Needed some info

[Mcgradyfan20089]

So here is my issue. I live in Washington State, in Pierce County. I went to the dentist sometime around 2006, well the young dumb person I was I did not pay them and it ended up going into collections. Again I did not pay anything to collections, and I ended up moving 20 minutes down the road in 2008. I did not hear or receive a letter from them again. Well here we are in 2013, and I look at my credit report every week now, because I'm trying to build my credit back up. This dentist thing is nowhere on my credit report so I figure hey it past 6 years maybe they gave up.

 

So this past Thursday (April 18, 2013) my roommate gets served with court documents. I'm at work, so he texts me that I have been served. Well I come home that night to find two identical copies of this summons I have been served with. It's stamped by the Pierce County Court District in the upper left corner the date on the stamp is Feb 26, 2013. They also stamped the case number on both documents which I found kind of odd as well. Also on every page in the lower right corner is the name of the attorney and the address below his name is the address of the plaintiff suing me (Credit International Corporation). On the very last page of this document is the attorney's name typed out, which is also odd and that's on both documents, neither are signed. It is also date Feb 5, 2013.

 

So anyway there is a number listed on the document saying I can pay this claim in full and I can call the plaintiff. So of course I want to avoid court at all costs and I have no problem paying for my mistakes. So I call this number the next morning (April 19, 2013) and I get an electronic voice saying please say you name. I then get some guy to answer and I say yea my name is so and so and I got served and want to take care of the balance. He then asks for the case number, I give it to him. He says my name vs. the plaintiff, I say yea that's the one. He then says yea give me two minutes and I'll call you back, he then say I can call you at this number, he then gives me the first 3 digits of my number and I say yea that's good. So I wait around and 2 hours later I still don't get a callback. So I call that same number back and this time no one answers so I leave a message saying hey I'm trying to take care of this and I need you guys to call me back today and I'm going to keep calling you till you answer me. He then calls me back (from a different number I called) about an hour later from my message. He says yea sorry I was busy and then I didn't have you're number (which is funny because he told me it when I first talked to him). So I say yea I want to pay this balance off and avoid court, he says yea its $1902 (which on the document it says $1530.73 but it also says there may be a filing fee, service fee, and possibly attorney fees. But $400 in fees? That seems like a lot to me.) I say ok would you accept credit cards he said it would be a 5% fee added on to that. He then asked if I had a bank account and said that a routing number and account number would be fine. I say alright I'll take care of this Monday, he then asks if I live at my address and I say yea that's my address and then he asks where I work so I tell him. He then says my name is Dean Hamilton and here is my number to call back on (which is a different number from the first 2).

 

I look up everything on this guy and everyone says he's a mean ruthless guy. Some people say he's a scam artist, others say he's legit. He seems really sketchy to me and I don't want to give him my bank info if he is a scam artist. I then look up the attorney on the case and his address is 60 miles away from the address they put below his name on the document. I found that really sketchy! So I'm curious if this does indeed sound like a legit case? Is this guy for real? Should I pay him? He seems like a sketchy guy, and it's been 7 years can they even sue you after that long? Also from what I heard and read that anything under $5000 is just a waste of time for suing someone. Mine is $1530.73. Just curious if anyone could help me on what I should do or what they think on this situation.

 

Thanks in advance guys!

[wevie]

I'm completely new here, so don't put much faith in my answer! Please wait for more experienced individuals to reply.

 

1.) Washington SOL is 6 years. This may or may not be out of Statue of Limitations. From what I've read here, if it is out of SOL, then a debt collector cannot take much action to collect on this debt.

 

2.) TALKING ON THE PHONE IS BAD. You want a paper trail and you want written proof of any offers or negotiations.

 

If it were me, I would plan on going to court. You can hope that you show up and the plaintiff does not. If the debt is out of SOL and he knows it, he may not show up.

 

This is where I'm a little questionable. Would the next step be (considering the attorney is acting as CA) to send the attorney a DV letter?

 

(I'm answering this more to see if I am understanding what I've been learning than to help you at this time)

 

Adding from the newbie board:

 

************************************

 

IF YOU'VE BEEN SUED:

Send a validation letter (if you've been sued by a CA) AND answer the complaint (by the timeframe imposed on the summons), show up -- don't allow a default judgment. YES, litigation IS a collection activity, see the FTC Staff Opinion letter on the same and the Heintz v Jenkins case.

Read this thread, BBee's story -- served with summons, from start to finish and all in one thread, from being served and not knowing what to do to resolution:
http://consumers.cre...?threadid=34590

Find your local court rules here: http://www.searchlaw...rules/other.htm also out front in the consumer protection forum and tweak the following answer accordingly (mostly formatting, if anything, copy the format on the summons/complaint you were served with), file and serve it according to your local rules.

How to Answer a Lawsuit for Debt Collection: http://www.nwjustice.org/pdfs/205.pdf

http://www.legalhelp...g_complaint.htm

Affirmative Defenses: http://creditboards....mative defenses

http://www.legalhelp...ve_diffense.htm

 

Edit: Looks like those links are dead.

Edited April 21, 2013 by wevie

[Why Chat]

I don't think you were actually served any lawsuit. If you were, you would have been properly served and there would be a case file at the Court. It is way past the time for being sued and you have 20 days to file an answer.

If you pay this Collection Agency a RED CENT it will probably be $$ down the drain.

 

If you were actually served, look at the papers and see where you can file an answer. Check with the Court to make sure that there WAS a lawsuit filed, as this may just be a scam.

 

Contact the Washington Attorney General's office to file a complaint IF there was no actual lawsuit filed.

 

The SOL ( statute of limitations) for being sued is 3 years in Washington, not 6

 

http://www.whychat.5u.com/States/state-wa.html

 

If you were actually sued, here is how to file an answer:

 

http://www.whychat.5u.com/answer.html

 

In addition, you should opt out and carefully check your credit reports and get old addresses deleted.

http://www.whychat.5u.com/GUIDEBOOK.html

 

It is possible that the "lawsuit" is either a scam/fraud or it is for someone else with a similar name, in any case you should not pay anyone anything just because you THINK you might owe it and because they ASK you to pay, that will create more problems for you down the line.

[Mcgradyfan20089]

Thanks for the info. I will be calling the Pierce County District court tomorrow morning. If they don't have a filed suit I will be calling the Attorney General's office and filing a complaint about this scam. I hope they don't get any money from anyone.

[Mcgradyfan20089]

So my court date is this Thursday. Now they filed within the 6 year law. They filed February of 2013, the contract says may of 2013. Now I'm convinced that this is a scam, what should I say to state my case or do I not have a case whatsoever?

[Why Chat]

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