Mom w/ POA - Son in the Army - Need Advice Please

[iamtrying]

Good Morning..

My son joined the Army out of the blue a month ago. Prior to his leaving I had him file POA papers so that I could take take of his finances while he is away. I knew he was experiencing huge credit card problems.. I also knew he had hired a law firm to help with his credit card debt.. he saw a commercial on TV and called. They are in California and we are in Michigan. I am still trying to figure it all out.. why?? when?? what the heck were you thinking and doing??

Since he left, I have found out that there is one CC account that has gone into arbitration, one CC that went to court and won garnishment. Then there is the vehicle loan, a vehicle that was stolen after owning it for only 1 month and the insurance company did not give him complete payoff because he rolled in what was owed from his vehicle that was traded in and he did not have the proper/extra insurance. There are 5 other CC as well that need to be dealt with.

I am so lost, I have never dealt with anything like this before. As his mother I feel that I need to do what I can while he is away.

I have been on the phone dealing with the auto / collections agent and have bargained it down to .50 on the dollar, but they want complete payment by 10/31. There is not enough $$$ to make that deadline when there are others that are insisting on payment as well.

Then there is the Chase CC, that account went into arbitration. They are telling me the account has to be paid in full by the end of December. I asked to give me 4 months to pay them and they said they could not guarantee me that it would stay out of court.

Saturday, I received court papers that CitiBank took him to court and they issued garnishment.

I have gone from being sad upon his leaving to wanting to strangle him. I have been waiting for a phone call to get some type of direction here on what the heck has he done and not done?? That phone call finally came yesterday and he was only able to talk for a few minutes. (One pay phone with 40 guys wanting to use it). I asked him.. why?? what the heck were you thinking?? I tried the best that I could to get some answers so that I can preceed with some phone calls.

What do I need help with? I don't know.. some direction?? What has me most concerned with now are the papers about the garnishment judgement.

If I could afford a attorney, I would hire one to help me on this. If I could afford to pay off all of his debt, I would do so in a heart beat.. (but I would never tell him that!!).

If there is a local Michigan attorney that I could speak to on this I would be so very grateful. I am located in North Oakland County.

Kind Regards,

Mary

 

[debt_helper]

Well, it seems like you are really concerned with the garnishments. They will take money out of his paychecks, but only a small percentage. Also, just because there is more then 1 garnishments, that does not mean they all go into effect at the same time. The creditors with garnishments 'wait in line' until the debt before them is resolved. So garnishments are not so bad, with the exception that interest will continue to run on all his judgments.

Other than that, there is an issue with him being in the military. To get a default judgment, the creditors must produce an affidavit of non-military service. This means that if you are on active duty, and do not respond to a summons, a judgment cannot be issued against you. Now the law gets hazy with military men returning home for a few weeks, and whether or not judgments can be entered then, but if you want to dispute any of the judgments, call the court and see when the judgment was entered. If your son was serving on that date, produce documents to the court showing that, and get the judgment voided. This will effectivly cancel any execution (like the garnishment) against your son, until he returns and can deal with this. HOWEVER... I am not exactly sure if you taking his POA while he is serving effects what I just said, sorry. Also, if he filed a response to any complaint, the chances of voiding a judgment are reduced. Good luck.

 

[iamtrying]

Thank You for taking the time out in responding to me, I appreciate it.

I was on the phone for hours yesterday and was able to settle 2 accounts.

You are right, the one that has me so worried is the one that had a garnishment granted. I spoke to the attorney who handled the case and was informed that it is now being returned to the bank attorney and for me to call them. I feel that I can not do that until I have legal advice. Since I have never dealt with anything like this before, I am feeling very ignorant. I guess I will start in the yellow pages.

Thank You again.. M