taipan126
Jan 26, 2007, 05:01 AM
I just received a summons to appear in court and would like advice as to how to proceed.
A local attorney has filed for a judgment on an old credit card debt. I had completely forgotten about this one and have received no bills or collection attempts for over 4 years on this one.
The paperwork cc'd to me shows a credit and statement from 2002 indicating a $700 credit limit but the amount due on the statement was $1375, presumably from accrued interest and fees. To this the attorney has added another $1262 plus unspecified attorney fees and court costs.
If I had received a collection letter or something, I would have asked for validation or attempted a settlement. I don't know what to do now with a court date less than 4 weeks away. I can probably scrape together the original $700 and would grudgingly pay that as it is probably a fair dept owed, but there is no way I can come up with $2500+.
Should I send a letter to the attorney disputing the claim and requesting validation pursuant to FDCPA? Should I call or mail an offer of $700 (or less) to settle ? I figure this guy paid 10 cents on the dollar at best for the debt. Should I just spend the $700 on bankruptcy as I have another larger collection account that has already gone to judgment in a different state?
The original amount of $700 was probably valid once upon a time as that is about when I got laid off and fell behind on all my bills, but I don't know if this lawyer is legit and authorized to collect this debt as there was no documentation included assigning this debt to him by the original credit card company.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
A local attorney has filed for a judgment on an old credit card debt. I had completely forgotten about this one and have received no bills or collection attempts for over 4 years on this one.
The paperwork cc'd to me shows a credit and statement from 2002 indicating a $700 credit limit but the amount due on the statement was $1375, presumably from accrued interest and fees. To this the attorney has added another $1262 plus unspecified attorney fees and court costs.
If I had received a collection letter or something, I would have asked for validation or attempted a settlement. I don't know what to do now with a court date less than 4 weeks away. I can probably scrape together the original $700 and would grudgingly pay that as it is probably a fair dept owed, but there is no way I can come up with $2500+.
Should I send a letter to the attorney disputing the claim and requesting validation pursuant to FDCPA? Should I call or mail an offer of $700 (or less) to settle ? I figure this guy paid 10 cents on the dollar at best for the debt. Should I just spend the $700 on bankruptcy as I have another larger collection account that has already gone to judgment in a different state?
The original amount of $700 was probably valid once upon a time as that is about when I got laid off and fell behind on all my bills, but I don't know if this lawyer is legit and authorized to collect this debt as there was no documentation included assigning this debt to him by the original credit card company.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.