Hello Clutchfans, maybe one of you well versed in the law can help. It seems my wife is being sued for a debt thats not hers. My father in law recently gave us some letters that arrived at his house, these were lawyer ads. This brought to our attention that there is a lawsuit against my wife from a company called Portfolio Recovery. The lawsuit is under her maiden name, one she has not used for almost 5 yrs. The address listed for her in the lawsuit is her parents home, one she has not resided in for almost 5 yrs. We've had two additional addresses since. Anyways, so I went on the local justice of peace website and did a case search by her maiden name, I see serve notice (we haven't officially reveirec this) as well as the original petition and some other documents. (Sorry, I'm not too versed in law so don't know what the other documents are). The facts of the petitions state that my wife opened a credit account with 'XYZ bank' in January 2014. That in it self is not true, my wife never opened an account with this bank. We were planning our wedding at the time and my wife had 1 credit card through Capital One at the time. It then states she used the account and continued to make payments and the last payment was January 2015 (again, we would both be aware if we were making payments for a whole year). It then states the bank sold the debt to the plantiff and the plantiff tried to collect (again, we never we're contacted about this, no letters or anything, even at my wife's previous residence). We both clearly know the debt is not hers. We looked through all 3 credit reports (luckily we can get it once a year) and neither of the reports show she ever had an open or closed account with ''XYZ bank'. I think Portfolio Associates has the wrong person. What would you guys recommend? Do I need to reach out to the court? We haven't been officially served and I don't want to risk acknowledging it if technically they haven't served us. Keep in mind, only reason we even know is cause of the lawyer ads at the wrong address. Do I reach out to the company suing her? Do I reach out to 'XYZ bank'? Can we do a countersuit? Any advise is helpful during this stressful ordeal. Thanks.
I'm not versed in law either, but this case seems pretty open-and-shut. If they're claiming you owe, it's their burden to prove it. This is probably done through documentation that you've signed with them. If you didn't sign anything, whatever they use must be a forgery. Inform the company they have the wrong person. Maybe they made an honest mistake. If they still push, consult with a lawyer. It's usually cheap to get advise, sometimes free. Maybe consult with a lawyer immediately.
My first reaction would be to ignore the letter. It sounds like a scam, but you aren't me and should probably delve into this a little bit. My second would be to contact Capitol One, perhaps in person and with all relevant material, and show them the letter, telling them that it is based on false information. They will quite possibly tell you that they have no record of any of this. You would then walk out, a very relieved person. The 3rd would be checking your credit score. Actually, this should perhaps be the first thing you do. If the letter is legit, and someone "hacked" your wife and got her personal info, using it to scam money, you credit score should be in the crapper. If it isn't, that should tell you a lot. Stuff like that. Sounds like a scam to me. Houstunna gave good advice, but I would do the other things before considering an attorney. Then you would be spending money to prove you didn't do something you didn't do. The world is awash with scams these days. You used to get them in the mail, but most of them now are connected to the internet one way or another. It's likely where this "company" got your address and marked you as one of perhaps thousands of targets for their scam. In my opinion.
In court they will have to be able to prove that the debt is your wife's. She is the one that will need to appear and handle most of this, not her. She should contact them and ask for any evidence that they have that she opened the account and any evidence of payments made as they allege. Also, in the interim she needs to send a certified letter to them stating that she is contesting that she owes the debt or that she ever opened a line of credit with any of the entities. Some will say to wait until she is properly served, but all that does is slow the inevitable. She will be served. She will need to file an answer to the complaint denying any wrong doing.
Do NOT engage the company 'suing' you. It's probably a BS, carefully worded debit collection scam. Get a lawyer if you're concerned. Google search netted this: https://www.westonlegal.com/debt-la...oPl3JrOJ9V_CU8hfXEbekNlfJVajzTXxoCv0YQAvD_BwE This is a law group that fights these scumbags, so the whole write-up is obviously biased. Do your own research. I do think Yvonne is DTF, so make sure to ask for her as your lawyer to get a little bonus.
Good Advice here Another suggestion is not to give them any information that they dont already have. Specifically a SSN. I would be hesitant about giving your current address also. If it should make it to court, you should be fine. Bring your credit report to show there has been no history. It seems the statue of limitations is coming up for the debt and now they are trying to keep it alive.
If the debt is real and its a case of a misidentified person and it ends up in court w/out contesting it, she will end up with a judgement against her. Unfortunately debt collectors do not give a **** if they get the wrong person.
I was incorrect. It depends on the state. Texas is four years. ive seen it range from 3 to 5 years. It also depends on the kind of debt. 7 years is when it falls off the credit report.
Don't call them. Send a certified letter saying the debt isn't valid and tell them to pass that info on if they sell the debt or try to report it to a credit agency. Give them no information at all. The burden of proof is theirs and any info you give them they will try to use.
How could there be a judgment if we were never legally served? Keep in mind, the only reason we even know is they the many attorney ads informing us about the petition for law suit against her. Also it isn't against her first and maiden name, not her married last name. They don't even have the correct address.
It seems the company suing is a collection agency. Apparently 'xyz bank' already sold the debt. The company is claiming they've made attempts tocontact us but we haven't received anything from them. So who do we write a certified letter to? Thanks
I wouldn't worry about it. I've received things like this before. They are looking for somebody, and a similar name with a corresponding address got it. It isn't from the debt collector or their attorney. They can file a judgement against somebody of that name, but no action can be taken on the judgement until served. I've received these letters before, including people that never existed in my household (combining first names and last names of family members that don't go together). They just know certain names I'm associated with and then think perhaps this is the person they are looking for.
Im saying dont ignore it altogether. If you get served and brought to court (even though the debt isnt yours), it will only make the headache worse. Its likely they are trying to get a response from the person who is really responsible. Google your scenario and lookup the responses for people who have gone through the same thing.
Portfolio is a shady company. They buy off debt with very little info and harass with scare tactics in an attempt to get you to pay. They don't care whether the debt is yours or not. They buy the debt for next to nothing and if they can get 1 out of 20 to settle and pay, they make money. If you have not been served papers, I'm pretty sure there is not a lawsuit pending. They may be threatening to sue you. I was actually served by a company years ago for a debt that was not mine. I filed a response with the court and sent them paperwork asking for discovery documents (found all the info I needed online but it is so long ago I cannot remember where I found it). They immediately dropped the suit. They will file lots of suits in hopes that people just don't respond and they can get a default judgement. If you respond they usually cannot produce evidence that shows the debt so they drop the suit. It isn't worth their time to actually go to court, they are just preying on people not responding. They make money every time someone either pays or doesn't respond to an actual filed suit.
There actually is a lawsuit pending, it's on the county's justice of peace website under my wife's maiden name and previous previous address. (this is a .gov website so I know it's legit). However nothing official from the courts has came to us either in person or certified mail. We thoroughly looked through all 3 credit reports for her that we pulled yesterday. Not a single mention of the so called bank they alleged we opened a bank account with. Every single open account in her name, we recognize and can identify the institution.
Just ask for debt verification through certified letter (paper trail). And if they threaten to sue you without it, tell them you'll complain to the FTC and get them bigly fined for it.
