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View Full Version : Can a bank sue me if they can't find me (never actually served)?


Danik
Feb 24, 2010, 10:16 AM
I owe about 90,000 to about about 5 Canadian banks (credit card debt). I can't afford to declare bankruptcy, nor can I afford to make a consumer proposal at this time.

(The new Canadian bankruptcy laws state any money made over $2000 in any given month for the next either 3 or 7 years -(I forget) will get skimmed to pay the debt. I work in the TV& film industry, so I don't get work every month. When I do get work, I could make over $2000 in a month, but I would need to keep every penny to survive the next months without work.)
I was never worthy of this credit, and it shouldn't have been dished out to me in the first place.

In the coming months, I expect at least 1 or 2 banks will serve me, possibly 3. I have a few questions..

1) If I move, and the banks can't find me, can I really be served?

2) if I was never really served, can the court pass a judgement on me?

3) if a judgement is passed and I am sued, yet have absolutely no assets, how can the banks ever collect? (is it possible for them to confiscate future wages?)

DownUnder
Feb 24, 2010, 01:05 PM
First of all you made the statement that you were" not worthy of this credit and it should not have been dished out to you in the first place"
No one made you get in to this debt you did it by yourself! I tend to get a little frustrated when people who make bad choices with money blame other people. If you get sued and the creditors are given a judgement against you then yes you can execpt to have them come after your wages at some point.Your nightmare has only just begun.Hiding is not the answer.

Danik
Feb 24, 2010, 05:03 PM
You? Frustrated with me? Are you really so judgemental? And while putting words in my mouth? Shame on you for I never blamed them for any mistakes but their own! For each his own I suppose.. but why not educate yourself instead of getting frustrated? Or better yet, why not take a stress management course?

Actually, prior to the great subprime crisis and consequent global meltdown, bank managers were actually given BIG bonuses for doling out the most credit they could. In the states, ex-cons with nothing more than 5 bucks and a Snickers bar were being /pushed/ mortgages. Banks had to compete with one another to keep the value of their bonds up. Since the meltdown, all those same bank managers were fired.

You must have noticed in Canada, before 2008, anywhere you went there was a table set up offering a free clock or free pen or umbrella to sign up for a credit card. The employees got commissions on the amount of people they convinced to sign up. Many people who signed did so just because they were in need of a pen or an umbrella, and never believed they would actually qualify. Then they got the plastic in the mail. For BMO, I was solicited in the pharmacy to sign up for a mosaic Mastercard. I told them I already had a card exactly the same, another mosaic mastercard with a 15,000 limit. They told me no problem, just sign up! So I signed up, and I got another card in the mail with a 20,000 limit, which they kept increasing without my ever requesting it.

Now, how do you think I accumulated so much darned credit? I had a AAA credit rating, because I always paid my cards in full every month.

Eventually when I had amassed over 80,000 in credit, I thought I'd follow my heart and my dreams and trade stocks, using the credit as leverage since I had 1% apr on most of them. In 2007 the stocks I was trading were moving predictably and it was easy money. I started at the end of '07, on a little dip, right before the huuuuuge crash back down to 1996 levels on the Dow. That's erasing 10years of investments in about a week. Many people committed suicide because of this, need I remind you? Is it my fault the stock market crashed? Noooo. Is it my fault I got in? It is your choice to perceive it that way if you want. I prefer to live with no regrets for the dreams I follow, especially when they are full of good intentions.

So I was bottom feeding in a bottomless pit.. it felt like the banksters shook me upside down and took all my lunch money, well, it was their money anyway ;)

Eventually the apr's went back up and it's a game of paying one credit card with the other, JUST the interest getting paid, which is a load.
I had 22,000 open credit on a card still just a few months ago, and when I asked for the apr to be lowered by switching it to a line of credit, they suspended the account! That's what really f-ed me. Maybe I could've traded my way out if it wasn't for that.

So yeah, I got myself into this mess, but the banks also got themselves into their own mess, you can't deny that.
Just take a peek at all the failed banks buddy!

It is my firm belief that Goldman Sachs engineered the housing bubble and subsequent collapse, if you don't know what I'm talking about then do a little research. I have no regrets for trying my best and chasing my dreams. I didn't 'just go shopping' with the credit for crying out loud!

The Fed knows that when you lower rates enough and create a money supply that is big enough, eventually people will put that money to work, and that's exactly what I did, along the rest of the world. Then, when they tighten the money supply and raise rates, the poor people like me get squashed like ants.

Sooooo...
Can anyone else answer my questions more precisely PLEASE? Someone very familiar with Canadian law?

Fr_Chuck
Feb 24, 2010, 06:16 PM
Yes, they may still sue you, if you can not be found or worst, hide on purpose, they can serve you by publication in a newspaper and go ahead with a court case and win by default. So they will win everything they ask for, even if more than they are suppose to be getting.

The judgement stays good for years, so they can just wait to find money in your name in a bank somewhere, or find you working.

And yes, judgemental, since you refuse to consider bankruptcy, since it will pay them more money and you less, you care little about your responiblity to pay your debts.

And your rant merely shows a lack of personal concern and a character issue that is often seen in people who do not wish to pay their legal debts.

Danik
Feb 24, 2010, 08:41 PM
Well said. I noticed you are in Georgia however, and may not be familiar with Canadian law, which is different.

I forgot to include in my rant that I am in fact trying to make enough for a consumer proposal to avoid bankruptcy, because yes, I want to avoid bankruptcy at all costs.

I also don't want to hide, but that may be a good option for me until I can scrape up enough for a consumer proposal, (which is in fact more expensive than bankruptcy). Sorry I forgot to mention that; I however didn't see the relevance to my question, which is a question in every right, and should not be judged, Mr.Christian, that's for God to do, because people never see all the sides to the coin, now do they?

Soooo, are there any CANADIAN LEGAL EXPERTS around who can answer my questions please?

I have been paying my debts for years, it almost all went to interest however, so there is actually no aversion there, I simply can't afford to keep paying this interest forever, and the sum of interest I have already paid may be equal the original debt!

Fr_Chuck
Feb 24, 2010, 08:46 PM
It is similar, what we call chapter 13 varies, along with provinces differnece in what is excluded. After 15 years, have seen enough Canadian answers to be similar.

But bankruptcy laws there and here change each year.

Danik
Feb 25, 2010, 06:41 PM
Thank you Fr_Chuck, God bless you