[amityny]

I'm looking for advice on credit card debt. I was making payments through a company called Creditors Interchange or something like that. I missed one and called but because they insisted you speak to two separate people to confirm banking information I could not get the payment though. The debt was sent to the Law Offices of Gary H. Krepp who sent me a letter saying pay or be sued. I sent them an e-mail(address provided on their letter) stating what had happened and I'd be happy to continue paying $25.00 a month to settle the debt. The called unfortunately leaving no info and when I get home from work it's to late their closed. So I sent them another e-mail that I would by by bank check from Bank of America's autopay system, and since they had not left a message not to or replied this was unacceptable I had to conclude it was OK and an agreeable arrangement. I sent them a bill pay bank check for 25.00 that they cashed.

Now I get a summons to go to court. Is this wrong? Should I keep paying? What do I do? This seems like fraud or false pretense to me. I know I should speak to them but I'm sick and a little gun shy of speaking to creditors anymore as most of them are so abusive. If I had the money I'd pay more but I was out of work for a long time and trying to catch up is really tough.

Any advice would be really appreciated.

[ScottGem]

Doesn't seem that way to me. You defaulted on your credit card bill. You got an arrangement for payments that you both agreed to. Then you reneged on that by missing a payment. That gives them the right to sue you.

You need to look on this from their side as well.

So they filed suit which gives you two options. First you can contact them and get them to agree to reinstate the previous agreement and halt the suit. Second you can file your Intent to Defend against the suit and go to court and show the judge that you had an agreement that you are willing to abide by and see if the judge will order it reinstated. HYe probably will award them a judgement in that case, but have them hold off on using it as long as you adhere to the agreement.

But you have to adhere. If you are one day late they will use the judgement to freeze your accounts and garnish your pay.

[amityny]

Thank you for replying. I'm still a little confused. In an economy were everyone is not paying, I'm trying to pay. Reneged, I'd say not really. I called right away and gave them the info to take the payment, they wouldn't do it due to internal rules. I'm concenred the attoney has been taking money and after I sent them an e-mail saying I would sent it, and they never responded. So I'm not trying to be difficult, I'm looking to clarify. Because by this logic if I paid them in full, then it would be OK for them to still sue me. Also does intent to defend apply to small claims? I've been out of civil process for a while.

[ScottGem]

If you were one day late you reneged on the agreement. That's the way THEY look at it. Remember you already defaulted once, so you are on a very short leash. I'm not saying this is right, only that this is how they will look at it.

As for them not applying the money, as long as you have a record of making the payments then you are OK.

And yes Intent to Defend applies to small claims courts.

[amityny]

Ok thank you. That makes things much clearer. Thank you. I did send a small donation. I'm sorry I could not afford more.