June 6, 2009

Junk Debt Buyer vs. Consumer

Filed under: Junk Debt Buyer

Hey Paul!

Being sued by a JDB, have answered summons, requested discovery, gotten their response to my discovery and objections to all my requests for discovery. I asked for the usual – original signed contract with original creditor, orignial signed contract with JDB indicating I agreed to pay them, documentation showing they own the debt to which they provided an affidavit of account signed by one of their employees and a badly copied credit card agreement copyrighted in 2002 and the debt allegedly occured in 1999, then they provided an affidavit of clain, an excel spreadsheet with my name, ss#, date of account and account number, amount of account along with about 20 other people listed who’s name and ss# are blacked out. I went to the pretrial conference in which they asked to appear telephonically and did not so the judge said I could file for a motion to dismiss.

Filed the motion to dismiss and got a letter from the JDB attorney stating he tried to call in and sat on hold for 30 minutes. I know that there was another call before mine but it went fine so I am not willing to fall for the I tried to call in but didn’t get through so I filed an objection to his request for a reset in pretrial because he couldn’t get through based on he asked to call in and I showed and he didn’t and the court website says if Plaintiff does not show it is a default without prejudice and I sited that in my motion to dismiss and again in my objection to JDB attorneys request to reset.

Three days after I filed the motion to dismiss I get a copy of statements from JDB attorney from the original creditor indicating that I made 3 payments by express payment but I do not remember that so I pulled my bank account info. I found three payments in the amount that they say to origninal creditor but the check number that JDB attorney has on the statment for those payments does not match the check number on my bank account. I also noted on the statments that the account number for the account that the JDB is trying to sue me for does not match the account number on my Credit Bureau report as well as it has my current address on it and I do not remember ever having communicated with the original creditor since approximately 2002.

I also noted the account went to BofA and the JDB provided 2 statements from them and one of the statements says that in Dec 2006 the debt is scheduled to be written off as bad debt in next business cycle. What do I do from here. I have my credit bureau report that shows the original creditor wrote off 3/4 of the debt and shows 1/4 still remaining as unpaid. It also shows the JDB came in and purchased it in June 2006 at the same time as the 1/4 remaining debt is now showing payments but not by me. My credit bureau report also shows the JDB for the same debt as original creditor.

My questions are can the credit bureau show the original creditor and the JDB when it is for the same debt? Should I keep pushing for the JDB attorney to provide an original signed contract by me even though he has now provided these statments. Based on the fact that the account numbers on the statements do not match the account number for the alledged debt on my credit bureau can I use that as a way to prove this may not be my debt. And lastly according to these statements that the JDB is trying to use the last payment I may have allegedly made is April 2006 and the JDB bought the account in June 2006 and they are trying to sue for breach of contract and I believe in Arizona the SOL is 3 years so has that run out?

Beckie

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Hi Beckie,

If the lawsuit is filed before the statute of limitations has run, then the debt is not beyond the limitations period. A junk debt buyer can report along with the original creditor as long as the original creditor reports a zero balance. And now for a mock court transcript from the Michigan Collection Law Blog: Why purchasing debt is a bad bet at trial

Debtor’s counsel (“DC”): Who do you work for?

Plaintiff’s witness (“PW”): ABC Debt purchasing company.

DC: How much did you purchase this debt for?

PW: $300.

DC: According to your complaint, you state that my client owes you $5,000. Is that true?

PW: Yes.

DC: Because your company purchased the debt, it did not originate this debt, did it?

PW: No.

DC: Do you have any personal knowledge to show that my client incurred $5,000?

PW: No.

DC: Do you have any signed credit card statements to show that my client incurred this debt?

PW: No.

DC: Do you have any signed agreement between Chase and my client to show that he agreed to pay these charges?

PW: No.

DC: Do you have a breakdown between principal and interest as to how you arrive at the $5,000 balance?

PW: No.

DC: So, to recap, you’re testifying that you have no personal knowledge of the alleged debt. no documents to support it and no accounting as to how you arrive at that number, right?