I scoured the questions and answers and didn't see what I want to know. I am not trying to be redundant. Questions are at the bottom of the page, if you want to skip the background.

I live in Wisconsin, and have the usual 20 days to respond to summons for a money judgement, over $6000 to third party debt collecting attorney. I am not going to respond to the summons. I have been paying on the original amount owed since 2005 and have paid more than 2/3rds of the original bill. I was told that as long as I didn't miss a payment they would not send it to small claims, but apparently they changed their minds without notifying me there was a problem. That is their right. The third party wants at least $3500 lump sum to pay it off, which isn't a bad deal, just totally impossible to get.

I am unemployed due to corporate restructuring 8 months ago and made less than $20,000 per year the last two years. Unemployment is $225 per week, no taxes being taken out, will deal with that later. The unemployment extension ends somewhere in April. Obviously this amount coming in per week doesn't cover the bills.
What little I had in a 401K I cashed in in summer to keep myself (single parent) and the two kids going.

I am renting, own one car and am have been on medicaid since the job loss.
I have no assets I can sell off and no job equals no loans, no rich relatives or friends.
Besides my credit getting a black eye, which will make it even harder to become re-employed (yes, certain prospective employers do a background check and a credit check)I have accepted the fact there is nothing I can do. I am going to remove what little cash I have from the bank which will be going to rent anyway. Without that I would be on the street sooner.

I am owed over $30,000 in back child support and over $6000 in medical dental fees outstanding since 1993. The state has done all they can to collect it and seeing as how the payor is in prison again, this time for quite some time so that amount will never be repayed obviously. I gave up thinking I would see any money years ago.

I have always paid all my bills I ever had until this one. When the kids dad defaulted on the bills, they came after me and I paid off all of them. I have been told I could claim chapter 7, which would be kind of a waste or chapter 128 down the road where a trustee is involved for 10% of the actual debt if needed later which breaks down into $200 per month for 3 years (I think). I am probably in the same boat as many other people who are all being laid off from work. Just bad timing in this economy. I am not going to panic thinking the sheriff will be pounding on my door any day now to strip the place of my furniture or take my car away.



Questions follow:
When I receive the court's financial disclosure form to complete(which I have seen on the internet) it asks for my last W2 which was from last May. Since I am on unemployment do I attach this anyway? Does the third party creditor also get a copy of the financial disclosure statement once it is sent into the court, is this considered public records and can anyone view this in my court file as it will have my social security number on it?

Does anyone know just what it takes to do a credit check on any individual once they have the social security number and what can they actually view during a credit check? Can an individual (not a company) do a credit check on anyone they want to armed with this information?

Thank you.

Questions follow:
When I receive the court's financial disclosure form to complete(which I have seen on the internet) it asks for my last W2 which was from last May. Since I am on unemployment do I attach this anyway? Does the third party creditor also get a copy of the financial disclosure statement once it is sent into the court, is this considered public records and can anyone view this in my court file as it will have my social security number on it?

Does anyone know just what it takes to do a credit check on any individual once they have the social security number and what can they actually view during a credit check? Can an individual (not a company) do a credit check on anyone they want to armed with this information?

Thank you.


If they ask for your last W2, that's what you furnish.

In NY only interested parties can view the Court's file. Anyone unrelated to the case cannot.

I have seen Courts order and authorize credit checks; I have seen Courts refuse to order/authorize credit checks. In general this info is hard to obtain unless someone has a source.

My whole problem begins in the first paragraph, so I'll address that before trying to answer anything:

I live in Wisconsin, and have the usual 20 days to respond to summons for a money judgement, over $6000 to third party debt collecting attorney. I am not going to respond to the summons. I have been paying on the original amount owed since 2005 and have paid more than 2/3rds of the original bill. I was told that as long as I didn't miss a payment they would not send it to small claims, but apparently they changed their minds without notifying me there was a problem. That is their right. The third party wants at least $3500 lump sum to pay it off, which isn't a bad deal, just totally impossible to get.
Have you already been to court over this issue? If there has already been a judgment in place, then it sounds like the debtor is filing for contempt due to non-payment.

If this is the first that the company is filing in small claims and you have been making regular payments without missing any, I would use that as your defense. I've seen judges here in Wisconsin dismiss Small Claims suits because the creditor wanted to collect immediately and was being impatient.

This is the first step in this whole thing. The third party creditor has just filed the summons and complaint saying I am refusing to pay the debt. I have not been to court at all. Either way since I owe the money I don't see the judgement not being granted. All I have is a verbal over the phone from last Spring saying as long as I did not miss a payment, they would not take me into small claims. I am not seeing this as a defense.
Thanks.

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I live in Wisconsin, and have the usual 20 days to respond to summons for a money judgement, over $6000 to third party debt collecting attorney. I am not going to respond to the summons. .

Yes you ARE going to respond to the summons, Failure to do so will result in a default judgement against you. Since this is Small Claims all you need is a simple letter stating your Intent to Defend.

Your defense will be that you have an agreement to to make payments and have lived up to your end of it.

As to the Credit Check, you can do a free check of your own to see what information is there. Otherwise, only someone with a subscription to the service can get a credit check on someone else.

From my experience, I would show up at the pre-trial hearing; bring all your documents showing you HAVE been making payments(cancelled checks, receipts, etc.). The judge may dismiss it because you are trying to pay. You're not denying that you owe the money and you're making a good faith effort to repay it. Like I said, I've seen judges here dismiss cases because of that very fact.

And like Scott pointed out, DO NOT just ignore this. That will definitely result in a default judgment against you. You could have this thing thrown out in 15 minutes; ignoring it won't make it go away.

And as a second note, verbal agreements are binding. If you can prove that you haven't missed a payment and have a recording from them stating they will not sue you under those terms, the judge may also use that as grounds for dismissal.

Thanks. I will reply then. However I have not made any payments to this third party creditor though. First I had no idea who he was when I received his form letter, then I was not sure what I should do. When I called him after receiving his form letter he told me he wanted the $3500 lump sum and would wait 30 days before doing anything. In the meantime my monthly payment had been received by the original firm. I had said the same thing to him, that I was told by the original firm that as long as I didn't miss any payments it would not go to small claims. His reply was "I guess they changed their minds." But then this would be something anyone would say trying to collect money? Duh on my part.

At the same time I reply to the court and the collection attorney then I should ask for verification of debt including all payment history.

Thanks for all your help.

You don't need to request verification of debt. That's used when you don't think the debt is yours, or to prove that it's not legally collectible because it's out of SOL.

As long as you've got the recording and proof that you were making timely payments, that's all you need as a defense. Do you know when the original creditor turn it over to the 3rd party collector?

And yes, they'll say anything to get you to pay.

What you do need is proof that the collector has the right to collect on the debt. Have you contacted the original creditor and asked when it has gone to collections when you have been paying as agreed?

The verbal agreement last Spring over the phone was not recorded. So it would then be their word against mine. I am thinking that I am on the losing end of that battle. I would think though the length of time I have been paying them off without complaint would be worth something, but I have no idea.

If I understand the response to the court summons, and a copy goes to the third party attorney as well, basically it should just contain that I am going to defend myself against the action and need not be specific. Or do I add that a verbal okay was given in Spring that it would not go to claims as long as I continued with my payments?

How much info is too much or not enough?

Sorry for so many questions. This is a whole new thing for me to be doing.

Thanks to all who have replied. I am aware that you are all giving suggestions from experience and may or may not be attorneys or legal advisers. I appreciate the help folks.

Don't be sorry; the more information we have, the better we can advise you :)

I would include the part about them saying not to sue you; like you pointed out, it's your word against theirs. It looks better for you that you HAVE been making payments.

I'm surprised the 3rd party filed... but perhaps the original debtor hasn't been informing them of your payments. How long has the 3rd party been contacting you?

You can state that you had an agreement to make monthly payments and that you have adhered religiously to your end of the agreement. And yes your payment record will go a long way to support the verbal agreement.

The form letter came around the end of December. That is when I called to see what was up and was told the "inability to pay is not a defense" line and better pay this impossible amount, get a loan etc.

Thanks again.

I don't see what they're arguing with you. You're not claiming an inability to pay; you just don't have the full amount. I can't believe they're making so much trouble for you. If I can ask, who is the 3rd party collector?

An attorney in the Milwaukee area that does nothing but this kind of thing. That is all I can say given the anonymity of the forum here.

What "anonymity"?