[bemyonlyone]

They turned my account over to GC services and I had several unpleasant conversations with the people in their offices. I very stupidly gave my bank account information to a guy working there (don't ask, I know that was foolish). I moved all my money into my other bank account in case he tries to take more than we agreed on, $25 to "hold the account" for another 7 days, at which time I would pay him $500 and then $50 a month thereafter for six months. This deal sounded good, but the problem is that he never said anything about it before and it's not in writing, it's just his word. He is probably lying and now I'm worried my bank account will get overdrawn.

On top of that, there's still the matter of the summons that I have been told by GC services that I will receive by the end of March. I have been told that I will be sued for the amount of $3140. At this point the only options given were to pay the full balance, pay a settlement, or get sued. The $500 was mentioned as something that would hold the account for 30 more days, not as part of a payment plan. My account is in pre-litigation. Nobody is going to give me a payment plan, which is another reason I think this guy is full of crap and was just trying to tap my bank account, which he can now do since I was an idiot and gave him my bank numbers.

The question is: how can I avoid a lawsuit? I do not want to go to court, because I will be liable for all of citibank's legal fees per the contract I signed when I applied for my card. I will do anything to avoid this. Please help, I am stressing about this and I just bought a tape recorder for nothing. Recording phone calls is illegal in this state without the permission of the other party, and I know the guy will not agree to having the phone call recorded, if he really is trying to screw me over, which he is.

Help.

[ScottGem]

The only way to avoid court is to pay the balance or settle the account with a written agreed upon settlement plan. If they won't offer sich a plan you have no option.

[bemyonlyone]

So I am being sued by citibank for the amount of $3140.

The thing is, I would do anything to avoid appearing in court for two reasons. One, I don't want a public record to show up on my credit report. Two, they are making ME responsible for all of their legal fees, as it was written into the contract I signed. I will never pay that off. It will be an absolute disaster.

I cannot pay the settlement of $2300, I just don't have that kind of money right now. I cannot pay the full amount. If I don't show up in court, I understand they will take my money anyway, but I can't be charged for legal fees since there was no court appearance... right?

[Fr_Chuck]

Wrong there is a court appearance, their attorneys show up, and they file a motion for a default judgement.

At this point you already have some of their legal fees due, for even preparing the paperwork. In the terms and conditions for your credit card you would have agreed to pay these fees.

So you will be billed their legal fees if you show up or not.

If you show up, you have at least a chance to challenge some of the charges, and to show you offered a payment plan they refused.

They will have a court hearing if you show up or not

[Razor_44]

How long is it usually before you get sued?

[tinsign]

YES, you will be held responsible for court fees even if you don't show up,. Do make sure you go.
You can't run from lifes problems they will still be there in the long run.. be mature and go to the court hearing

[ballengerb1]

I hear you saying you can not pay the $2300 but apparently you were also unwilling to make the minimum monthly installments. That probably was only $23 amonth so what's going on here? They will get a judgement and then you'll be paying anyway unless you've declared bandruptcy. Show up and offer a settlement, you do owe them the money.

[bemyonlyone]

I hear you saying you can not pay the $2300 but apparently you were also unwilling to make the minimum monthly installments. That probably was only $23 amonth so whats going on here? They will get a judgement and then you'll be paying anyway unless you've declared bandruptcy. Show up and offer a settlement, you do owe them the money.

I understand that but I don't have $2300 sitting in the bank to give them. I would come to some other kind of agreement but it seems next to impossible now.

The man at the collections agency said he would let me pay $500 then $50 a month and this would go away, but why should I trust him? He's there to get the company money, not to offer me a nice payment plan.

What happened is that I was out of work for a long time. And the payments were actually $60 a month when the account was still open.

I won't mind if the judgment is that I pay something each month, I just can't deal with them taking my bank accounts and wages. That's something I want desperately to avoid. I also wish I didn't have to get sued because I will have to pay their legal fees on top of everything else. I am just a student, I fell behind, I don't deserve this at all. I paid my credit card for a long time without any problems, and the second something goes wrong they're on me like hungry jackals.

[bemyonlyone]

I didn't mention this before, but the man at GC services, the collection agency, offered me a deal. He said if I paid him $500 next week he would let me pay $50 a month for 6 months and then my account would be back in good standing.

But I don't think I can trust him. I asked and others said I should get this agreement in writing because he is trying to screw me over. I don't know what to do. It sounds like this could be the answer to my problems, but he could be deceiving me and screwing me over. It's his job to get the company money, not to help me.

He said I wouldn't have to get sued, go to court, have a charge-off on my account. I would love to avoid these things... but it sounds too good to be true and he's just trying to screw me over in the end. :(

[Fr_Chuck]

Ok, it is best if you don't start a new thread, but merely add this as a post on your original thread, since I have no idea about what your other posts said??

But it is easy, tell him the plan sounds great, ask him to put in in writing, and you will send the check for the 500 the day the offer in writing gets to you. If he does not want to, then it was not a real offer.

[grammadidi]

I haven't read any of your previous threads, so excuse me if this doesn't fit or if you already know this...

I think this agent is mostly trying to get a promise to make a payment. If you admit debt, promise payment, make a payment, etc, then it begins the statute of limitations again. Secondly, he is just trying to get some money. I would definitely get him to put whatever it is into writing if you can... but he won't.

It is my experience and knowledge that once it goes to collection it is in collection... you cannot actually 'get' your account back in good standing by making payments. They buy the account from the creditor, so the creditor no longer owns it. I could be wrong, it's been awhile since I did credit counselling. You are always better to try to make deals with your creditors BEFORE it goes to collection. A lot of them will even waive fees if they feel you are genuinely making an attempt to pay off a bill and not charging any more.

If you are going to pay off the bill, a collection agency will hound you until it's paid as much as they legally can.

Didi

[bemyonlyone]

I haven't read any of your previous threads, so excuse me if this doesn't fit or if you already know this...

I think this agent is mostly trying to get a promise to make a payment. If you admit debt, promise payment, make a payment, etc, then it begins the statute of limitations again. Secondly, he is just trying to get some money. I would definitely get him to put whatever it is into writing if you can... but he won't.

It is my experience and knowledge that once it goes to collection it is in collection... you cannot actually 'get' your account back in good standing by making payments. They buy the account from the creditor, so the creditor no longer owns it. I could be wrong, it's been awhile since I did credit counselling. You are always better to try to make deals with your creditors BEFORE it goes to collection. A lot of them will even waive fees if they feel you are genuinely making an attempt to pay off a bill and not charging any more.

If you are going to pay off the bill, a collection agency will hound you until it's paid as much as they legally can.

Didi

But maybe he will let me pay according to the terms he came up with. If he lets me, that would be nice. I mean, I would be paying him, but admittedly it is much less than obviously he wants. The thing is he knows I want to pay and I DO NOT want to be sued and be responsible for citibank's legal fees. I know he is not obligated to help me, but the thing is that he would be helping the company get the money.

The written agreement would be useful for him as well. If I breached it, then I could be sued and then they would have the written agreement as proof that I didn't follow the terms. I realize that once it's in pre-litigation there is no agreeing to anything, but it seems kind of weird that he would say that to try and get me to pay when he could just let the whole thing go. Citi won't have to pay anything, I will be paying their legal fees, so it's actually quite profitable for them to come after me this way. Still, I think this is a clever trick to screw me over again.

[Lowtax4eva]

I would quickly call back the collection agent and pay the 500 if you can do so, why would the collection agent lie, like you said all they want is to collect the money, 500 now and a payment plan should be good enough for them to call off the court appearance.

[bemyonlyone]

I would quickly call back the collection agent and pay the 500 if you can do so, why would the collection agent lie, like you said all they want is to collect the money, 500 now and a payment plan should be good enough for them to call off the court appearance.

I will, I just need a written agreement in case he wasn't being honest. I have no real way of knowing if he's being honest or is just trying to screw me out of more money. I am willing to pay it if he is really being sincere. But as he's a collections agency worker, I have no way to determine this except to ask him to mail me a written agreement and I will send him the $500 immediately upon receiving it. I will even offer more money to hold my case until I can receive it. That is, if this is all legit. It might not be. They might just be trying to prove that I was lying about not having any money. I do have a very small amount of money, but I have other debts to pay, as he well knows.

[Fr_Chuck]

Never ever, NEVER do anything on a verbal agreement only with collection people, they lie , are taught to lie and do so to get you to make some payments because they make a commission on what you end up paying them.

They will tell you everything, and then do more when they start getting you to pay. They will get you to pay so much and still sue you in court.

And they don't need a new written agreement to sue you with, they have the original debt and your failure to pay it, they can take you to court now if they wanted to ( if this is still in the SOL time frame)

And he is not there to help you, ever, If you think he is helping you, that is a big red flag that something is not right.

[bemyonlyone]

Never ever, NEVER do anything on a verbal agreement only with collection people, they lie , are taught to lie and do so to get you to make some payments because they make a commission on what you end up paying them.

they will tell you everything, and then do more when they start getting you to pay. They will get you to pay so much and still sue you in court.

And they don't need a new written agreement to sue you with, they have the orginal debt and your failure to pay it, they can take you to court now if they wanted to ( if this is still in the SOL time frame)

And he is not there to help you, ever, If you think he is helping you, that is a big red flag that something is not right.

OK then I am just screwed.

I wish I could just get the full amount, but that's impossible. There is nobody I can ask for money, no relatives, nobody. I am just screwed.

[bemyonlyone]

Is there any way I can consolidate this account or is it too late?

[joeq]

Let me tell you the real deal, I was sued by credit cards too. Here we go, you have a lot of options. Of course I recommend settling but if this is not an option. OK.. First stop talking to them immedialty! There job is to collect. They will threaten to sue. But sueing cost money,
So unless you are served they could be just threatening you. 1. if they are calling you, write them a letter stating that they are no longer alllowed to call you. This is part of the fair credit act. Lega;;y once they get this leter they have to stop calling. No you won't fall prey to the scams. Truct me they are there to collect and that is there main objective.
2. to sue you they have to actually file in the caourt house and seve you papers. They may never serve you or just don't get served?? That's right just don't get served. That will be tought if they have your address. I had a sever knock on my door at least 20 times over a 12 month period. I jusat didn't open the door! It was tought!! I perked my car across the street. He finally caught my wife bringing home groceries, she told him she was divorced and he hasn't come nack since. Now this isn't for everbody but I owed 10,000 on a credit card. And know why did I want my wages garnished. So you may get lucky and not get sued. BUT write that letter. If they can call you they will keep doing it over and over and stress you out. So write the letter stop all the calls. Start saving up some money in a saing account. That way if in six months you do get served you cann call and settle, money talks!! You can some times settle for 50%! Usaully your settle for less if you hae not been served. Good luck, you'll get through this!!

[barato56]

Well what you can do is close the bank account you have the problem with. Collection agencies will make deals, I know that for a fact. But then get something in writing. I got in the credit card trap and NEVER again a credit card.