Sued by Capital One

[niceguy1982]

Jurisdiction

Connecticut

Sued for a 6K debt. I filed a response last month denying all allegations.

What happens next? How can I prepare to represent myself in court? Should I work out a payment plan with the law firm directly? Or let this go to court?

 

[adjusterjack]

Sued for a 6K debt.

Well, the small claims limit is $5000 so you must be in regular civil court which is more complicated.

I filed a response last month denying all allegations.

On what grounds have you denied all allegations?

What happens next?

Discovery. See the following article for how that works.

https://www.ctbar.org/docs/default-source/education/materials/2018-2019-cle-materials/eyl190409-discovery-final-materials

How can I prepare to represent myself in court?

You may find most of what you need to know in Chapters 895 through 900.

2023 Connecticut General Statutes :: Title 52* - Civil Actions

Title 52 - Civil Actions from the Connecticut General Statutes (2023)

law.justia.com

Should I work out a payment plan with the law firm directly? Or let this go to court?

That's up to you.

Do you, or don't you, owe the money?

 

[Zigner]

Sued for a 6K debt. I filed a response last month denying all allegations.

What happens next? How can I prepare to represent myself in court? Should I work out a payment plan with the law firm directly? Or let this go to court?

If you are considering working out a payment plan, then it sounds like you know that you owe the money.

 

[niceguy1982]

If you are considering working out a payment plan, then it sounds like you know that you owe the money.

Hi, I'm broke, no job. Just va disability. Will contacting the law firm me more than it helps? Or just go to court?

 

[niceguy1982]

If you are considering working out a payment plan, then it sounds like you know that you owe the money.

I do but I'm broke. No job, just Va disability. Near foreclosure as well. Don't know what to do. My depression is at its highest point and I don't feel motivated for life.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Hi, I'm broke, no job. Just va disability. Will contacting the law firm me more than it helps? Or just go to court?

If you can't pay the debt then there really isn't any reason to contact the lender's attorney. What the attorney will want to hear is a proposal to pay what the creditor says is owed. If you can't do that, the attorney will just shrug and say "see you in court" or ask you to sign a confession of judgment.

If you owe the loan and the lender's computation of the amount you owe is correct, then the lender will get a judgment against you for that amount unless you have some procedural defense, like the statute of limitations to sue having expired, that you may assert or the lender doesn't have the evidence needed to prove the debt.

The problem for the lender is that just getting the court judgment against you doesn't get the lender any money. If you don't pay the judgment it has to find nonexempt assets or income you have that it may attach to collect. Your VA disability and Social Security retirement benefits cannot be attached for any private debts except for support obligations (e.g. child support). Those benefits may be attached to pay certain debts owed to the federal government, the most common of which are federal taxes, federal government guaranteed student loans, etc. If VA/SSA benefits are your only sources of income right now and if you have no assets with equity above the state exemption amounts then you are what is known in debt collection circles "judgment proof". That term means that any judgment the lender gets is worthless because the lender can't use the judgment to collect anything. But I suggest you put the VA disability and SSA benefits in a bank account that doesn't have any money in it other than those benefits because if the benefits get commingled (mixed in) with other money that the lender can attach that's sitting in the bank account those benefits might lose their status as being protected from attachment and get scooped up by the creditor when it hits your bank account.

You might want to consult a bankruptcy attorney. Bankruptcy may allow you to save your home and get rid of unsecured debts that you can't pay. The bankruptcy will be hit to your credit rating, but it sounds like your credit rating may not be great now anyway. A bankruptcy can actually make your credit record better after a couple years of paying post bankruptcy debts because future lenders don't have to worry about competing with the discharged debts to collect and showing that you are able to pay your post discharge debts will tell lenders that you are a better credit risk than you were before the bankruptcy.

I also suggest you see a therapist or other mental health professional for help with the depression. I suffered for most of my life with high anxiety and depression but never realized it until my doctors finally diagnosed that a few years ago and prescribed antidepressants and antianxiety drugs and referred me to a therapist. Doctors are now more alert to those kinds of mental health issues than they were in the past, which is a very good thing. In my state it is now routine for doctors to ask about mental health as part of any medical exam. As a result, I feel mentally better today than I have at any time in my adult life and, as a bonus, tackling the anxiety brought my blood pressure down to close to medical textbook perfect without the need to take any blood pressure meds. Your health (mental and physical) is important and worth investing some time and effort on. Your health insurance, VA disability, or Medicare may pay for most or all of the cost of treatment. It's a lot easier to tackle your other problems when you are not weighed down by depression and/or anxiety.

 

[welkin]

If VA/SSA benefits are your only sources of income right now and if you have no assets with equity above the state exemption amounts then you are what is known in debt collection circles "judgment proof". That term means that any judgment the lender gets is worthless because the lender can't use the judgment to collect anything

Credit Card debt is unsecured debt. There is no collateral that backs up the loan. Credit card companies would rather settle for some lesser amount (sometimes substantially less) of the debt rather than litigate (with the associated costs) to get a judgement against someone that is judgment proof and never see a dime of the judgement.

But on the other hand, if you are being sued by a debt buyer, the chance of making a deal goes way down. But it can never hurt to try.

When my mother passed away, I settled her CC debt with the bank for only the charged amount (without interest) at $0.35 on the dollar. I told them to take the deal or sue the estate. They took it.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Credit Card debt is unsecured debt. There is no collateral that backs up the loan. Credit card companies would rather settle for some lesser amount (sometimes substantially less) of the debt rather than litigate (with the associated costs) to get a judgement against someone that is judgment proof and never see a dime of the judgement.

Very true. But the debtor has to have something worthwhile to offer the credit card company. If the debtor can't afford to pay anything — if all his/her money is needed to buy food and keep a roof over his/her head — there won't be anything to offer to settle. In that regard, the apparent looming foreclosure of the OP's home is not a promising indication of having any extra money to offer.