Contacted By Local Law Firm

Around 30 days or so if they wanted to push the issue. They would have to serve you and then you get around 20 days to respond I think. I would dispute at least a portion of the penalties and interest as excessive. It is possible that going to court might save you money if the judge finds in your favor.

Thanks! Debt Samaritan, I guess I would need a lawyer at that point??? and will they get a garnishment at the same hearing??? or will that come at a differnt time???

Based on your first post you said you paid most of the original debt off. Unless you owe a few thousand in penalties and interest I would be surprised if they sue. I would probably start by sending them a validation letter requesting specifically for them to show how they calculated what you owe. At that point I would dispute all the penalties and a least a portion of the interest as excessive. From their I would try to make a lump sum settlement in full and get these guys out of your life. I suspect they would probably take a settlment offer of some kind.

It would probably be wise to at least make an initial consultation with a few lawyers in case this goes to court. If it does go to court then the first hearing will be used to determine if you owe money and set a judgment. I think generally a second hearing occurs when the collection agency decides to act on that judgment and either garnish or use other methods to collect the money.

I am in a similar situation. I payed off most of the original credit card debt, and now mainly just owe interest, penalties, and attorney fees. I was making monthly payments, but had to stop when I couldn't afford them any longer. I didn't hear from them for several months, and then they sent me a letter saying they would settle the balance for a greatly reduced price. The catch is that the letter said I had to respond within 10 days, but I didn't receive the letter until 14 days after it was dated. The letter said I could contact them by email, which I did, explaining that I just received the letter, and was interested in resolving the debt for good. I never heard back from them, but recently I was contacted be a "Daniel's Law Office", saying that they are trying to collect a debt on behalf of Bank of America, who bought MBNA (the original creditor). I just sent them a request for a debt validation, and am wondering where it's going to go from here. If it does go to court, I am wondering if the judge will be sympathetic because I paid off most of the original balance. It kills me that I may have to pay attorney fees to a different debt collector than the original one.

Make them show a detailed itemized calculation of how they determined the amount you owe. You can then dispute all attorney fees because they are not part of any contract you signed. They would have to take you to court and get the judge to rule in favor of those fees and I doubt a judge would do that especially on fees from a different company.

I just sent them a debt validation letter. I am curious to see if they can even provide any proof of their right to collect on this debt. They didn't even put an account number on the letter they sent me. It's kind of funny, they claim to be trying to collect this debt on behalf of Bank of America, and Bank of America just bought Merril Lynch for $50 billion dollars, making them one of the largest Banks in the world. I doubt Bank of America is losing sleep over some interest and attorney fees from 5.5 years ago.

Yeah BoA is out of the picture on this one. This is a junk debt buyer you are dealing with.

I have done some research on line about this particular CA, and their name came up multiple times as a defendant in law suits. Some of these suits were for violation of the fdcpa, and there were other violations. In the cases I looked at the CA lost, and had to pay the plaintiff an award. Any idea how frequently junk debt buyers go to court as the plaintiff, and how sucessful they generally are? Right now the ball is in their court, as I am waiting for the debt validation to arrive by mail.

Hey! thanks again for all the info... I offered payments on this for a second time and was denied!!! They want prof of income and bank account numbers for auto with draw!!! Are they crazy??? If I ask for a validation of debt won't they just sue anyway??? The company the Law Firm claims to repesent has a real "nasty rep" for going after ppl...