being sued

No, this is not normal at all, and it sounds like a bullying tactic. You are doing the right thing by keeping in touch with them, and asking for some type of negotiation. I am told that goes a long with with the judges, if in fact, this does go to court.

What is your personal situation? Does it makes sense to sue you? Do you have assets that they can attach a judgement too? One way to avoid being sued in the first place, is having lien put on yourself. I was forced to this, because I got so many bogus lawsuits of people just coming after me because they thought I had money. My hubsband's company put the lien on, to stave off people who want to sue.

If you can not negotiate with them, if I were you, I would retain an attorney.

If you are not able to retain an attorny, then here is what I would if I were you.

Find out how what the laws are in your state regarding being properly served. In my state, the summons has to be via sherif, or certified mail, or a processor of the court.

If you do get summoned to court, keep in the mind the burden of proof is on the Plaintiff, so make them prove everything.. Make them go through the hassle of validating the debt, and coming up with signatures with the original contracts. Reseach your defenses. There are a lot of them out there. Read this book " Debtor's Rights" and this document www.howtoanswerasummons.com

I know for me, I am in business, and had three unsecured lines at different institutions. They purchased other banks, and then changed the agreement on me, putting me in a position of financial hardship, because they raised the interest rates, and restricted use of my lines (as a result of nothing that I did, but what was going on with the economy. ) My advanta card went from 3% to 38% for no reason.

I am forced into default, because the cash that I make, I have to use to keep my business running, and I can not afford to give it to the banks, when they are shutting down my lines, and raising interest rates. Apparently congress gave the banks an extention before certain credit card provisions that protect customers come into play. And the credit cards are using this as an excuse to really jack people. There is actually a defense that I am going to use its call the "unconscionable" defense, when the party does something so horrendous, (like what Advanta did to people, basically just robbing them) that is a defense against not paying your bill.
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I stopped paying on my debt November 1. I expect legal action to be taken against me eventually, since my lines are so high. But I've decided that strategically, defaulting on my credit cards is the best answer for me. Paying them down, to only have my lines stripped away, and paying ridiculous interest that was not in my original agreement just because the Banks screwed up and made bad loans to other people, does not make good business sense for me. So I am going to fight them court.
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Also, another note about judgements..

Its one thing for someone to get a judgement against you, and another issue to actually have it executed. So the plaintiff would have to ask themselves, is it really worth pursing suing you?

Its not.. Especially in this market. But know your rights.. There are laws against collection methods for consumers, the FCRA, but businesses are not protected under this law, but there are still laws that creditors have to follow. Know what these laws are in your state.

Here another good website.

http://educationcenter2000.com/legal/mini_meranda.htm

It mainly deals with debt collectors though, and that is not the case here. But its still very good information

survivor
thanks for all of the great information. I don't have much time on my hands as of this moment, but i do have some additional questions i'd like to ask in the future.

Thanks again

Well, we received the same letter awhile back in and around the same time frame if not earlier. I believe now we are around 70 days or so and just got a call from a local attorneys office followed up with a letter we just received. They did indicate they are open to offers but threw out an end of the month deadline or claimed they'd file suit. They offered a payoff # at 65% of the balance. The number with chase was 60%, or 40% off. Doesn't make any sense as one of my friends settled on his own with chase for a much higher balance Ours is around 9K on this one account..His was 20K and they settled for 4 payments of 1K. Maybe the difference was/is that he is self employed? Hindsight being 20/20, maybe we should have thrown out a counteroffer sooner rather than later, but thought we had more time to come up with funds to settle. It is also possible that running the credit report showed a few accounts current, one of which is a credit union. Regardless of how this plays out, the law firm generally takes 20% presuit money for their fee and usually 30% post suit. Out other account with Amex went to the folks at "Z" just got a letter from them as well..