being sued for a debt that is not owed by an attorney and have letter of (0) balance by original creditor?
86076
Go to the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (Federal) read it and understand the rules. Collection companies purchase debt for penny's on the dollar. They buy the debt in quantity and if only a few people pay for even bad debts they come out ahead. Go to "Nolo Press" they have excellent books on the subject. If you were actually served with a suit you will need to file an answer. You must file within the time limit set out in the papers you were served. Failure to answer can have dire consequences as they can geta  default judgment,  if you do not show up. If it is in small claims court or a Justice of the Peace Court you may not need an attorney. Demand that they provide you complete documentation to show that you owe the debt and that they own the debt. Many times if you do this prior to suit litigation never happens. Good Luck
1028110
I would think pretty unlikely as the filing fee is likely at least $65.00 depending on where you live. He may turn you over to a collection company though and once they tack on months of finance charges and other fees, if your balance gets above $500.00 they will likely sue. Just pay it. It is only $200.00.
452602
The court does not collect judgments, that is up to the person who was awarded a judgment.\n\nThe court is finished with the matter.\n\nYour opponent is in the same category as all other debt collectors, and if you have nothing he can attach, he better be glad that you are willing to make payments, regardless how small, or how often.
767057
If you are trying to say the the collection agency is trying to collect on checks that were written by the thief, send a written statement to the agency, return receipt requested, informing them that you dispute the debt, that the checks do not bear your signature and that you believe they have no cause to seek payment from you.  Let them know that the checks were signed by the thief who went to prison for that offese. They should then try to verify the existence of the debt and should leave you alone.  On the other hand, if the debts are unrelated to the checks, you should probably do nothing because the statute of limitations has probably expired and any contact may revive the debt.  In that case, if they sue you, you will need to assert the statute of limitations as a defense and for that you will need an attorney.
112221
The first thing I would do, is if you owe the debt, contact the original creditor in writing expressing that you are intrested in resolving the issue and are being harassed by a collection agency...be sure to provide them with who the collection agency is.  If you still owe it, they will work with you.\n\nAs far as stopping the calls, simply ask the agency for their mailing address and send them a certified letter demanding the harassment and phone calls stop and that all communiction should be in writing.  Be sure to log the calls and the times and any threats or harassing they commit.  After they recieve the letter, it is illegal to call you....if they do, file a complaint with a copy of your letter and the certified receipt showing they received it along with your log to the authorities.  Whatever you do, do NOT discuss the debt with them at all!  Simply cut them off politely and say that you need a mailing address and tell them that any future communication should be in writing.  Follow up with the certified letter, and it should stop.  Also, if the collection agency has reported the debt on your credit report, you can remove it by sending a letter to each of the creit reporting agencies denying the accuracy and demanding that the debt be "validated".  This will give the collection agency 30 days to send a copy of the original signed credit agreement as well as a complete payment history.  If they donot do this completely within the 30 days, it must be deleted by law.\n\nGood luck....I hope this helps you.
709864
Check with your BK lawyer before doing anything. As far as Cap One goes... I dont adv anyone to go to them just simply cuz I work at a credit reporting agency and they are the number one creditor for reporting things wrong like balance and late dates.  Doesnt mean its like that for everyone I've just seem a lot of neg things from them.
317036
Here is a method I used once to get rid of a legitimate debt that I owed. You may be ablet to adapt this and use it for yourself. \n\nI owed a $485 bill to AT&T that I refused to pay until they took down a cell phone tower that had been illegally erected right next to someone's back yard. Of course they ignored me, so I ignored them right back and things went round and round for a few years like that. finally the debt was sold to a collection agency and then to another one and finally to one in Florida. Up to this point none of them had reported it to any of the credit bureaus. Suddenly one day, there it was! A festering puss-filled sore right in the middle of my credit report! I immediately wrote a letter to the collection agency saying that the debt was not mine, that this was an old debt (by now it was over five years) that was being shopped around until they could stick it on somebody. I told them this was very damaging to my credit, that I had no other late payments, and I demanded they remove it immediately. Also, I said, at the time this debt was incurred there had been two other people living in the same county as me with exactly the same name as me, and it must have belonged to one of them. Again I demanded that they remove this thing from my credit report. About two weeks later I got a very apologetic letter from them saying how sorry they were for the mistake and yes it would be removed from my credit report immediately. It was and I never heard from anyone about this again.\n\n"Hell no," said Tom. "I'm not paying this. You can take this bill and shove it!"
1087005
The dismissal in fact leaves open the possibility of re-filing the lawsuit or otherwise attempting to collect the claimed debt.\n\n"Without prjeudice" means that the case was not adjudicated and no resoltuion has been made.\n\nHowever, at this point you have grounds for a counter-action if they continue to pursue this claim, or make harmful statements to credit reporting agencies.\n\nYou can ask an attorney to help with a formal letter to the company advising them that you will take such action.  You should include copies of any derogatory material on any credit reports, and demand that these be corrected.  Separately, you should also notify the credit reporting agencies that the report is incorrect and demand a change.\n\nIn this manner you protect your intersts - and, if the company is fool enough to try again, you are positioned to sue them in return and make a wad.
139998
you need a lawyer. However in this country even if you change your name your still liable for the previous debt.\n\nGET A SOLICITOR!
4344
As usual with legal-related questions on Yahoo! Answers, far too little information exists to answer the question adequately.\n\nThe term is "lien."  It is a "legal right or interest that a creditor has in another's property, lasing usu[ally] until a debt or duty that it secures is satisfied - Typically, the creditor does not take possession of the property on which the lien has been obtained."\n\nYou're getting ahead of yourself here, though.  Depending on state law, you'll need to have a formal lender or creditor relationship before you'd be able to attach a lien.  Also, much depends on whether the loan is recourse or non-recourse - was this a debt to the person, or to the property?\n\nRegardless, your first action should be to go to small claims court and file a claim against the debtor.  Contact your local district court in whatever state you're in, and ask them about the maximum ceiling for a small claims action.  Determine from there where you'd be able to bring you case, and then whether you'd need to consult a lawyer.\n\nEDIT: For a debt of $10,000, you need to consult an attorney and explain the situation.  The attorney will advise you how to proceed and what your chances are.
960089
They have to sue you first before they can "take" anything from you.  If they do sue and win, then it's up to the courts.  But any kind of threat or statement in saying what you are doing is illegal by not paying is a violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.  Read that act front to back.  It's dry reading but quite eye opening.
298852
Never pay a collection agency if it can be avoided. If you can negotiate payment with the original creditor then do so. If the OC will no longer work with you for payment and you must go to the collection agency then you will want to write them a validation letter requesting they validate the debt. Basically proving to you that you have a contractual and legal obligation to pay them. If they have proven that you must pay them by providing validation (not just a copy of your current mailing address and a copy of a bill from the OC)then negotiate for a settlement.
736654
This sounds like a load of cr*p.  Don't deal with collection agents at all.  If you WANT to pay the bill, deal directly with the credit card company (and make SURE it is the credit card company you are dealing with, not a collections agent pretending to be them).\n\nIf the company won't deal with you and the debt has already hit your credit report, just don't bother with it at all--it can't get any worse.\n\nIf they threaten to take you to court wait until you have at least two letters from a REAL attorney (investigate whether the law firm that sends you the letters is legit or not) and then offer to settle with them for 50% of the funds due.\n\nCollection agents will lie, cheat, and steal just to get you to talk to them, don't deal with them at all!  No honest person becomes a collection agent... or if one does, they soon lose all aspects of humanity they once had.\n\nGood luck!
1047438
What you need to do is dispute these reports with the credit bureau.  What they are doing is illegal and if these reports are not removed, you can sue them in small claims court for $1000 for each entry!  <cha-ching$$$>\n\nBut you need to do it right!  So follow these instructions.\n\nSend a dispute letter to the credit bureau listing these entries and point out these are duplicate entries. \n\nThe Bureau will then contact each of the creditors and "verify" that the debts are valid.  If they get no response the report is deleted.  If they respond back and verify the debt, the report stays on your history.\n\nAt the same time, send a "demand to validate" letter to the creditors who are listing these entries.  Demand that they send you copies of contracts, bills, receipts, and anything that was used to calculate what they claim you owe them.  They have 30 days to respond.\n\nIf they do not send this, send another letter to the credit bureau and demand the listing be removed due to "lack of validation".  \n\nMake sure you send all of these letter by certified mail to prove you contacted them.  \n\nIf the listings are still there, file a lawsuit in small claims court.  It's easy and doesn't cost that much.  \n\nI had to do the same thing to get an inaccurate listing removed from my record, and won $1200 for my troubles.  Don't let them push you around!
126738
Like crythsania said....why are they threatening you?  What agreement did you have with the debt collector (and why are you messing with those fools anyway)?\n\nIf you have an agreement with them to pay an amount of money, they can't just change it.  Keep sending them the agreed amount of money, and let them sue you.  The judge will simply re-instate the conditions of that agreement.\n\nOn the other hand, if you are not paying what you agreed on, they can sue you.  Now you must gamble on whether the judge will order a payment plan you can afford, or risk garnishment/lien proceedings.  \n\nDon't know where you are at, bit in my area the judge would look at the debtor's financial situation and order something he can handle.  I've seen people get away with $5.00 a month.
426070
What was the date you defaulted on the loan?  When did you pay last?\n\nWith that much penalty/interest, it sounds like an old debt.  Each state has a statute of limitations, and after that time you have no legal obligation to pay the debt.  So that will at least get any creditors off your case.\n\nAs for your credit report, you can try what the previous responder said, and send a letter to the collection agency (See the links I've supplied below for info).  But I'm going to bet it won't work in your case, especially for a large credit card company that does this nonsense all the time.  They know the game, and know how to play dirty.\n\nJust because a loan has been charged off and closed does not mean you are off the hook.  The balance can be sold to a collection agency, and they can continue to try and collect.  Without looking at your agreement, I can't advise on how legal their intrest and penalty charges are.  But they will also threaten you with legal fees if they try to take this to court.\n\nCredit reporting agencies will report this debt for 7 years, after which they MUST remove it.  So check the dates, and if this is an old debt my suggestion is ride it out, then watch the report drop by itself.\n\nContact me if you need more info.
1075637
Go to the District Court Clerks office and file a Small Claims.  It cost you money up front but if you win your lawsuit the person you are suing will have to pay that to you along with the judgment if you win.  If you lose you are out just the money you used to file this case.  Bring anything you have as evidence and you will both be sworn in to tell the truth and the Judge will question you both.  My point is the truth comes out most of the time.  You do no need an attorney!  If the person you sue does not show up for court then the judgment is rendered against him, it's called a Default Judgment.