I'm bummed out by a debt collector that sued me last week 3 days before I was leaving for Australia. Back about 5 years ago when I was taking care of my parents in Atlanta I quit paying on a Sears credit card when they raised the interest rate to 35% for no apparent reason other then I had settled some other credit cards with the lenders for less then the original amount and I guess they saw it on my credit report. I tried to work out a settlement with Citibank which did the Sears cards but they wouldn't cut me a deal so I just blew them off.
About 2 years later I see this big debt buyer, LNVN Funding had bought the bad debt and about every 3 months or so I would get a letter from some dickwad lawyer claiming to represent them and that a law suit was imminent. So I would send them a "debt validation" request by certified mail and they would never contact me again.
Well, I must have missed the letter from one lawyer because I found out that a law suit had been filed for failure to pay a debt. So the day before I flew to Australia I had to hire an attorney who specializes in this kind of stuff and have him deal with the legal mumbo jumbo. He says there is a pretty good chance that either they will withdraw their suit as they most likely don't have the needed documentation for the debt or that if I do have to pay it will be something like 25-30% of the original debt. He also said if he can play the legal rope a dope until April 2013 the debt will be past the time they can go after it which is 4 years in Texas. It's costing me $1500 which kind of sucks but if they will be gone for good it will be worth it.
Hey, I'm in Australia and the motto her is "No Worries, Mate!"
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