Sued by Collection Agency
I have been served with papers to appear in court over an unpaid Chase Manhattan credit card bill from more than 5 years ago. Chase apparently sold the rights to this Visa/Mastercard Credit card bill to Bureaus Investment Group #2, LLC (which is evidenced in a Bill of Sale that was attached to the paperwork served). Now this collection agency is taking me to small claims court for lack of payment.
The civil citation says that I am commanded to appear in court in ten days.
I’ve never heard of a Collection Agency filing a suit against an individual for a situation like this. Shouldn’t I be able to contact Chase Manhattan directly to work out a scheduled payment plan with them and not with the collection agency?
Is this legal? What can I do? In addition, the total includes finance and late charges…should I be commanded to pay all of those fees as well?
Re: Sued by Collection Agency
you may have quite a few options here, but it would be fairly time consuming to discuss them with you here. however, in a nutshell, yes, it is perfectly legal for an original creditor to assign or sell its rights against a debtor to a third party collection agent or debt purchaser. so, this third party at issue is now the owner of your debt, not the original creditor, and you may only deal with the third party now legally, unfortunately. however, this third party only steps in the shoes of the original creditor, and will have NO greater rights than they had. further, it is common for third party creditors to take debtors either to the national arbitration forum for debt resolution first and then ultimately small claims or superior court. further, unfortunately, reasonable attorney fees and/or court costs may also be added to the original claim amount plust interest. if you would like to know what some good options are here, you may contact us today with your direct contact information, and we may be able to give you a free phone consultation based on any additional facts you can give us.
H.M. Torrey
The Law Offices of H.M. Torrey
800 West El Camino Real, Suite 180
Mountain View, CA 94040