Originally Posted by
bryden1401
Ok i am in a settlement company as i stated before, we've done good so far but my biggest fear is court or judgement we are rasing 3 kids on one income all of our bills are paid out of our acount so if it get frozen or anything i'm screwed like said none of this has happened yet. I asked all the collections people and one attorney for validation of the debt so far only one has done it but it was only like 8 statements on a credit card i have had for like 10 yrs. So if they start sending validity but it's only like 12 statements what's next, i don't have money for an attorney or money to pay a big lump sum or let's face it i wouldn't be in this situation. It scares me to death the thought of going to court but some part of me believes that a judge in most cases would see i am doing all i can i have offered for them to set up payments and everythign. We have nothing, maybe $200 in saving, same in checking no house or land. We are broke lol!!!
Listen, don't be scared. Fear won't help you out at all. Collections agencies/attorneys ALWAYS scare people and take people in court. Why? Because they know 95% of the times people don't show up in the court, which makes them to get a default judgement as a piece of cake without proving anything. Don't worry about anything. Think positive and defend yourself with what you have. Anything you send to these people, send with certifiled letter. If they sue you then answer the complaint and deny that you owe anything. The burden lies upon them to prove that you owe like a written agreement. If you live in a big city like NY then it would be many trips to court house to get the matter settled which might not be in the best interest of these companies. Why? A company cannot represent without an attorney, and attorneys don't come cheap. So, each time their attorney would show up in the court, it will cost them money. Also, you fighting and defending yourselve gives their attorney a sense that you are not easy target as you are prepared to fight. Further, never choose arbitator to decide your case because you will lose the chance to appeal your case then. Always choose judge. If you loose the case then appeal. This way not only you can buy a lot of time to prevent collecting anything from you but also this stragegy might make the attorney to go away because they don't want all these fight and all that especially if it's not worth too much money. That's the reason most credit card companies don't bother suing the debtors.