So I got served last night ...

[FrequencyX]

Well, I successfully eluded them for about a month now and they finally caught up to me. I made a mistake earlier this year with some checks, and now the collection agency wants to take me to court for the amount of 1833 and a 35 dollar filing fee. The thing is, all of these checks never exceed 150 dollars,and are a group of smaller amount checks.

Any words of advice? I know there is legal ai programs, but they don't deal with criminal cases... Would this be considered criminal? And I also have a squeaky clean record if that helps any. Don't even have a speeding ticket on my record.

I guess I have to call some 1800 number in 20 days and thats when they set a court date. Any lawyers or law school students please ring in. If I was taken to court, what can I expect if I can't fight this? :Q

Thanks

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

good luck to you in paying your debts.

 

[KarenMarie]

i don't understand what you are saying.... you bounced checks, got caught and the law has caught up to you?

if you owe the money, why not just pay it?

 

[FrequencyX]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
i don't understand what you are saying.... you bounced checks, got caught and the law has caught up to you?

if you owe the money, why not just pay it?

I would if I could.. And now its past that point of just paying them off

 

[ggnl]

It's probably not a criminal case. Sounds like they are just suing you over money you owe. Your cheapest option is probably to see if they will still settle out of court.

 

[ThePresence]

Sell your computer.

 

[shimsham]

call them and see if you can set up some type of settlement or payment plan.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: FrequencyX

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
i don't understand what you are saying.... you bounced checks, got caught and the law has caught up to you?

if you owe the money, why not just pay it?

I would if I could.. And now its past that point of just paying them off

Are you sure it is? Usually a collection company wants one thing...to collect money.

 

[KarenMarie]

Originally posted by: FrequencyX

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
i don't understand what you are saying.... you bounced checks, got caught and the law has caught up to you?

if you owe the money, why not just pay it?

I would if I could.. And now its past that point of just paying them off

well, you are screwed then. If i read correctly then it was more than one check, one mistake. it was a series of checks all lower than $150 each, totallig over $1,800. not a mistake really, huh?

Make arrangements to pay it off... unless they freeze your bank account and garnisheer your wages. or both.

 

[Mill]

This is what I don't understand. You KNOW you bounced the checks, so why didn't you take care of it months ago? Secondly, why did you "hide" from the people trying to serve you. All that allowed was for interest and fees to rack up even more.

I don't know that we need a debtor's prison anymore, but perhaps a "stupid" prison would do you some good.

It may not be criminal yet, but passing bad checks IS a criminal offense in every state I know of.

 

[FrequencyX]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: FrequencyX

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
i don't understand what you are saying.... you bounced checks, got caught and the law has caught up to you?

if you owe the money, why not just pay it?

I would if I could.. And now its past that point of just paying them off

Are you sure it is? Usually a collection company wants one thing...to collect money.

Well the reason I say that is because it has been filed in court and now I am supposed to appear.

 

[akubi]

i have no idea why people do such things and then post about it on the internet

 

[fenrir]

Well, maybe if you hadn't ignored it and tried to avoid it, you could have skipped the whole court mess. It is easier to work out payments when you are not trying to evade the people you owe.

Now you are going to be stuck going to court and end up paying more and probably end up on a payment plan anyway.

Matt

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: FrequencyX

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: FrequencyX

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
i don't understand what you are saying.... you bounced checks, got caught and the law has caught up to you?

if you owe the money, why not just pay it?

I would if I could.. And now its past that point of just paying them off

Are you sure it is? Usually a collection company wants one thing...to collect money.

Well the reason I say that is because it has been filed in court and now I am supposed to appear.

Call the collection company. Lawyers cost money.

 

[George P Burdell]

talk to a lawyer. it may be better if you can settle this out of court.

 

[FrequencyX]

Well ones that are willing to offer some good advice instead of what prison I belong in, keep it coming. I'm not perfect and I admit that.. I goofed up and maybe some of you wouldn't understand that I had no choice in the matter. I am trying to support my wife and a kid on my income. I was willing to take those risks in writing checks when I am trying to feed my family

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: Mill
This is what I don't understand. You KNOW you bounced the checks, so why didn't you take care of it months ago? Secondly, why did you "hide" from the people trying to serve you. All that allowed was for interest and fees to rack up even more.

I don't know that we need a debtor's prison anymore, but perhaps a "stupid" prison would do you some good.

It may not be criminal yet, but passing bad checks IS a criminal offense in every state I know of.

I don't understand this either... he knew he bounced checks and thought he could "hide" from collectors? And then from the law? This is not only an offense in every state in the nation but is a federal offense to boot. Definitely dumb stuff.

To the OP: Contact who ever is suing you immediately and try to work something out. Continuing to hide or hope it goes away is only gonna make it worse. Good luck.

 

[LOFBenson]

Your local/county/state court probably has information that can help you decide what you need to do next. You didn't mention any location but here is California's.

 

[FoBoT]

you have to pay the people you wrote the checks to/the collection agency

this isn't a criminal charge (check fraud) or you would have been arrested, not servedl. the collection agency is filing a civil lawsuit against you because they know they can win a judgement against you.

if you don't have the $ to pay off the debt, then just ignore the whole thing. they will win a default judgement against you and then they will start to garnish your wages or bank accounts and get the money anyway, but it will be less work for you. i believe in most cases they can only take 10% of your wages through garnishment, so think of it as a "payment plan"

don't write checks when you don't have money, good luck

 

[FrequencyX]

Originally posted by: LOFBenson
Your local/county/state court probably has information that can help you decide what you need to do next. You didn't mention any location but here is California's.

Montana .. And I thought passing a bad check over 500 is a felony? The bank account was open at the time, and a disclosed amount of money was not deposited in time creating a slow cascading affect

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: FrequencyX
Well ones that are willing to offer some good advice instead of what prison I belong in, keep it coming. I'm not perfect and I admit that.. I goofed up and maybe some of you wouldn't understand that I had no choice in the matter. I am trying to support my wife and a kid on my income. I was willing to take those risks in writing checks when I am trying to feed my family

How are you going to support them from prison? Do not bounce checks ever again!

 

[iamwiz82]

Congrats, you will now have to spend more than that on a lawyer

:thumbsup:

 

[Adica]

You should be ashamed of posting this on the internet. It shows that you are a liar, a cheat, and a thief. What a reputation to honor yourself with! You made your bed, now lie in it. There is no good advice, but try to follow the law from now, and pay for what you have done.

 

[LOFBenson]

Information here here and here

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
you have to pay the people you wrote the checks to/the collection agency

this isn't a criminal charge (check fraud) or you would have been arrested, not servedl. the collection agency is filing a civil lawsuit against you because they know they can win a judgement against you.

if you don't have the $ to pay off the debt, then just ignore the whole thing. they will win a default judgement against you and then they will start to garnish your wages or bank accounts and get the money anyway, but it will be less work for you. i believe in most cases they can only take 10% of your wages through garnishment, so think of it as a "payment plan"
don't write checks when you don't have money, good luck

Yeah, and his credit will show this judgement for 7 years. Doing nothing is what got him into this mess.

I used to collect debts for my company. People who express interest in paying back get breaks... people who forced me to turn debts over to collection agencies and hid from me got no mercy. Work out something with the people you stole from and they can call off the dogs and save your credit. Do the right thing.