Any Lawyers here!?

I owed sears $3,000 a few years ago, I made payments, and the debt collector said if I paid the original amount owed which was under $1,000 the debt will be considered paid in full. I did that, and was burned. So debt is down to around $2,000. Now the amount is with another agency, Portfolio Recovery. Its been a few years, they email me that if I paid half this amount ($1,000), it would be considered settled. I was burned by the last collection agency so I was hesitant to the payment, and I wanted to verified that its legit. Well now they sent me a summons to pay them $3000. I don't know where that came from. There is no numbers under the Civil Action File No., but on the Summons, I must reply to the lawyer within 20 days or they win the judgement by default. Help, what do I do? I intend to pay what I owed, which would be the $1,000 whatever that Porfolio offered to settle, but not this $3k bs. Should I get a lawyer or pay a fee to talk to Consumer Credit Agency. I need sound advice soon.

It's quite common for a Summons to be sent out for service at the same time that the case is filed, and therefore the Summons is served without a case number.

Case number or not, you're being sued.

Whether you obtain a lawyer or not is up to you.

Your options are: call the lawyer and try to negotiate; go to court and fight it; or just pay it.

But of course... these are all hypothetical and general statements which should not be considered legal advice in your particular case.

I definitely want to settle, if their lawyer wants too much to settle, would it be better to find a lawyer thru the Consumer Credit Counseling, or find a debt expert to negotiate a settlement. What is a debt expert anyways?

I am not a lawyer.

This might help:
http://credit.typepad.com/credit/2005/04/more_on_junk_de.html

If they actually filed an action against you, you must be served with a complaint. Maybe they sent you a crap piece of paper with the word "summons" on it to scare you. Debt collectors are notorious liars. I used to be one.

You should call the clerk of court where ever this action was allegedly filed (district court, circuit court, whatever its called in your jurisdiction) to insure that they actually filed an action against you and this isn't some kind of hoax. It may very well be legit, but where I live a complaint must accompany the summons, and you mentioned nothing about that. A summons basically means "come here". A complaint means "I'm suing you."

Whatever you do, get everything in writing before you give them any money. Don't give them electronic access to your bank account.

Go give a lawyer a quick visit. Many will give the first visit free. Even if you have to drop a few bills for some real advice, it likely will be worth it.

This is not legal advice.

cheers

It is a legit summons with complaint, but I called the lawyer and said I will offer to settle the amount that the collection agency wanted. I am hearing some negative news regarding debt negotiators.

Do I need to go to court and file my response with the original summons with my counterclaim? Saying the debt is egregious and I will offer to settle the amount they agreed to at half (which is around $1,000). I did not want to get burned twice paying and then saying I still owed, instead of saying debt paid in full, and reporting it to the credit agencies.

I need to reply in 20 days of the date, so I assume from the summons I must file at the court with this original summons I received.

powernoodle said:

If they actually filed an action against you, you must be served with a complaint. Maybe they sent you a crap piece of paper with the word "summons" on it to scare you. Debt collectors are notorious liars. I used to be one.

You should call the clerk of court where ever this action was allegedly filed (district court, circuit court, whatever its called in your jurisdiction) to insure that they actually filed an action against you and this isn't some kind of hoax. It may very well be legit, but where I live a complaint must accompany the summons, and you mentioned nothing about that. A summons basically means "come here". A complaint means "I'm suing you."

Whatever you do, get everything in writing before you give them any money. Don't give them electronic access to your bank account.

Go give a lawyer a quick visit. Many will give the first visit free. Even if you have to drop a few bills for some real advice, it likely will be worth it.

This is not legal advice.

cheers

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Credit Net

This isn't exactly the best forum for discussing personal finance.

I dealt with sears a while back, and I was in the same situation then, it was a scare tactic they tried with me. Part of what they do too is jack up the amount you owe them when it switches from one collection agency to another, and if you don't contest it, they win by default and you now owe what you say they do. I made a compromise with them becuase when they realize they might get something vs, nothing, they worked out a payment deal. I also made sure anything I agreed to was on paper. You might have room to bargin for a payment plan, ask them to stop any interest too, and make sure they give you credit for the past payments you already made. Make sure they don't report you to the credit agency if you make payments. Just don't keep silent with them, or they pull that crap.

+1 to the advice from powernoodle and Carabidae. It can't hurt to call them and find out what they want. You can always lowball them to come to a figure you can live with. You should also call Sears and find out exactly what you owe to make sure the debt collectors aren't ripping you off. And like the above mentioned, get whatever agreement you come to get in writing.

I just remembered that I had paid off Sears/or the first debt recovery service the principal balance already. This second agency Portfolio is trying to recoup only the compounded interests and fees. I am not sure if that really matters on my outcome. I am trying to get in touch with a Consumer Credit Counseling and get some help.
Wish me luck.