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Summons Question for Arbitration Case - Blitt & Gaines

Date: Wed, 01/06/2010 - 10:22

Submitted by bshriver15
on Wed, 01/06/2010 - 10:22

Posts: 7 Credits: [Donate]

Total Replies: 11


I received an alias summons yesterday, Jan 5 (wasn't delivered to me since I wasn't home but given to my girlfriend). It was 4 pages and the first states at the top "This is an arbitration case". Can somebody explain what that means? I live in Illinois and Blitt & Gaines is listed as the plaintiff and this is for a Citibank account of mine that I last paid on in August 2008. I'm not disputing the amount owed (around $11k). I lost my job twice in the last year and a half and used all my savings during my time being unemployed. I made the possible mistake (judging by comments on this site) of signing up with Debt Settlement USA in Nov 2008. I'm waiting to hear back from them about what I should do with this. The summons says I'm suppose to appear in court on Jan 22. The 4 pages include what appears to be my county's court form telling me my court date, case # and who the plaintiff is. The second page looks like a forum that Citibank or Blitt & Gaines files with my county that explains their case. The third page is an affidavit from Citibank saying the amount of money I owe. The last page is a copy of a Citibank statement dated July 2009. There is no Answer document that some people talk about in some of the posts I've read on here. Can anybody give me any advice on what I should do or what to expect? Thanks in advance for all your help.

Brock


I will say one thing after reviewing your post, an affidavit is heresay in a court of law, but only if you object and state such. This all sounds fishy to me, but wait until skydvr looks this over and replies, I am sure he will have some good advice on how to proceed. By the way, did you call your county court house and ask if this is legit? That's what I would do.


lrhall41

Submitted by Shazzers on Thu, 01/07/2010 - 07:31

( Posts: 17344 | Credits: )


I looked the court case up online and it is indeed real. There was one thing that I specifically had a question about. I did a free credit report check yesterday (all 3 of them) and this account with Citibank didn't show up on any of them. There was no entry for it under any other name or anything on the credit report. Is that normal? Thanks again.


lrhall41

Submitted by bshriver15 on Thu, 01/07/2010 - 07:35

( Posts: 7 | Credits: )


Quote:

Originally Posted by bshriver15
Does anybody know if it's normal, odd or something else for an account to not show up on a credit report? The Citibank account in which Blitt & Gaines is seeking a judgment for doesn't show up on any of the 3 credit reports. Is there any advantage for me with that? Thanks.


It sounds fishy to me, but I would rather someone with more experience in this area of the law answer you, so please hang in there in hopes that someone will be along soon to reply.


lrhall41

Submitted by Shazzers on Sat, 01/09/2010 - 16:27

( Posts: 17344 | Credits: )


hiya--sorry for taking so long to get back to you

OK, first, I wouldnt be too worried about the credit report thing. Actually, I would call that a blessing right now, because if it showed up on your report then your credit score would drop a lot for it.

Alright, you do not dispute that you owe citibank the money. If youre certain that it is your account, and if the attorney is representing citibank itself and not some third-party debt collector, then the FDCPA does not in any way apply to citibank's case. If youre being sued by citibank themselves, then I wouldnt fight the affidavit because they will simply produce the records and you will have only wasted time in the effort. Shaz is right in that normally, it is a good idea to contest such an affidavit, but when dealing with the original creditor, they WILL have those records to back it up. As long as you do not dispute what is on the affidavit, then I would not object to its use in this case.

If you know you owe the money, and you know that citibank is who you owe it to, and you agree on the amount they say you owe, then this would be the time to try to work out some kind of settlement with them. Thats what I would do. If Blitt & Gaines is the listed plaintiff, and citibank is not at all involved in this on those papers, then I would fight the affidavit. You can object to the affidavit's use, stating that it is hearsay and that it therefore should not be admitted into evidence. The trick with third party debt collectors is to force them to prove their claims. If they cannot, then they should not be allowed to get judgments against people. It would help if we knew who exactly the listed plaintiff is and other details of what they sent you. If you like, you can scan and email me the documents--my email is the same as my screen name here, at yahoo. Feel free to black out any personal info that you would want to keep private, but I would not do that on the originals that they sent you, only on the scan copies. I would be happy to look them over and give you more detailed information.


lrhall41

Submitted by skydivr7673 on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 05:27

( Posts: 2036 | Credits: )


Thanks skydvr. I sent you an email with the documents attached. Blitt & Gaines is the plaintiff listed. There are only references to Citibank as being the original creditor. I'm assuming the affidavit is from a Citibank employee but it doesn't specifically state that. The title of the person doing the affidavit is "Authorized Agent". The top of the affidavit reads "Citibank (South Dakota), N.A." - Plaintiff vs my name as the defendant. Another page is the actual Complaint filed with the court here in my county. It also says Citibank South Dakota is the Plaintiff and it lists Blitt & Gaines as "Attorney for Plaintiff". So I'm not really sure but I still think it's Blitt & Gaines is basically a glorified CA.

Ideally, I can settle this account for around 50% of what I owe. I'm not trying to get out of this by saying somebody did something wrong. I just don't know if I should tell them that up front. I don't want them to use anything I say against me though. I don't know if Blitt & Gaines will settle for much less than 100%. I hired a debt settlement company to do this part but it was obviously a waste of my money. I just hope i can get this worked out. I was finally getting back on my feet after being unemployed for about 6 months in the last year and a half. This would just kill me if I have to pay it all back. My credit is already shot too because of going the debt settlement route. I wish I would have found this forum before I did that. Things would be SO much different. Thanks for all your help. You guys have been great.


lrhall41

Submitted by bshriver15 on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 08:22

( Posts: 7 | Credits: )