Credit Card Judgment

[TallulahIsabel]

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Mississippi.

The original debt was with Citibank. Citibank charged off the debt. Some months later, a local law firm called McKay, Lawler, and Simpson contacted me about the debt. I disputed it within the 30 days and asked for verificaton of debt. This was in August of 2007. In March of 2008, they responded by sending me a packet that had no verification but finance charges from AFTER I stopped paying Citibank.

Today they sent me a demand of judgement (a summons, I think), filed with the local circuit court. It says I need to respond within 30 days. Can anyone tell me what my next move should be?

If I have to make arrangements for small payments with citibank, I could. I'm looking more for other options though, as I am unable to pay large amounts.

However, I do not want to be sued by this lawfirm. I tried working with citibank before I quit paying them (they'd shot my interest rate up to 32% even after I was paying on time). They wouldn't give any leeway and it was between paying my credit and saving my house. Bankruptcy was not an option because of inherited land.

I'm not a shady person. I just need help.
Thank you.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the last payment made on the account was 12/2006. It was charged off not long after.

[vector4]

Whatever you do you need to file an answer in 30 days or you lose all options.

You have to negotiate payment settlement details with the firm suing you. You should call them and ask them what they will accept. If you can't reach any agreeable terms with them then you need to make sure you answer your suit or they will get a default judgement and garnish your wages, etc.

[TallulahIsabel]

I'd honestly like to fight them if I have any sort of chance. It looks like they're getting sued for shady dealings regarding fair debt practices.

There's nothing to garnish. I've been sick and lost all of my money in mortgage fraud. I'm suing the mortgage companies over that at the moment. The attorneys advised me to let the mortgages go into foreclosure, which I informed Citibank I was doing and why - they responded by raising my rate to 32%. Keep in mind that I had a credit score of 825 and had always made payments on time. There was no reason they shouldn't have worked with me.

[Betty3]

As the other responder noted, you need to answer the summons in the time limit allowed or they will get a default judgment against you. A judgment is good for 7 yrs. in Ms. & can be renewed so even if you have no non-exempt assets that can be seized currently, you may in the future.

You can call & try to set up a payment plan with the firm suing you but they don't have to do so.

You said the last payment on the debt was 12-06 so the SOL has not expired for collection yet.

[SJW]

I had a similiar experience with Citibank after loosing a job for five months.

Basically, I had to work all offers through the lawyer, Citibank would not even talk to me. I even wrote to the CEO and all he did was refer me to their collections people who then told me to work it out with the lawyer.

Anyway, I sent them a little money every month but in retrospect I would not have sent them anything as it did nothing to improve my case. I told them my sob story, but that was no help either. I went to court, etc.
They eventually were awarded the judgment and 6%.

I eventually got some money and kept making lowball offers, 50%, 60%, until they finally agreed to 86%.

I paid them and that was the end of it.

The funny thing is, out of all my creditors during this time they were the ONLY one that sued me and the ONLY one that did not report negatively on my credit report. I don't know why, that is just the way it worked out.