Hi,
I have incurred a debt from a credit card 4 years ago that Bank of America bought. The debt has been sold to a Cornerstone Financial Corporation for collections from which I received a summon served to me by a local sheriff.
I do not own a house, I am jobless , and I am finishing school.
I am not a legal resident of Georgia since you don't have to be when you are attending college from out of state.

I took the advice and filed a letter to the court of "intend to defend" and received a letter back from the lawyers simply stating that they had all of the papers that I had asked them to produce for validation. They have not sent me any of the proof just copies of a contract. No signature from me or record of my transactions.

Today I got a letter from the courts ordering myself and the plaintiff to "referring cause of action alternative dispute resolution."

I have never heard of this and do not know how to respond. I did not get a court date to defend my case like I have read about from the many posts here.

It says on the letter," The Court having considered this cause appropriate for referral to an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process, Orders that this case be referred for Mediation.

It then goes to say that within 10 days of this letter the parties are directed to communicate with the mediation center, and has an address, to schedule a mediation session. It says the mediation process must be completed with 45 days of this order.


So instead of appointing a court date it seems they have a meeting with the adr mediator. Is this meeting to be taken as if I were to appear in court? Should I continue with my request for validation from the plaintiff?
What should I bring with me to the meeting?

What can I expect to go into with this meeting?

What can I expect the outcome to be?

Any advice on how to proceed here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much ,

Michael

Ok, I have gotten another letter today from the attorney but I don't know what they are getting at. It seems to me that they are just covering their butts with nonsense.

Anyone have an idea of the angle they are going for? This is not turning out like the numorous posts I have read where I get to go to court and defend.

Thanks,

Michael

Well I went to the alternative resolution meeting and the judge basically asked the lawyer why he had not supplied me with the proper documentation. The lawyer said they would settle for the original amount to which I replied no. They lawyer then said "believe me your honor, we are working on getting that information.
He also tried to say that I did not respond to them in time but the judge replied that he had a letter from me right in front of him so I did.

I got a letter from them yesterday which by the law violates the debt protection act stating that I now must answer to their set of questions with in 30 days.

From what I understand, after I ask them to validate their claim of my debt, they are not allowed to communicate with me until they provide me with this information.

Please advise weather this is accurate on my part and how to respond to their letter of interrogatories.

You must respond to their interrogatories or they can get a summary judgment against you. You can also prepare your own interrogatories (discovery) and ask them to prove the debt, which in most cases they can't. Do research online on this forum and other debtors websites on discovery - you will be surprised you might be able to have this dismissed if they continue to fail to provide proof. A good place to start is here and creditboards.com under the "Help I have been served" forum

Thanks you for the reply.

I have in fact sent to them request for their claim on the debt and asked them to produce document such as the original contract, billing data, etc, etc. They never produced these documents and I have a certified mail receipt that shows that I sent this letter.

Should I still have to answer to them? I thought by federal law they were not allowed to contact me in anyway until they provide the validation I have requested.

This is getting into a pissing match I may just get lawyer.

Thanks for your reply

You must formally answer the Interrogatories - or they will get a summary judgment. You can send them your Interrogatories and discovery also asking them to prove their case. They have to answer your discovery or face sanctions from the judge.

Michael:
I went through the same thing. The "lawyers" that send you all that paperwork whether it be from a sheriffs office or whatever is USUALLY a scare tactic.
I took all of my information... papers from them, papers that I had accumulated etc to a "debt arbitrator". He had told me NOT to respond to any of their letters or calls. Keep all records that you have.
The debt arbitrator told me that the letters you receive are most likley scare tactics. Most people get scared and start paying the debts. But, the "lawyers" aren't willing to HELP YOU with what YOU want. They totally ignore YOUR requests.
I suggest to get a hold of a debt arbitrator to do the business for you. He can usually cut that debt in half... take all the interests that accumulated off... and get that bill down to almost nothing. If you don't have someone backing you up, they will continue to bug you for a long time.
As far as what monies that debt arbitrator gets from you... you don't owe him nothing until someone wins. And that is usually a small percentage you pay him from the amount that all paries agree on. He is the "middle" man for us.
There are so many stories that people have regarding this situation... THEY CAN'T GET BLOOD FROM A ROCK...

Good Luck!