Ask Me Help Desk - Summons and complaint on credit card debt

I am trying to assist a lady that just got served a summons and complaint for a credit card debt. She is in Mi the card company is out of state, and being handled by a MI attorney. She became disabled over two years ago, and the company wrote off the debt,
Around $1400.00. This was recently purchased by a company that buys bad debt in bulk.
Now they have sued her for the $1400.00 plus Interest for a total of $2100.00.

They did not serve her with a copy of the original contract, only an affidavit which they state, "SERVICE OF A COMPLAINT WITH ATTACHED AFFIDAVIT AND ACCOUNT STATMENT
SHALL BE DEEMED PRIMA FACIA EVIDENCE OF INDEBTEDNESS"

Also a lady from the company that's sueing signed a certificate of assignment of course we don't know who she is, she's out of state also.

How would this be best handled, any help is appreciated.

Thanks

Tellme333

Maybe you can ask a mod to move to the bankruptcy and debt forum, you might get more responses there.

What do you mean "the company wrote off the debt"? Is there some formal agreement in writing where this is stated? I have never heard of anything like this, not that it may not happen. Someone else might be better able to address this.

Is she receiving some kind of disability payment? Generally, they are not garnishable, especially if she is receiving them from SSA. If so, you can return the summons and attach a Declaration of Defendant Regarding Income and Assets Exempt from Garnishment. An example template that you can edit can be found here: http://www.lawhelp.org/documents/3478510205FR_DECLARATION%20EXEMPTIONS.doc?stat eabbrev=/WA/&CFID=907442&CFTOKEN=88ef394afd575a5b-72A1998F-E105-4DB5-2015A4160424DF51&jsessionid=48305e3bdd0e$1F$1A$FTR along with helpful information; though WA specific, much of it is the same elsewhere.

This thread, https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/bankru...le-401515.html , has debt validation and debt disclosure templates, if you didn't get proper verification. Edit in word processor (be sure to remove references to MD law). Send them certified mail return receipt requested with a notarized Certificate of Service. Send a Certificate of Service to court (check to see if it needs to be notarized, most don't), and keep copy of the one you notarized for your records. You can send it with the summons, which you must return by date stated on it, which is 15 to 30 days, in most states, so you have very little time, or they win by default or file an affidavit judgment.

That Certificate of Assignment might be proof of valid assigment, I really can't say. Does your state require that debt collectors be registed there? An out-of-state collector can collect, provided they have a license, if state law requires it. You're going to need to do a bit of researching to find this out. I am not familiar with MI laws/rules, as I live in MD and can only tell MD ones. And I did a lot of Googling of state laws regarding debt collectors and licensing to learn MD ones.

Unfortunately, I don't think you will get too many answers here, but some assistance in finding the answers yourself. I am just unclear on this alleged "write-off" of the debt, and whether the Certificate of Assignment is valid. If it's coming from the credit card company, that might be proper validation. The "write-off" would be proof of the debt no longer being valid, the Certificate of Assignment might be the opposite. I would still request validation/verification and send the debt disclosure statement. Wish I could sound more hopefull, but there are some conflicts here, as well as what is MI laws/rules.

Whatever you do, return the summons with a "Notice of Intent to Defend" or "Notice of Appearance" and answer the complaint by the date on the summons. The other items can be sent after. The WA website can help you with that, plus search the bankruptcy & debt and small claims forums for answering the complaint(s) with "Defenses" and "Affirmative Defenses".

Hope you are able to help this lady out.

FYI - DisabledinMd - Just because a debt is marked "the company wrote off the debt" does not negate the fact that the debt is still owed and can be sued upon if the debt has not tolled the statute of limitations in that state. This is a law board. Do not answer with "I don't know". Totally unacceptable answer.

Basically, if the woman's income is strictly from SSD, then her income is exempt from garnishment. But if she has other assets such as a car or home, the credit card company can obtain a judgment against those items.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DisabledinMD

What do you mean "the company wrote off the debt"? Is there some formal agreement in writing where this is stated? I have never heard of anything like this, not that it may not happen. Someone else might be better able to address this.

Is she receiving some kind of disability payment? Generally, they are not garnishable, especially if she is receiving them from SSA. If so, you can return the summons and attach a Declaration of Defendant Regarding Income and Assets Exempt from Garnishment. An example template that you can edit can be found here: http://www.lawhelp.org/documents/3478510205FR_DECLARATION%20EXEMPTIONS.doc?stateabb rev=/WA/&CFID=907442&CFTOKEN=88ef394afd575a5b-72A1998F-E105-4DB5-2015A4160424DF51&jsessionid=48305e3bdd0e$1F$1A$FTR along with helpful information; though WA specific, much of it is the same elsewhere.

This thread, https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/bankru...le-401515.html , has debt validation and debt disclosure templates, if you didn't get proper verification. Edit in word processor (be sure to remove references to MD law). Send them certified mail return receipt requested with a notarized Certificate of Service. Send a Certificate of Service to court (check to see if it needs to be notarized, most don't), and keep copy of the one you notarized for your records. You can send it with the summons, which you must return by date stated on it, which is 15 to 30 days, in most states, so you have very little time, or they win by default or file an affidavit judgment. .

Writing off the debt as uncollectable and selling it is not uncommon. The fact is that all States are SIMILIAR; however, they are not the SAME. What satisfies legal requirements in one State may very well be totally insufficient in another. Therefore, posting info specific to a State where the OP does NOT reside is not helpful and may very well be very bad information.

A NOTE TO ANYONE READING THIS THREAD - the lawhelp document which is posted above caused my computer to freeze on two occasions. It appears to be an actual document prepared in WP format (and I use WP), not a website.

Twinkiedooter - you are on the verge of developing a reading comrehension problem (must be the new buzz phrase). https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/real-e...t-403026.html; https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/bankru...ml#post1988210

This particular insult is best served with a side order of the word "lady." When pronounced Laid-dee a person sounds just like Jerry Lewis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DisabledinMD

Maybe you can ask a mod to move to the bankruptcy and debt forum, you might get more responses there.

What do you mean "the company wrote off the debt"? Is there some formal agreement in writing where this is stated? I have never heard of anything like this, not that it may not happen. Someone else might be better able to address this.

Yes, it's easy to address when you know what you're talking about. There is no "formal agreement" required for a company to write off a bad debt.

Quote:

Is she receiving some kind of disability payment? Generally, they are not garnishable, especially if she is receiving them from SSA. If so, you can return the summons and attach a Declaration of Defendant Regarding Income and Assets Exempt from Garnishment. An example template that you can edit can be found here: http://www.lawhelp.org/documents/3478510205FR_DECLARATION%20EXEMPTIONS.doc?stateabb rev=/WA/&CFID=907442&CFTOKEN=88ef394afd575a5b-72A1998F-E105-4DB5-2015A4160424DF51&jsessionid=48305e3bdd0e$1F$1A$FTR along with helpful information; though WA specific, much of it is the same elsewhere.

Yes and no. Just being on SSI or SSDI doesn't make them exempt. If the party being sued has the funds direct deposited, the bank doesn't know where the money is coming from, just that it's in the account.

Quote:

This thread, https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/bankru...le-401515.html , has debt validation and debt disclosure templates, if you didn't get proper verification. Edit in word processor (be sure to remove references to MD law). Send them certified mail return receipt requested with a notarized Certificate of Service. Send a Certificate of Service to court (check to see if it needs to be notarized, most don't), and keep copy of the one you notarized for your records. You can send it with the summons, which you must return by date stated on it, which is 15 to 30 days, in most states, so you have very little time, or they win by default or file an affidavit judgment.

None of this is pertinant. They're not denying the debt; all they said was that they never received a copy of the original contract. And with credit cards, there usually isn't a written contract. By using the card, you agree to the cardholder's terms.

Quote:

That Certificate of Assignment might be proof of valid assigment, I really can't say. Does your state require that debt collectors be registed there? An out-of-state collector can collect, provided they have a license, if state law requires it. You're going to need to do a bit of researching to find this out. I am not familiar with MI laws/rules, as I live in MD and can only tell MD ones. And I did a lot of Googling of state laws regarding debt collectors and licensing to learn MD ones.

Just because the collector is out-of-state doesn't mean they can't collect; you can't possibly be attempting to imply that.

Quote:

Unfortunately, I don't think you will get too many answers here, but some assistance in finding the answers yourself. I am just unclear on this alleged "write-off" of the debt, and whether the Certificate of Assignment is valid. If it's coming from the credit card company, that might be proper validation. The "write-off" would be proof of the debt no longer being valid, the Certificate of Assignment might be the opposite. I would still request validation/verification and send the debt disclosure statement. Wish I could sound more hopefull, but there are some conflicts here, as well as what is MI laws/rules.

This is absolutely bogus and has absolutely no place on a law board whatsoever. You first state that you don't know what a write off is, and then tell the OP that if the debt was written off, the debt is now invalid. Are you kidding me??