have read.

[BV80]

1 hour ago, nobk4me said:

But, I thought the only way they could do that is to keep sending statements.  To add interest without sending statements is a violation of TILA . . . or so I have read.

The OP didn’t clarify if Citi continued to send statements after charge off.  If they didn’t but added interest anyway, that is not the fault of the JDB.  But the JDB still has to prove the amount demanded is valid.  

Also, if the agreement allows for interest to be added after charge off, the JDB can do it without sending periodic statements because TILA does not apply to JDBs.

The OP either needs to try to arbitrate or engage in discovery to see what evidence the plaintiff has that supports its claim.

[Clydesmom]

6 hours ago, BackFromTheDebt said:

Citi has a small claims exemption.  iIRC, that exemption does not apply to Texas Justice Court.

Whether it applies in Justice Court depends on the Judge.  While there are those that claim unequivocally that because Texas dissolved the formal "small claims" court for Justice Court years back ago that the CITI clause doesn't apply there are judges that have ruled differently.  There have been several threads where an OP has come back stating the judge in Justice Court denied their motion stating "my court IS SMALL CLAIMS COURT" and that was it.

The bottom line is it doesn't mean that you cannot file the motion.  What the OP needs to understand is the burden of support is on the party that files.  If the Plaintiff opposes the motion based on that clause in the arbitration section of the Terms and Conditions the burden will be on them to argue to the court why the motion should be granted and have Texas court case rulings to support the claim.  

5 hours ago, MelaneyStizza said:

I'm glad to hear that exemption doesn't apply here in Texas.

It very much could.  Another issue is that Justice Courts are now embracing court ordered mediation at a cost of $1500 to be split between both parties.  Another way to pad the court coffers.  You may not have a choice on that.  You would want to invoke lack of jurisdiction and private contractual arbitration in your answer to the court as affirmative defenses.  You would also file a separate motion to compel arbitration.  Another thing to remember is that Justice Court requires permission to do discovery and if the motion fails you would still need to do that.  You do not want to do it before the motion issue is resolved because doing discovery is participating in the litigation process and waives your right to arbitrate under Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

[BV80]

1 hour ago, Clydesmom said:

Another issue is that Justice Courts are now embracing court ordered mediation at a cost of $1500 to be split between both parties. 

I found the statute about paying mediators a reasonable fee.  Where in the statutes or rules is $1500 a specified fee?  I couldn’t find it. 

[Clydesmom]

3 hours ago, BV80 said:

I found the statute about paying mediators a reasonable fee.  Where in the statutes or rules is $1500 a specified fee?  I couldn’t find it. 

I was going off what I heard the Justice tell everyone a few years back.  They may have changed it since then.  It could also be what District 4 considers "reasonable" which is very subjective.

[BV80]

6 hours ago, Clydesmom said:

I was going off what I heard the Justice tell everyone a few years back.  They may have changed it since then.  It could also be what District 4 considers "reasonable" which is very subjective.

I did read something that said judges could determine what is reasonable.  Maybe they make a determination on a case by case basis.