Unifund Corp
Date: Wed, 09/17/2008 - 17:03
Further more, this was a credit card from 7 going on 8yrs ago for Citibank with a $300 limit. i had the card for over a year, was making payments on it and was 2 days late with a payment and they smacked me a late payment fee which sent me "over my limit" (of $300) and then they smacked me with an over the limit fee. After that it spiraled and i tried to work with them which was almost impossible and my $300 limit ended up being over $900. I tried to "settle" for about $500 or so at tax time and they point blank told me they wouldn't take less than what they wanted and it was more than $500 AND they told me they WOULDN'T accept ANY partial payments.
I told them if they won't and/or can't accept what i have then i can't pay what i owe them. It was written off eventually and the next thing i know i'm hit with garnishment.
That's not the worst part. Due to them buying the "old" debt and adding fees and so on they are asking for $1750!!!! All of this for a $300 credit card.
Is this even legal!? For them to take things to court and order garnishment without even contacting me or given a chance to explain in court and to be required to pay 1750!?
I'm now a single mother of two kids and actually doing ok. i have garnishment and i might not be ok.
Go and get the case reopened
First thing I would do would be to research your states Statutes/civil court rules and/or find an attorney (most times someone with some good research reading can do it just fine yourself)...and then find out how you can request for your judgement to be reopened. Get it reopened, show up for all court cases, and go from there.
hth!
ang
Hiya-- ok, the very first thing you need to do is contact you
Hiya--
ok, the very first thing you need to do is contact your court clerk's office for your county. You also need to contact the clerk's office for the court in whatever county your old address is in. Here's the thing--the only legal way for them to garnish your wages on a credit card debt is to take you to court and get a judgment. May I ask what state you live in? Some states dont even allow garnishments at all for credit debts.
OK, when you contact the clerks offices, you are looking to see if your name has shown up in any civil suits. This will tell you if they actually bothered to sue you. If they have not, then you need to immediately file a complaint with the FTC and also with the bar association for the state that this attorney's office is in. It is 100% illegal to garnish your wages without getting a judgment, when we're talking about credit debts.
OK, if you do find that there has been a lawsuit against you, youre going to want to review the entire docket for that case--you will be able to find out every step that has happened. you are looking for the early stages of the docket, when it comes to service of summons.
that was me up there....ok, to continue.... youre looking for
that was me up there....ok, to continue....
youre looking for the docket entry about the service of the summons. Compare what the plaintiff told the court to what you know--if they claim they properly served you, but the address is the one you didnt live at anymore, then they are perjuring themselves big time.
If you find that there is a case with a judgment against you, your first step would be to send a certified letter to both the court and the plaintiff, the letter should say that you hereby make motion to vacate the judgment on the grounds of improper service. You will need to state that you were either never served, or that the plaintiff served the summons on an address that they knew to be old and no longer valid. This is a fairly common trick nowadays--they do this to get the default judgment, even though it is usually illegal.
