Help! No Communication at all, now this?

Have you checked your local courthouse filings to see if a lawsuit has been filed?

Agreed. Call the courthouse and see if a suit has been filed against you. Sometimes, there can be a lag time of several weeks between the time the suit is filed and the time you are served depending on where you live. Hanna does have a past history of falsifying service records where the defendant wasn't actually served, yet they filed for a default judgement anyway, so be on the safe side and double check with your local courthouse. BTW, never ever use one of the attorneys who sends you a flier in the mail after you have been sued. I made that mistake and he screwed up my case so badly that I had to hire another attorney just to undo his mess. I know you said that you are already working with an attorney, but for future reference, here is a link to a reputable organization that can point you to a good consumer attorney in your area:
http://www.naca.net/

Unregistered, Soaplady, thank you for responding. I was really alarmed when I received an advertisement in the mail from an attorney that said, "We found that you recently had a judgment or garnishment placed against you. If this is the first time you're hearing about it, sorry to hear that!!" When I called my lawyer, he said I needed to go to the courthouse and fill out what's called a traverse. He said that it puts a block against the judgment or garnishment and a court date is set up. We'd have to work it out in court.

Soaplady, I will be going to the courthouse on Monday. Even though I don't know for sure yet, I am quite certain they probably did file something because one, Hanna & Associates is a slimy bunch who do not follow the rules. Two, because there would have been no reason for that other guy to send me his flier if something had not been filed. He wouldn't have known to reach me.

Unregistered, don't worry. I'm not using that lawyer that sent his advertisement to me. For one, he's a bankruptcy lawyer and I'm not filing for bankruptcy. Two, I have a lawyer who said he would give me as much advice as I need. I might have to find another one now, though, because my current one says he can't represent me for whatever reason. At least he's giving me advice.

Have you tried looking it up on your county court house website?

I went to my county's website, but I couldn't find where I could look up the information.

hiya lilstar...

Well, firs of all, youre more likely to be facing a lawsuit instead of a garnishment order, because you said that you have been dealing with them for the last few months. Even if they were to get a default judgment, it would likely take them at least that long from the time they first filed to garnishment.

Definitely check with your court clerk. But I am curious--you said that an attorney told you that what they had was legal validation. I have this funny feeling that it isnt. Could you go into more detail about exactly what they sent you in response to your DV request? I dont know why, but my gut tells me that the answer to this might lie right there. More on that later...please get back to us, and also, please let us know what state you live in.

got a similar letter in the mail a few weeks ago. They want to collect a debt that i am working to pay off. Wonder if it went to a collection agency cause i missed a few payments and now they want their money badly when they the banks got a bailout from us taxpayers. We should sue them cause they are investing in the wrong things and taking advantage of us taxpayers. They want even more money where will we get it. The us gov't already borrowed how many billion$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ from China. Can go on and on about this but its time i have to move on

Alice...you in collections because you are past due or a charge off. The bail out excuse gets pretty old, so dont try it on the CA. You legally owe the bank....they could end up suing you.

Hiya Skydivr,

The letter I received that was "validation" was a letter from, I believe, a paralegal saying, "The credit card company says you owe this. The account was opened on this date and it's from this company. It's for this amount. They say it's currently active and owing! We want to resolve this by X date. signed...." I believe as much as your gut is telling you that the letter is NOT proper validation. My reaction to the letter was that it was ridiculous. If they were trolling people's credit records, it looked like something they could take right off of my credit record. It had no proof of signature, contract, or anything.

If you want a good example of the letter, another person who posted under "Hanna & Associates" thread said they received the EXACT same letter. It's almost word for word the same description. I copied it from the forum, this is what that person said:

"The attorney never replied, instead he had his "legal assistant" to reply, basically stating that, "yep our Client says you owe this much money"...no Validation, no copy of the signed original agreement....nothing !"


I live in the state of Georgia. Unfortunately, I live in the county right next to where the Hanna offices are located and I work as a contract employee for the school system in the county where the Hanna offices are located. Too close for my liking. :P

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so, is this an old account? Or is this an account that the original creditor is still involved with? You need to find out if the plaintiff is the original creditor or if it is a third party debt collector. If the plaintiff is the original creditor, then they will have the documentation needed to prove their case. If the account was sold to someone else, they might not have it. Either way, you need to find out what youre dealing with on this one. Please let me know once you get details from the court clerks office.

If this account is one that is handled the typical way that Hanna & Associates handles their case, it is one where they set up the lawsuit in the name of Capital One. So far, from all the examples I've read from this site (and there were sooooo many) my case is being handled the same exact way. You send in a validation request, they send back the bogus letter. They file a lawsuit in the name of Capital One, but it's not actually. You meet them in court and they try to get you to admit one way or the other that it is yours. You ask for further validation ("I neither confirm nor deny that I owe the debt until I get validation.") They don't have it, they dismiss the case. That's what I'm hoping for. However, if that's not the case and I have to go before the judge, I'm taking my chances going before the judge. The truth of the matter is, I'm not just someone who blew off my responsibilities. I had a good job and kept paying my bills up until I got released from my position. This was in 2008 around the time the economy started going south. I ended up getting a job as a substitute teacher (which is just a contract position) about half a year later and I'm lucky if I bring in 800 dollars a month. I don't have money for food, I've been eating at my mom's house and she's in the same position I'm in. Lucky for me, she cares about my siblings and myself that much. My roommate almost lost his house this past summer because I couldn't find a summer job. We had the electricity turned off because we couldn't pay the bill. We got it back on right away, but we had to get them to bend with us and make special arrangements. I had to go back to school just to get school loans and catch us back up. As a substitute I have to drive all over the county to get to jobs. I've had to turn jobs down because I didn't have the money to put gas in my tank and didn't have the gas to drive.

I'll let you know what happens when I go to the court office tomorrow.

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hey soaplady i think Chase sold the debt to that firm to collect their money which i am getting ready to pay them or settle the debt. How could they do that just because i didn't pay two months they sent it to collections. Might have to watch out for another letter. they chase is the only one's so far who have sent me to collections other than the pdls.

Skydivr, I didn't need to go down to the courthouse. I found the number and gave the clerk a call. There was not much they could tell me, which is why I did not want to go down there. What she did say was that I was in the system with a lawsuit pending, but that papers had not been served yet. She said if I went down to the courthouse, they could serve me today. However, as I am trying to follow your guidance and the guidance of the others, I didn't want to take that route quite yet.

Besides that, like I said, the letter I received from them that they called "validation" just gave the account number, the company it came from, the month and year the account was opened and how much I allegedly owe on the account. It also said that the CA spoke to the original creditor and they said that "the amount is accurate and owing." Another person on this site said that the information they gave in response is hearsay. They gave no response to any of the information I requested. My lawyer said that this would serve as accurate validation in a court of law.