Being sued by Dell

[FelixDeCat]

Dude!

 

[BrokenVisage]

It'sss alllright, 'cause I'm sued by the Dell!

 

[Vdubchaos]

$3000 debt with DELL?

How smart of you.....

 

[Double Trouble]

Regardless of whatever position you hold, you have no idea what you are talking about.

Actually, he does. In many states if you defy a court order to pay or you simply don't show up when you get sued for a debt, the creditor can get an arrest warrant issued and you can be arrested and jailed until you reach some sort of a payment agreement. This is a very controversial issue, the use of the tactic is growing leaps and bounds, with creditors often abusing it.

 

[richardycc]

you need to find out who is really bringing you to court, DELL is a computer maker, they are not in the business to sue people, so it's most likely they sold the bad debt to a collection agency, and collection agencies usually don't bring people to court right away. They usually send a debt verification letter first...did you ignore anything of those letters or calls from the collection agency? you should've done something sooner, might be too late at this point...be a smarter deadbeat next time.

 

[waitman]

In California they are having to release prisoners because of overcrowding and sheriffs are suing to make the state take prisoners that have been convicted because they are overcrowded also. Highly unlikely even if California law allows jail over a civil failure to appear. Best bet is to answer to the court and the judge might have mercy and only order small affordable payments, if you don't fall under the statute of limitations. You should take records of your bills, expenses and pay stubs with you, so that a judge can make a decision on payment terms, based on that. If you have you any money in the bank remove it. In the event you fail to appear and you have direct deposit of your pay, a lien could be put on your account and or a garnishment of your wages. Go to court or you'll likely get screwed.

 

[Gibsons]

FTA is a criminal charge.


Generally, the large credit companies sue thousands of people at a time. If you knew the default % on unsecured debt, you would understand that it is impossible for a judge to call every name on the list. Almost nobody shows up, and the creditor gets a default judgment.

Now what many people do (if the debt is large enough) is BK it, and any collection action is immediately stopped and the debt is discharged. You can generally keep your primary residence and your vehicle by reaffirming the debt.

meh, I was afraid something like that would be the answer. Sad state of affairs.

 

[Wreckem]

you need to find out who is really bringing you to court, DELL is a computer maker, they are not in the business to sue people, so it's most likely they sold the bad debt to a collection agency, and collection agencies usually don't bring people to court right away. They usually send a debt verification letter first...did you ignore anything of those letters or calls from the collection agency? you should've done something sooner, might be too late at this point...be a smarter deadbeat next time.

Dell is also a financial services company, however their consumer financial services are done through WebBank. If his default is less than a year, its likely the original creditor suing, which is probably WebBank. If its over year the debt has been sold.

 

[Rakehellion]

What is the WORST scenario if I don't go to court on that date?

Translation: I stole $3000 from Dell and want to weasel out of it in the laziest way possible.

So you didn't intend to pay them, don't intend to pay them, and don't have enough respect for yourself to even show up for court on time.

 

[QueBert]

WTF is up with these jail time for unpaid debt threads? Are you guys really that stupid?

A friends brother went to jail for not paying child support. It's totally up to the the digression of the judge. Just because something almost never happens doesn't mean it can't happen.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Actually, he does. In many states if you defy a court order to pay or you simply don't show up when you get sued for a debt, the creditor can get an arrest warrant issued and you can be arrested and jailed until you reach some sort of a payment agreement. This is a very controversial issue, the use of the tactic is growing leaps and bounds, with creditors often abusing it.

Link to CA law since OP is in CA?

BTW, being sued by someone is not a court order...

 

[Corporate Thug]

A friends brother went to jail for not paying child support. It's totally up to the the digression of the judge. Just because something almost never happens doesn't mean it can't happen.

Failure to pay child support results in contempt charges, which is a quasi-criminal proceeding...failure to pay dell does not result in contempt charges

 

[Phoenix86]

Let me just quote this crap so I can remember to answer in the AM.




Jail for civil...I emm effing wish. Wrote off $36K last year, iirc. Nestless egg.

You expect a high amount of write offs in your line of business, which is why you charge high interest rates. Not trying to justify not paying your bills, but it's simply the cost of doing business. You will never, ever collect 100% of your debts.

While I'm sure it's frustrating to you, it's quite immoral to jail people for debts. We'd have 20% (I'm probably being extremely conservative here) of the population in jail if that was the case... Even then, you'd still not collect as people in jail earn nothing.

 

[waitman]

A friends brother went to jail for not paying child support. It's totally up to the the digression of the judge. Just because something almost never happens doesn't mean it can't happen.

Failure to pay child support is considered criminal, because of laws passed to make failure to pay child support criminal (between state, backed by state/fed law and defendant) from misdemeanor to felony, depending on willfully disobeying the order, the amount in arrears, payment record and previous contempt citations. A violation of an order backed by state and federal law and you can go to jail for that and that happens quite often. A civil case is quite different and must become a criminal case before incarceration can be imposed, unless of course you are a dumb ass and piss off a judge and he throws your ass in jail for contempt, which contempt then becomes a criminal matter and said judge is within his power to do so.

 

[mizzou]

if you've been served, a body attachment will be issued for your "Failure to Appear" in court.

AND/OR

They go ahead and enter a judgment against you without you being there.

 

[John Connor]

If you don't show up for court they could come after you. The sheriff can even take your property. I would schedule some payments. If you give them at least 10 bucks a month they can't say shit! I'm in the same boat with a lawyer and a medical bill. I'm having to pay him 50 bucks a month plus interest.

 

[highland145]

Nah, just a poor quote of some comedian.

My apologies.

You expect a high amount of write offs in your line of business, which is why you charge high interest rates. Not trying to justify not paying your bills, but it's simply the cost of doing business. You will never, ever collect 100% of your debts.

While I'm sure it's frustrating to you, it's quite immoral to jail people for debts. We'd have 20% (I'm probably being extremely conservative here) of the population in jail if that was the case... Even then, you'd still not collect as people in jail earn nothing.

You're right. I was just thinking that I have it pretty good compared to the average manager. I don't have some supervisor breathing down my neck forcing me to put crap on the books and then bitching when it's not collected. And I don't really get upset with the people that can't do any better, ie. jobless, health issues, etc. It's the assholes that have the ability to pay but are too sorry.

 

[sze5003]

Show up to court. Plead for a deal and admit you screwed up. Not my judgement to make but why people do stuff like this is beyond me. Then again I've had some close calls with bills due to always needing to help out financially with my family. But never let it just get ignored.

See if you can sell the pc and anything else you don't need. Why spend 3k at Dell, Dell nonetheless. You could have built yourself a good pc for less than half that.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

My apologies.

You're right. I was just thinking that I have it pretty good compared to the average manager. I don't have some supervisor breathing down my neck forcing me to put crap on the books and then bitching when it's not collected. And I don't really get upset with the people that can't do any better, ie. jobless, health issues, etc. It's the assholes that have the ability to pay but are too sorry.

Get over it. If anything your place of business needs to look into a more secure form of payment. If all y'all can attract are deadbeats that need financing then that's the cost of doing business.

 

[Double Trouble]

Link to CA law since OP is in CA?

Sorry, no time to research CA law and provide a link (I don't live in CA), but I know many states do have such statutes. Not sure if Cali does.

BTW, being sued by someone is not a court order...

When you get sued you'll get a court order or summons to appear. If you don't appear, (failure to appear) is in itself an offense you can get arrested for. If that doesn't happen and the judge enters a summary judgement for the plaintiff (creditor in this case), and you still don't pay , you can be arrested and jailed for not paying.

 

[foghorn67]

After looking some stuff up some on sites from my personal finance RSS/Flipboard feed...try this.

The letter should have a number on it. The court date may be set, but that doesn't mean you can't come to agreement. They may either willing to settle or to setup a stipulation payment setup. It basically means you pay monthly. However, expect to pay the full amount when all said and done. The settlement may be for a lower amount than your outstanding balance.
-edit--caveat with settlements. It will be a lump sum thing. Also, it will be on your credit report as settled. Better than deadbeat, better than lawsuit and judgement. But not not paid in full.

If they offer a stipulation, and you accept, you must make payments. You basically sign an agreement with your collector, the judge and the courts. The lawsuit is still effective until the payment is made in full. Then they will drop the suit.
You also may have to pay the court fees on top of your stipulation payments.

Do yourself a favor and call. Running away from it won't help. Sure you most likely won't have criminal charges. But think about it.
Even if you don't plan on applying for CC's or home loans, it will fuck you.
Garnished wages and bounced checks are bad ju-ju on everyday type of credit checks.
Cell phone contract? Say hello to prepaid.
New rental apartment? Say hello to crap holes.
Car loan? Yeah, you'll get one, but you will be in double-digit WTF is that legal? high interest territory.

Credit is an amazing tool to have. Use it wisely.

 

[Via]

You still owe $3000, so unless you never sent anything I'm assuming that you initially owed more than that. Must be a high-end Alienware.

The PC in your sig isn't that, so what did you do? Sell it as soon as you got it? Did you order it for someone else and pocket the money?

I do place some of the blame on Dell for situations like this. They were handing out financing like free candy back in the day. I was approved for $5000 right out of college before I got a real job.

 

[highland145]

Get over it. If anything your place of business needs to look into a more secure form of payment. If all y'all can attract are deadbeats that need financing then that's the cost of doing business.

My "chosen" profession, lending to deadbeats.

That's not quite true but it does happen.

 

[ElFenix]

A friends brother went to jail for not paying child support. It's totally up to the the digression of the judge. Just because something almost never happens doesn't mean it can't happen.

child support is a completely different matter than a consumer credit transaction.

When you get sued you'll get a court order or summons to appear. If you don't appear, (failure to appear) is in itself an offense you can get arrested for. If that doesn't happen and the judge enters a summary judgement for the plaintiff (creditor in this case), and you still don't pay , you can be arrested and jailed for not paying.

failure to appear is when you fail to appear for some criminal or quasi-criminal matter like speeding tickets.

looking over this stuff, it seems to me the only legit use of jailing people in collecting debts is a contempt of court order in post-judgment. all the other stuff the collector and the judge should be sued under section 1983.

 

[Uppsala9496]

A bit off topic -
Why is it that the consumer has 30 days to respond to the debt collector to have them verify the debt - and if they don't respond, like the OP didn't, then that is the same as saying 'yes, I acknowledge the debt', whereas the debt collector does not have a time frame at all to respond to the verification request?

At least that is how I read it. At work I am looking at an entity that does debt collection and in order to grasp how things work in that industry I started reading up on it.

Seems like a bit of a scam. Consumer has 30 days to respond and if they don't do so then the debt is considered open and is collectable.
Collector has no time frame at all to prove the debt if the consumer responds in the initial 30 day period.