This is off topic....a couple of years ago my husband lost a really good paying job and we fell behind on alot of our debt including credit card debt. Well when you fall behind it is so hard to catch up, especially when they add a ton of fees on.

We did the worst thing and ignored it. Didn't know what else to do, we were barely making our house payment at the time.

well, Today he got a summons from a debt collector..it didn't state he had to go to court but said he had to verify the debt...so he called this debt collection agency and they demanded $1900 by Nov. 26th.

We certainly don't have that kind of money right now...we definitely want to clear this up but I don't forsee us having money to do it until income tax return in late Feb./early March.

What can they do if we don't settle this by the date they gave us, Nov. 26th? Can they freeze our bank account? Garnish wages? Take to court? We really want to get back on top and take care of this and a couple other old debts, but until we get our tax return, money is very tight. Pretty nervous, I don't want anything bad to happen.

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if you've ignored it for that long - they'll be happy you're even picking up the phone - so if you offer to pay ANYTHING, they'll take it.

basically, they can agree to take a small payment and give you more time (which means they get some money) or they can be bullies and you won't pay anything, and they'll have to lose more money on court, etc, etc.

i have excellent credit, but my husband must've thought at one point that credit cards were magic pieces of plastic because he can't even get a pizza delivered without paying first. there was one company that took him to court (this was all before i even met him) and he was ordered to pay them $25 a month for like the rest of his life. is that even worth their time, employee labor, lawyer fees, etc?

talk to them! they want to see u make an effort...even if it's....25 dollars a month!

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I was going to say the same thing. They should be willing to work with you - if not, let them work for your money!

They can garnish wages (if there's enough left of your "spendable" income after all other debts), they can garnish your state income taxes. They cannot touch your bank accounts. I would call them and tell them you have no extra money but want to make good on your debt. Tell them you can pay $25 (or whatever) a month. When you get your income tax refund, if you want, at that time you can contact them again and offer a settlement amount. I would offer them 1/3 to 1/4 of the total debt - it would be a one-time payment and once payment is made, you would be considered "paid in full". This is a serious matter, but this is not the end of your financial life - what they are doing right now is trying to scare you into finding the money no matter what you have to do, to pay it. Don't buy into it. This debt has gone on this long, no one is going to die if it's not paid right this minute. I really hate companies who try to strong-arm people into paying. Bring it back on your terms. If they really want your money, they will take the payments and back off.

My dh has a debt from before we were married (or shortly after) that topped at almost $10,000. We don't like owing people, but we just didn't have the money at the time that they started harrassing us, to pay it. We were going to try to make payment arrangements, but they started calling daily, harrassing us, being rude and mean, so we decided they can do what they have to do, we're not helping at all. So, they garnished our state income tax refund. That's all they can do. And it will take them absolutely years to get their money! All they had to do was work with us and it would have been paid by now, but we do not condone rudeness and strong-arming to get someone to pay, so now they get their money a few hundred dollars a year....lol.

Try not to stress about it. Hopefully they will work with you. If not, let them have your state tax refund

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After my divorce I did as you did. They froze my bank a counts. They played hard ball. It was horrible. Ours was discover.

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They CAN put a hold on your bank account. I know from first hand experience. I ended up filing for bankruptcy (super long story about husband who got CC's in MY name without my permission). It's not pretty when you go to buy groceries and your debit card is denied even though you just put money in the account =(

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Don't you have to go through some legal proceedings and default on a payment plan or something before they freeze your accounts? They took some money out of my husbands checking account once but that was after he went to court, was ordered to pay x amount per month and then defaulted. I don't see how they could do that without a court order and she's still in a position to negotiate and avoid court imo.

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I'm not sure how MN law works, but there was no court order AFIK. Our account was just froze one day (right around Xmas time 3 years ago no less). My bank was extremely helpful, however, and took my name off the account officially. I was still able to write checks, withdraw/deposit, and make purchases with the debit card without issue. It was shortly after the bank freeze that I hired an attorney and we filed for bankruptcy. It was a hard thing for me to do (my credit is now demolished until I'm 40) but there was so much debt.

It all stemmed from me being in the hospital while I was preggers with my first with kidney stones for 2 weeks. The insurance co refused to pay what they owed, and the hospital didn't like the 10/month I was sending them as payment...so hubby (without my knowledge) got a CC and paid the 20k plus bill. He subsequently got 2 more CC's and just shifted the balance around for lower interest until it got out of hand with fees etc.

It was a hard lesson about CC's. I warned him (after I found out about the first) that it was going to be BAD NEWS. He learned his lesson at my expense, and now we only pay for things if we have cash for it. No CC's. Just savings and checking (and our home loan, of course).

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Try not to let them intimidate you...that is how they work. Remember, the person on the other end of that phone is likely to be a 25 year old kid with zero experience at anything...just reading a script. They are paid based on commission, so if he can collect $1900 from you, he's having a good month. My former husband was a collector...he hated it. They can smell fear, don't fall for it.

The original credit card company has charged off your debt on their books and then sold it for pennies on the dollar to a collection agency. It's unlikely that they will freeze your accounts as 1) they are not the original creditor and 2) they would need to get a judgement and that costs them time and money. This is not the case when you are dealing directly with the original credit who can empty your checking account to collect payment.

Call them and let them know that you are considering filing bankruptcy. You are in the process of determining this, based on whether or not your creditors are willing to work with you. Then offer them a settlement balance of 50% of what you owe, with payments to be spread out over the course of one year.

If you are unsuccessful with that, think about contacting a NON-PROFIT credit counseling agency who will work on your behalf to arrange a settlement with your creditors. Please, make sure you are using a non-profit or you will likely end up paying much more than you needed to.

Good Luck!

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I checked with a friend of mine who works for an attorney/collection firm on this. I live in Illinois, so keep that in mind, but he says it works pretty much the same in most states.

It sounds like you've gotten a demand letter from a collection agency. Typically you have 30 days from the first letter to ask them to "verify" the debt (you ask them, they don't ask you). Unfortunately by calling them and telling them the debt is valid, you've already acknowledged it, so they don't have to wait the 30 days to continue collection action. A "summons" is something that would have been served at your door by a sheriff or a private process server. It is a complaint that has been filed against you in court. If that's what you got it will either have a date that you must respond to the court by, or it gives you thirty days from date of service to respond. Most small claims give you 30 days. If you got an actual summons, that's a bit more serious, because they are well on their way to doing things like garnishing your bank account, garnishing your wages, seizing any tax refunds you might have coming, or putting a lien on your real property. If you don't respond to a real summons issued by the court they will get a default judgment against you and pursue it by any means that they can.

If it has only reached the collection agency stage and not the actual court stage, they normally will try to work with you to set up a payment plan. Keep in mind that debt collectors are trained to use whatever means they can to scare you into paying right away. Some are downright vicious, hopefully you don't have one of those.

From what my friend told me, there are some really bad collection agencies and some that are more professional. You could probably google the name of whoever contacted you to find out which one you're dealing with.

Good luck with this, I know it can't be fun having to deal with.

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Looks like you have 3 options:
1) Call, offer a payment plan of whatever you can reasonably afford and DO NOT FORGET TO PAY!
2) Call, offer a settlement amount for pennies on the dollar and DO NOT FORGET TO PAY!!!
3) Forget to pay.

In that order.

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I know a lot about credit. I learned from college that I wanted to be an accountant.

If you got summons by the door from sheriff or court agency. Yes, you got a real summons but you have to respond 10 or 20 days before they set up the date court (it should say in the summons). If you got a summons in the mail from the collection agency so it is not real. If you think it is a real summon then I suggest to call the court to make sure it is real summons.

If it is real one, please show up the court NO MATTER WHAT. If you dont, it will hurt your husband a big time with judgement on his credit and they can freeze his bank account to take ALL the money out through the court system. They may lien your property or assets if he have one.

If you received the summons in November so it is more likely you will have a court date in March or April. Before the court date, I suggest to try to settle with creditor's attorney. If they agreed then you must ask them to get in writing first before you paid them with money order so you have proof. If you don't get original agreement settled then it will hurt you more because they will hunt you next time again if you paid them first.

If you want to set up the payment plan with them so you will need to talk with them to get in writing that they agreed to allow you the payment plan like original agreement and you need to sign your name that you agreed to pay them every month. As of right now, it may be harder to set up payment plan with creditor's attorney but they will ask for more. They have the rights to refused to take the payment plan or settled and take you the court.

If you have money to pay the settlement then just show up the court. Talk to the judge that you want to settle with them and he/she will allow to settled with creditor's attorney. Most courts want to work something out. Hope it helps. Good Luck!

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Thanks everyone..my husband and I are going to talk with an attorney on Monday to see what we can do...I have a handful of small debt that needs to be taken care of (that adds up!) and my husband has 2 accounts.

I was handed the summons at the door for my husbands credit card account. It wasn't a court summons, just stated he has 20 days to answer.

The lady from the collection agency called yesterday and I spoke with her and she was rather insistant that we pay the settled amount of $1911 by the end of Nov., which is only $600 less than the amount owed. When I aked if there was any way we could pay a small amount each month until we get our income taxes back she said absolutely not. Not for the settled amount anyway...she said if we did that route, we could have my husbands wages garnished 10% but we would owe the original amount PLUS more leagal fees and said something about 9%/day (I don't even know what she was talking about). She was insistant that we settle by the end of Nov. but that is NOT going to happen, I don't have that kind of money right now so I can't wait to see the lawyer so I know what we can do. I really want to settle all this, I just can't do it all at once.

So the summons we got just states we have to answer..I know the next step would be court, we really want to settle this, but if we don't settle by the end of Nov., is it likely we will have to owe a lot more on the debt like the lady said or is she just trying to push to get her commision?

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i can't say for sure, but since you're now bargaining with a collection agency instead of the actual credit card company - $1900 may be the least they will accept, BUT i highly doubt it. IF you had spoken with the credit card company before it went to collections - you could've settled for as little as 25% of what was owed more than likely - for future reference. i worked with a girl who had old navy of all places trying to collect on her and they were willing to take less than half of what she owed. i was thinking, damn, i need to go shopping and not pay.....only because she continued to shop for clothes on her lunch break while i stayed and ate a turkey sandwich from home


the more money you have to pay in one lump, the more they'll negotiate. if you told them you could send them $1,000 tomorrow - they'd probably go for it and not put it on your credit. if you want to send small payments each month - they've already sent a summons and invested some money - so it's not worth it. if you offer 4/500 now and payments after that - they may go for it and not put it on your credit. bottom line - negotiations are NOT off the table - it's the girl's job to get you to pay the MAX! i would call again and let them know you do NOT want to go to court and you're WILLING and desperately want to settle and set up a payment plan, but you just can NOT pay it all. they want a chunk NOW - and after that, they'll talk payments. if there's any way you can send them a few hundred (the more the better) i guarantee they'll negotiate and keep you out of court.

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It may add more interest on your debt. Some company will charge interest daily or late fee. What kind of credit cards? Is it Chase or Bank of America? What name of law firm that your creditor hired? I know a lot of things about this so I will be able to help you out.

If you want to settle with them as soon as possible to keep you out of the court. Have you thought about getting a loan from your husband's 401K at his job if he have one. It is very easy to get a loan so you can pay it back once you get refund from taxes. He can choice how much he can make payment through 401K anytime he wants like you want to pay $25 a month. That is only way you can do. I know it is a bad idea to get a loan from 401K but you have no other choice.

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I am sorry but I have to say this. That isnt how it works. A lot of company don't care how much you are despeately want to settle or set up a payment plan. All they do want their money! Other thing, if she told them that she will send them $1,000 tomorrow WITHOUT in writing. Oh boy it will hurt her more because they will hunt her for more money in the near future because she have no proof that they agreed to take $1000 without in writing.

All I can say, if they refused to settled with them or set up a payment plan so just wait until she gets to go to court. She will tell the judge that they refused to settled with her and She have $1,900 so she can ready to settled with them. Judge will do in your favor to get it over with. Again, it depends on Judge. Some of them dont care and some of them will want them to work something out.

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my advice,.... ONLY KEEP ENOUGH MONEY IN YOUR ACCOUNTS to cover the checks you are writing, cash everything else, cash daycare payments at their bank,... .. keep it on you to pay your bills through money order or whatever until this clears up,.. Our issue happened end of feb,.. our money from taxes was in the checking acct and frozen until things straightened out.

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actually it is typically how it works. if a credit card company is about to sell your debt to a collection agency - it's because they have ZERO hope of ever collecting a dime from you. so, say your debt is $100 and the collection agency is paying 15 cents on the dollar or $15 to the CC company to buy that debt - and then you come along and say, well, i'll pay HALF ($50)...they're gonna take your $50 instead of selling it for 15!

well in this case the collection agency has already bought her debt from the CC company - the question is how much did they pay? there IS a magic number they would settle for - we just don't know what it is. they want their initial investment back and then they want to make a profit. if we're talking about the $100 debt i used as an example - and the collection agency only paid $15 - you could offer to give them a lump sum of $20 (or ANYTHING over the amount of their investment which is unknown to us) and they'll take it because they've already gotten their money back AND made a profit....so any payments after that is just profit from someone that was never expected to pay a dime in the first place.

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That is totally different story but her husband is being sued by collection law firm. That is why I said that is not how it works.

Collection agencies themselves cannot sue the debtor unless they are a collection law firm. A Credit card company hired a law firm to take him to court to get their money back. If they won the judgment against him so they can put lien on their property or assets or garnish his wages up to 25% from through the court system depends on her state. They may freeze his bank accounts but most of time they will garnish the wages.


Like you said, "they have ZERO hope of ever collecting a dime from you." There are only four states are not allowed to put lien on the property or assets or garnish the wages so they will not be able to collecting a dime from anyone in that states. However, they still can freeze the bank accounts through the court system if they ask for it.

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Here is more information about New York law. Good thing, it will garnish the wages only 10%. Check it out: http://www.bcsalliance.com/debt1_newyork.html

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Thanks everyone for the helpful information

So if we can't pay by the end of November and the debt collection agency takes my husband to court, will we end up paying a much higher amount....the cost of the original debt plus the court fees the collection agency was telling me about? Or is it up to the judge what our settlement would be?

I want to settle this for the lesser amount offered, I just can't come up with it all at once and the debt collection agency isn't budging with her amount or time frame. I never want to be in this situation again, it isn't very comfortable. Especially before the holidays :-(

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if it were up to the judge you'd pay the original amount you owed. so, yes, the judge will order you to pay the full amount plus court costs.

the collection agency CAN work out a payment plan. i'd be very firm and blunt in letting the girl know it's not going to happen by the deadline, and if you go to court, they're going to get even smaller monthly payments because it'll be based on your income. tell her you're not working. if that doesn't work, ask to speak to the supervisor. i would avoid going to court if you can, and i've never heard of someone making an effort to pay still being taken to court.

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Thanks for that info..I read an article online that once you get a summons it's too late to say you'll pay a little each month. So much conflicting info out there so I wanted to know what my rights are when it is time to call this collection agency back. We are seeing a lawyer on Monday and hopefully get a better idea of what we can do to settle this, and my other debt.

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What you could do is go through a Consumer Credit Counseling service. They make arrangements with the creditor, and all interest & fees stop, and you make the payments directly to the CCC agency. there is a very small fee for handling this for you usually only like $10month. Give them a call and see what they say. they are all over the place, as they are state agencies. They also make a rrangment with the creditor which also lowers your balance, and your monthly payments will be very low!

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Dont worry too much. The collection law firm is trying to scare you to get into pay for it. You can try again to offer the settle next month or after that. The court will schedule the court date in next 3-4 months.

I have a friend who was being sued by Bank of America credit card so they refused to accept his offer for settlement. He owed over $6000 with a lot of late fees, attorney fees, court fees, etc... He told the judge they refused to take his offer for settle in a few months and he said he have $3,500 that is all he have. The judge agreed with him so he ordered him to pay $3,500 to the creditor's attorney and dismissed it. Like I said, it depends who you are dealing with. Some of them want to work something out and some of them dont care. I know that sucks..

Maybe it is a good idea if you want to file bankruptcy to start over to clean up your debt or repay the debt.

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