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curiouser · Dec 17, 2007, 01:14 PM

My credit card sent me a subpoena to appear in court due to a debt of $729. I wasn't employed but was able to borrow $500 and send it to them before the court date. They then sent me a letter saying my balance was $536. I didn't pay it; couldn't. I had the option of appearing in court or not. I didn't appear. In a week or so after the hearing, I got a letter saying that the judgment was that I owed $0 plus $46 court fees. In the same letter, the CC had enclosed their own note saying I owed them $400+ in attorney fees and that they would use force to get it if I didn't pay. Well, from the court's judgment, I owed zilch so I didn't pay them. Well my account is now frozen as we await the hearing of the garnishment. And on the notice I received about the garnishment, they stated that the judgment was the $400+ and that attorney fees are $0. Whom should I contact first? The court, the CC company, or the third party that has garnished my wages? And suppose there is no misunderstanding in my part, can this be resolved sooner than the hearing date and my account be unfrozen? What options do I have that might unfreeze my account?

ScottGem · Dec 17, 2007, 01:33 PM

This is what you get from ignoring a summons.
What you should have done when you first got the summons is contact the plaintiff and offer to settle for $500 is they drop the suit. You should have waited to get this agreement in writing from them and THEN sent the $500. When they still were processing the suit against you should have answered the summons and appeared in court and tried to get them to dismiss baqsed on what you paid.

Now the numbers don't work out here. If the Initial summons was for $729 and you paid $500, then the balance should have been $229 not $546. So I suspect that they took interest off the top of the $500 and left you a $546 balance. This is why the notice of judgement doesn't sound right either.

Your first step now is to contact the court and confirm the amount the judgement is for. From thereyou can negotiate with the creditor to satisfy the debt.

curiouser · Dec 17, 2007, 02:14 PM

Thanks for your response, Scott. I will do as you suggest.

One more question, after finding out what the ruling is, suppose it is different from what the garnishment notice says, do I still try to talk to the CC about a compromise, or does that ruling override their garnishment? What would be my next step be?

Would the freeze be lifted if I paid the debt before the hearing? I would have no problem paying it if I determined I legitimately owed it and that they were not pulling wool over my eyes. There's been all this talk about CCs and unfair fees that I'm just making sure I'm not taken advantage of.

Fr_Chuck · Dec 17, 2007, 03:00 PM

Remember the CC company does not have to worry much about a settlement, if they have judgment against you, they can just sit around over the next 10 years and grap your money when they can. I would go to the hearing, that is what got you into trouble last time, paying money before the hearing and not going to a hearing.

curiouser · Dec 17, 2007, 03:14 PM

Fr_Chuck, but if I wait for the hearing, what am I to do until then? Isn't there anything at all I can do to free my funds? Talking to the CC seems like it would be the only way to avoid sinking deeper into debt because perhaps they might lift the freeze if we can come to an agreement. I have no means of paying bills at the moment, let alone buying food and needless to say, I'm in a panic.

I thank you all in advance for all your advice.

N0help4u · Dec 17, 2007, 04:00 PM

Definitely go to hearings. It is worse when you don't cause nothing will be ruled to your favor.
They tell me they add interest until it is ALL paid to their satisfaction so even once you think you have them paid up they are sending bills for more so as Scott says don't send them any money without a written agreement.

ScottGem · Dec 17, 2007, 05:20 PM

First its probably not the CC anymore, you need to see who the plaintiff was for the judgement. That's who you need to deal with. Then talk to the court and see if you can get an emergency hearing.

Fr_Chuck · Dec 17, 2007, 05:23 PM

Yes, and they should only be able to freeze the bank account up to the amount that you owe ( and sometimes an additional for costs) so if there is a lot more in the account it should not be frozen.

curiouser · Dec 17, 2007, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by N0help4u

Definitely go to hearings. It is worse when you don't cause nothing will be ruled to your favor.
They tell me they add interest until it is ALL paid to their satisfaction so even once you think you have them paid up they are sending bills for more so as Scott says don't send them any money without a written agreement.

I plan on calling them tomorrow to try to come to an agreement with them. I got home and looked for the subpoena that they sent me initially and it seems that the $400+ they are asking for would have been the balance left after I sent $500 before the hearing. What I don't understand is why they sent me a letter after the hearing saying: "We are writing to inform you that a judgment was obtained against you in RICHMOND GENERAL DISTRICT COURT on 20070806 in the amount of $0.00 plus court costs of $46.00 and attorney fees of $0.00 and interest at a rate of $29.20. We will use whatever actions we deem advisable to enforce this judgment.

Please mail your payment of $426.65 in the envelope provided."

The amount I owed, $729, was actually 926.65 after interest. So it looks like the letter was asking for the balance after I paid $500 - although they previously confirmed payment with a request for $536. So I was confused about why they said in their letter that the judgment was in the amount of $0.00. I plan to ask and explain truthfully, that I really didn't believe I owed anything with that zero judgment. Could that have been a typo?

And while all the correspondence I'm getting doesn't come in pretty colored letterhead paper as my bills used to, it is from the CC company. And indeed the garnishment summons lists the CC company as the judgment creditor.

I talked to my bank and they say that even if more money is deposited, the whole account is frozen till the hearing. Perhaps it's because they will demand interest too and just want to make sure it's all there?

I see no other way out than to call them and talk to them. I will ask them to fax me any agreement so I have it in writing. I am hoping they will work with me. I just want to pay them up, and be done with it. As of now, I'm not sure how I'm to get to work or do anything really with my cash assets frozen. If I cannot get them to reason with me, then I will definitely request an emergency hearing. My head is reeling and maybe I need to take a break to think this through. If I misunderstood what I need to do, I apologize. I will return to double check that this is the right course of action. I do feel like a real dork for not being at the hearing to get the judgment myself. Is the court obligated to give me that info if I ask, just to make sure?

N0help4u · Dec 17, 2007, 09:19 PM

If you are getting caller ID numbers from them you can type the number(s) into this site to see who the credit card collection agency is. They somehow sell bad accounts to collection agencies. Here is a site to see what kind of problems others have with them.

Phone Number Comments

curiouser · Dec 17, 2007, 10:05 PM

Hi N0help4u,

I'm actually not getting any calls. All correspondence is by mail, and it is from the CC company. And then of course I just got a garnishment summons for a hearing in Jan, but in the meantime my cash assets have been frozen. Hence my being at the CC company's mercy and hope I can get through to the person whose name is on the letter that reported the $0 judgment. But I would also like to contact the court to confirm what the ruling was and hope they can tell me that even though I missed the hearing.

I deeply appreciate all the support and help you're all giving. I'll check again tomorrow morning in case there's something else I need to arm myself with before I call anyone.

Thanks again everyone!

ScottGem · Dec 18, 2007, 08:24 AM

I suspect that was a typo. Because from what you are now saying the numbers make sense. The worst part here is had you tried negotiating with them instead of just sending the $500, you might have got them to settle for that.

curiouser · Dec 19, 2007, 08:47 PM

Scott, anyone... I'm a little down today because the lady at the CC company who said she'd release the funds so I could pay her this Friday and then again in 14 days whatever balance is left didn't really do anything, it seems. I couldn't get a hold of her today and no one (bank or court) has gotten any directive from the CC company w/r/t the freeze on my account. Needless to say, more OD charges are showing and I am in a panic thinking she may just have said all that to humor me.

The other thing I don't understand is, I became aware of this freeze when I noticed a debit in my account entitled "DOTS - Miscellaneous Debit/Credits" which made no sense to me at all. So I called my bank to find out and then they said it was the CC garnishment order. The amount was 530, and not the 650 it is shown to be on the summons letter. But the negative balance is 650 which I was told was the hold on the funds I owe. This negative balance shows up on all my accounts. The 530 charge now reads as "Court Levy" and has gone through into my account leading to insufficient funds to pay more "already-in-process" bills hence more overdrafts.

Can someone explain to me please what the "court levy" is? The bank says that's the CC's doing. But how can it be? Was that the balance left in the account and so they court just took it to hold so that the $650 negative hold for the money I owe really affects what gets paid from my account until further notice? That's the only thing I can think of otherwise I'm so confused.

This has been the toughest lesson I've had to learn. One I will not forget.

ScottGem · Dec 20, 2007, 06:26 AM

You should have stopped all pre scheduled debits. You should stop any that are currently in schedule. The court levy is probably simply court costs.

Why are you believing anything the plaintiff says?

curiouser · Dec 20, 2007, 12:28 PM

That is a good question, Scott. I did wonder last night if the plaintiff wasn't just pulling my leg making me believe they would work with me but really planning to make me pay for my carelessness. And I despaired knowing that I would have no choice but to wait till the hearing and hope I don't starve to death by then. But I held onto that ray of hope that since the plaintiff was the CC company, perhaps they really do just want to get their money and the sooner the better and that they might just release the funds if that would mean them getting their money pronto. But as I wondered whether they could be trusted last night, I realized there was really very little I could do about this. So I stopped fretting and just decided I'd give them a call one more time today.

Called the bank and the account is in their legal department because something is being processed. The negative balance has shrunk a lot and so I suppose there is something being done. I then called the court house and they say they did receive an order to release the freeze yesterday. The bank won't have any details till tomorrow, and when I called the person I'm working with at the CC company, she wasn't going to be in till this afternoon. I just want to confirm that the release also means the court levy which debited a chunk of funds and led to OD charges will be removed. Just want to make sure nothing is overlooked. The bank said they'll discuss the OD charges once the account is back to normal.

I will put in writing my agreement with the CC company stating the name of my contact and what we agreed on to solve this issue and send it certified. I will discuss her promise to release my account and how I'm to pay the debt per her suggestion. And that the debt will be paid in full after that.

Thanks for the advice to stop all prescheduled debits, Scott. I'm in such a fog that I can't even think of simple things as this.