collection agency- now what?

You can but the fact is that Citibank may not want to wait.

Normally I would say yes , show the judge. The judge might be more lenient on you since you joined a program to try and resolve the debt rather than trying to avoid you financial obligations. If you go to court also have a budget with you breaking down your expenses so you can also show proof of the financial hardship so you can justify to judge that you had no choice and that you wanted to pay back something to the creditor instead of filing bankruptcy.

Honestly though, if you just joined a debt settlement program and the account is already pre-legal " with a law firm " I suggest taking it out of the settlement program and handling it yourself. You will not be able to build funds fast enough to make a settlement offer with that law firm before they sue you since most likely your first 2-3 payments will likely go to the settlement company. Did the settlement company that enrolled you know that the Citi account was with a law firm because if they did they really had no business enrolling that debt into the program ?

I been in settlement program since dec. 08.,
I did inform my settlement company, today.

citibank among other 3 different accts has been enrolled ever since 08.

Im afraid other 3 acct. might ended up the same.

Anyone with same experince?

Be careful with Citibank. They were the most aggressive with me when I was in a debt settlement program.

Last payment was April 08. July 08 had letter from local collection law firm. October 08 they sued. At that point they only agreed have me pay 100% balance over 24 months. And even though I agreed they went and got a default judgment.

Is it a local collection law firm? If so I would do what you can to work out a settlement directly with them, then remove them from your debt settlement program.

BTW..this was a Home Depot account, balance just under $8,000.

Yes, it is local firm. Just wondering why you default?
Have you responded to the letter?

Im still confused, what can my settlement company can help at this point?

Well a couple issues for me. I had just started the settlement program in May 08. With all the fees being taken out by the settlement company (over $700 first 4 months then about $360 after) there wasn't much saved up when they sued me. So the settlement company couldn't settle with them.

Then I didn't really know what I was doing, and I don't think the settlement company was aggressive with sending out DV's and I didn't do it myself because I was just sending everything to the settlement company.

Once I was served all the settlement company did was to work out the agreement to pay over 24 months. Pretty much I knew I was not going to win any court case so I didn't go, maybe I should have just because. Anyway I had the agreement to pay over 24 months but they went ahead and got the default judgment anyway. Like I said they were very aggressive with me.

Only good thing is that there is no interest being added. I'm just paying the principle.

Knowing what I do now I would have tried harder to work out the agreement and prevent the judgment. But maybe they only gave me 24 months because they were going to get the judgment. Usually you have to pay in lump sum or over a few months not 24.

^ i am pretty much in same boat..i sent the letter to my settlement company..they gave me different address to send to the law firm.

I feel i cannot be relying with settlement company, what you experienced what im afraid of...

what you've done differently?

thx.