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Howard Lee Schiff send me summons. What should I do?  

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I was sent a collection notice by law office of Howard Lee Schiff, PC. I responded with a letter requesting validation. No response. Several months later they mailed me a summons for small claims court. I guess I was under the impression that they have to respond to validate as the request was sent within 30-days. Should I respond denying allegations as they did not validate? Or just attempt to settle. I don’t want to risk a judgment, but it seems extremely unfair that they can just ignore my request for validation and still proceed with a suit.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Michael
 

asked Nov 27, 2007 05:54 PM

hazeleyes61878
Best Answer
3
best answer

A consumer should always send demands for verification of a consumer debt by Cert/RRR. Period. It is well worth the few bucks.

A consumer who exercises his or her verification rights within 30 days from the receipt of the first letter enjoys a break from ALL collection activity including lawsuits and credit reporting until the DC provides the verification of the debt. To do otherwise violates the fdcpa.

A consumer should ALWAYS respond to a consumer debt lawsuit or arbitration claim by filing an Answer or Response. Contact an attorney for help.

answered Nov 28, 2007 03:32 PM

JAM

26 Answers

2

Definitely respond. Even if you go to court, you have them on a $1,000 fdcpa violation - Section 809(b).

b) If the consumer notifies the debt collector in writing within the thirty-day period described in subsection (a) that the debt, or any portion thereof, is disputed, or that the consumer requests the name and address of the original creditor, the debt collector shall cease collection of the debt, or any disputed portion thereof, until the debt collector obtains verification of the debt or any copy of a judgment, or the name and address of the original creditor, and a copy of such verification or judgment, or name and address of the original creditor, is mailed to the consumer by the debt collector.

Them filing a lawsuit against is considered collection activity, and as such is prohibited as mentioned above.

answered Nov 27, 2007 06:20 PM

Anonymous
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i was taken to court because i fell behind when i was preganant and on bedrest i was struggling to put food on the table and pay my morgage so the first bill that was not paid was my credit card- its just what i had to do. so now i am getting back on my feet and i am able to work. At court i said yes the debt was mine and we set up a payment plan. at first i offered to pay $400 per month, but then when i went back to work full time (after having my baby) i needed to start daycare shortly after that which sucked up some of the $400 that i initially said i could pay. I have paid $200 a month for the last 4 years and have no idea what my balance is- they do not contact me at all except once per year with a letter to the court to say that i do not need a court date since i pay every month. they are definatly not good at communicating- and to the person that said stop being lazy and get a job to pay your bills- screw off. sometimes things in life dont work out exaclty as planned. I did what i had to do to ensure that i had a happy healthy baby. after loosing 3 still borns and haveing a teenage son who almost died in my arms at 2 weeks old- i was willing to screw up my credit in order to ensure i finially had a second child. Its not that i didnt want to pay- belive me i had a credit score of 850 before all this now im in the 700 and getting better every month. I am a nurse and have always worked 2 to 3 jobs at a time to live a great life. so if you dont understand something- dont assume that you can judge a situation. there are way too many scams out there- validitity is most important before you start paying a debt. my father spent money paying off a debt he did not owe- he only owed $700 to a hospital and he ended up paying $10,000 because he just assumed it was his debt if they had all his contact info. now he cant get his money back.

answered Oct 10, 2011 09:37 PM

Anonymous
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The above post was probably written by a Schiff emploee (aka LOSER!) or some $8/hr collection LOSER!!!!! People get into financial trouble for many reasons, not just laziness or excessive spending,,,,some people get serious illnesses and cannot work for long periods, some get laid off, go thru divorces, etc,,,,,,but no matter what the reason, it NEVER excuses low life collection agency SCUM from bullying, lying, name calling and  harrassing people about these debts! I am currently dealing with this very sleazy law/collection firm over a small credit card debt,,,,,they have attempted to sue me in small claims court and a date has been set as I am disputing the amount, yet they continue to send me robo phone calls harrassing me,,,,,I have talked to two $8/hr loser females who are dumber than farm animals at the Schi\ff firm and will probabaly settle but both calls became antagonistic with the 2nd female going beserk! I must admit, I did call that second wench every name in the book and it made me feel GREAT!  Can you imagine what losers the lawyers must be?! Who goes to law school and thinks, "Oh yeah, I want to chase people for small debts that can only be in small claims court"? LOSERS! Obvioulsy, no Harvard, Yale, Columbia or Stanford grads at that sleazy firm! I am guessing this "law firm is filled with people that went to Suffolk law, Franklin Pierce law, U of Maine law and other very lowly ranked law schools!  FUCK LEE SCHIFF EMPLOYEES!

answered Apr 22, 2011 06:16 PM

Anonymous
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No matter what you do, respond. If you don't they will get a default judgment. Go to court showing the validation letter you sent to law office of Howard Lee Schiff and the return receipt for it. Ask for supporting documents that proves their claim.

I have yet to goto court so I don't know exactly how it works, but if I was in your situation, that is what I would do.

answered Nov 27, 2007 06:12 PM

0

That is true! You could counter sue.

answered Nov 27, 2007 06:35 PM

0

Unfortunately I do not have a receipt. So I guess it would be my word against theirs. I have to settle this account anyway, and it is not that big, yet it still bothers me that they just ignored my request when we all know they received it. I've got another month to respond so we'll see how it goes, I guess, when I call to settle. Thank you for responding.

answered Nov 28, 2007 01:13 PM

0

Send a second letter. In it, mention that you sent a letter previously and no response was received. Include a copy of the initial letter, and send it CMRRR.

This way, you'll have proof that you sent a letter that they didn't respond to, or at the very least, you'll have proof that they received the second validation letter. So, even if it goes to court and they claim they never got the letter the first time, they can't say they didn't get the second letter which had the first letter attached, because they signed for it.

answered Nov 28, 2007 02:45 PM

Anonymous
0

That's a good idea. Being that it is not in the specified 30-days from the original contact isn't it a mute point? They don't have to respond. I feel my options are:

1. Do as you recommended and see where it goes...an answer is due by Jan 3 2008;

2. Answer the complaint as a counter claim for $1000 per a violation of the fdcpa;

3. Contact there rodents and attempt to settle

I will have to do 3 eventually. And 1 and 2 make me nervous because I do not want a judgement by these clowns.

Ugh! I hate being in this position. It's hopeless.

answered Nov 28, 2007 02:59 PM

0

hazel-I feel for you here...hang in there!

Definitely answer the summons. As far as your counter-suit, it would be tough as your have no evidence (other than a copy of a letter) of when it was mailed and recieved by the law office.

answered Nov 28, 2007 03:19 PM

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