Got a letter from a lawyer representing Citibank threatening a lawsuit for my credit card debt of $12,500. here’s the rest of the story. (oh yeah, i live in Califonia)
Last August, ARS National Services(representing Citibank) offered me to settle the debt for $7,500 out of the $12,500 and i had to make a good faith payment of $400 and make a decision to take the offer by the end of August. I make the $400 payment and call ARS a week later to confirm that i want to accept the $7,500 settlement. The rep told me that Citibank took back the file. i call Citibank and couldn’t get through. Here’s the peculiar thing; between September 2003 and February 2004, i didn’t get any type of letters or any phone calls from Citibank or any other collection agency, until yesterday. They threaten a lawsuit but they offered a settlement of only $11,000 instead of the $7,500 that was offered in August. Here’s my questions
(1) Is there anyway i can still settle at $7,500??? I think i lost the settlement letter from ARS.
(2) I need to stall time. If i refuse, how soon will there be a trial??? Can i make the payment between now and the lawsuit trial???
(3) Don’t know that much about judgements. How bad are judgemnts for my credit rating compared to bankruptcies. If they seize my wages, how much do they exactly take?? Can they seize my bank accounts??
YOU NEED TO TALK TO A LAWYER, NOT A MESSAGE BOARD.
Debt consolidation/bankruptcy attorneys advertise everywhere these days. One of those guys would probably be your best option, even if you aren’t going to declare bankruptcy.
Yes. Talk to a lawyer. Great advice. If it’s bankruptcy you are after, you can find cheap help. If you want to fight to lawsuit, that may be more costly. If you are truly broke, Legal Aid might help (eligibility varies–and I don’t know your income).
If you decide to go it alone, a start would be to call the lawyer and tell her that you have already settled with ARS, which represented itself as Citibank’s agent, and accepted $400 from you. That should get you some attention, at least.
But in the meantime, the State of California has limits on what judgement creditors can sieze as the result of a judgement, and the exemptions available to a judgement creditor can be found in the Californai Code of Civil Procedure.
Chapter 4 deals with exemptions available to the judgement debtor:
