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Hi everyone,

I was posting here a few months ago about storefront payday loans I've unfortunately defaulted on. I live in Ohio, and I put the pdls with T&C debt management program back in March 2007. So far, all of the pdls have accepted payments and the proposals from T&C and they have not returned any of the payments to T&C.

CheckSmart has accepted every payment as well, but today I received a non-certified letter in the mail from Franklin County Municipal Court / Small Claims Division / Check Resoultion Services stating that CheckSmart has scheduled me for a check resolution meeting later this month. It doesn't say in the letter if check resolution meeting is the same as abritation and/or mediation, so can someone tell me what exactly is a check resolution meeting?

I called T&C and talked to them about the letter, and T&C is going to mail to me documentation showing that I have CheckSmart in T&C's Debt Management Program, and that I have made monthly payments to CheckSmart via T&C. T&C said they will also be sending me copies of the checks that were sent to CheckSmart, and copies of any checks that CheckSmart has cashed (I'm not sure at this time whether CheckSmart has cashed any of the checks or not, T&C is looking into that).

I've never been to court before for anything, can anyone who's from Ohio give me any insight on what to expect when I go to the check resolution meeting at the Small Claims Division later this month? And what is a check resolution? Is it the same as mediation or abritation? And is CheckSmart required by Ohio Law to accept a repayment plan from me? I can't find anywhere in the laws if they are required to or not.

I apologize for this being so long. Please, anyone, help me if you can - I'm a bit worried about what I'm going to have to face. Sad

Thanks!

Misty

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:53 pm Subject:

I am not from ohio but here is what I could find on google for you:

http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/dispute_resolution/resources/publication s/mip.asp

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 5:59 pm Subject:

I am from Ohio, and live in Columbus. Sometimes referred to as the "bad check" program, this program is designed to bring check writers whose checks get returned for insufficient funds and the merchants to whom this checks were made payable together to resolve the dispute in an effort to avoid filing criminal charges. There is not much more on the cities website, as the above statement is taken from the website. Anyway it is http://www.columbuscityattorney.org/

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:05 pm Subject:

After I posted the above, I found another link that gives you step by step what will happen
http://www.columbuscityattorney.org/pdf/09-16%20Check%20Program%20v2.p df

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:16 pm Subject:

I See You....that was really great information!! I had never heard of that before. I am from a different county in Ohio though. Ladybugmisty, just make sure that you go to this meeting fully armed with all your statements from T & C. That will be important to prove that you have been making payments.

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:53 pm Subject:

But isn't defaulting on a PDL in Ohio not a criminal offense--so why would this storefront do this? Is this like arbitration in Ohio?

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 7:57 pm Subject:

I am really not sure....we will see what I See You says about this one........I always thought it wasn't a bad check if it was for a pdl......I get really confused sometimes!

Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2007 8:12 pm Subject:

The payday info website says it is not a criminal action,the supreme court I was reading say it is a mediation program to keep the courts out of this,and his pdf states it could be criminal.I am one lost pup on this one.Ohio has now succeeded in making law more confusing than my La. Napoleonic code and that is a very high achievement. Confused

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:23 am Subject:

I can help you out with this as they sent me to the same thing last month. You sit in a room with a rep of checksmart and a courthouse employee and try to come out to a payment agreement. I believe they will try to get you to pay off your balance within 4 months but I was able to talk them into 6 months. I am sending town and country an extra 50 dollars a month but I will be honest with you, the stuff from town and country didn't matter for me. They (checksmart and the county employee) never looked at it once nor a budget I have set up. The county employee just sat in the corner and said not one word except to induce me to the checksmart employee. If you have any more questions ask away, I am from Franklin County and with Town and Country since April 2007.

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 1:39 pm Subject:

I am not 100% sure if it is criminal or not. I would think that the City Attorney office would not waist the time doing this, unless they could file charges on someone. But I could be wrong, and they may do it just to try to help out the check places. Not sure.
Call the Columbus Police Fraud and Forgery unit at 614-645-4750. They deal with bad checks as well, a detective will be able to tell you if they can file on you or not if you don't show, or don't work out a repayment plan.

Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:12 pm Subject:

If I remember right there was a post the other day and brownsugar's attorney said a storefront COULD press criminal charges for a bad check-she is in OH as well.

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 7:56 pm Subject:

Ryan N, thanks for sharing your experience on mediation with CheckSmart. My upcoming meeting with CheckSmart is a mediation meeting, and the Small Claims Court division is handling the mediation. Did Small Claims Court handle your mediation as well? I don't think my meeting is the same thing as what I See You is talking about. My letter did mention the word mediation in it along with check resolution. None of the steps that the check resolution program that I See You found was followed - every correspondence I received from CheckSmart was not sent to me by certified mail, and the letter I received from the Small Claims Court was not ceritified. CheckSmart correspondence and Small Claims Court letter was sent to me via regular mail

Ryan N, did your letter say the following on it: Small Claims Court / Check Resolution Services?

And did your letter also say: CheckSmart is seeking payment for a loan they gave to you?

Thanks!

Misty

Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2007 8:31 pm Subject:

For anyone that's interested, I found more info about check resolution services, and the Columbus Bar Association of Franklin County, OH has a link about Franklin County Municipal Court's new program called Check and Credit Resolution Service aka CARS. The service was created specifically for payday loans that go into default, as well as other loans and some checks that go into default. Here is the link to read more info about it:

http://www.cbalaw.org/news/index.php?y=2007&i=354

What I'm relieved about is it's a service made specifically for payday loans that go into default. This helps me breathe easier about my own upcoming mediation meeting, since CARS is listed in my letter from Small Claims Court.

Misty

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:50 am Subject:

That is great information and thanks for sharing that. But I have one question: if you are with a program like T and C and they are sending payments to Checksmart which are being cashed by them, isn't that proof that they have accepted your arrangement? If they hadn't cashed them that would be one thing, but everything I have ever been told about a program says that if the creditor is cashing the checks that are being sent, that shows that they have accepted the arrangement.

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 3:50 pm Subject:

T&C has copies of the checks they sent to CheckSmart for repayment, but CheckSmart has not cashed any of them. CheckSmart told T&C yesterday that they have already sent the checks back to T&C, but T&C says they have not received any of the checks back, and they think CheckSmart is just holding on to the checks without cashing them. ***Shrugs*** I'm not sure what's going on, but I guess I'll find out when I meet with CheckSmart soon. T&C will be sending me copies of the check payments and other documentation showing that I am trying to repay my loan. Hopefully, that will be helpful for me at mediation.

Misty

Posted: Sat Jul 14, 2007 4:30 pm Subject:

Holding on to the checks without cashing them is stupid. What are they trying to prove by doing that? They can't say they haven't been getting paid because the proof is right there. Not cashing the checks is their problem, not yours. Good luck, and I hope they get the book thrown at them!

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