[Reverie]

I recently received a phone call from a collection agency in NY (Hoffman, Weinberg & O'Brien). The agent was incredibly rude and threatened to sue. The debt is roughly $2,300, although the original debt was only $800.

To explain, I married at 19 and my now ex-husband effectively destroyed my credit before I was 20. Many of the purchases he signed for without my knowledge.

The last time I was able to make any payment was in December of 2002. The bank sold the debt within just a few months. It has bounced from collection agency to collection agency and I have not been able to settle it. (I am just now at a point in life where I can pay my bills. I have no credit cards, no house, no car - in my name.) The phone number the agent left for me to return a phone call is invalid. I have received nothing in writing, only a heated phone call with the agent and a message on my cell phone several days later asking for a return phone call regarding a summons in my county (and an incorrect phone number might I reiterate.)

I really would like to avoid going to court over a fairly trivial debt. I am just totally at a loss for how to proceed. In Texas I know that my wages cannot be garnished. However, I am under the impression that they could freeze my accounts. This is a problem since I am self-employed and have no way of doing business without my bank accounts. (Ironically my accounts are with the same bank that the credit card was with-Wells Fargo.)

I am wondering if offering a settlement would help me to avoid a summons, but how much would be appropriate to offer (I cannot afford to offer the alleged full amount,) and to whom do I offer?

Any information or ideas on what to do would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[mr.yet]

Send them a Notice of Dispute for this alleged debt, have them validicate it, request the original contract you signed and an accounting of it.

[gizmopea]

I spoke to a lawyer in Houston last night regarding the same matter. In Texas, a judge usually will not issue a seizure on your bank account for a credit card debt. They save that stuff for drug related and bad people... Gizmopea