Collection Agencies - Notice of Litigation - Canada

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RE: Notice of Litigation

Postby DanielBl » Wed Aug 18, 2010 06:33:23 PM

Be sure to perform the checks I mentioned. The credit bureau files normally will list any judgments obtained against you in their "Public Records" section but something may be outstanding or even misssing.
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RE: Notice of Litigation

Postby indebted » Wed Aug 18, 2010 06:08:25 PM

Thankfully, sort of, they have nothing to take a lien out on. I rent and don't have a car.

Also I have already sent a request for my credit bureau files last week.
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RE: Notice of Litigation

Postby DanielBl » Wed Aug 18, 2010 05:48:17 PM

You did the right thing by not sending in those documents because you'd be restarting the limitation period and letting them know right where to go to obtain a garnishee or attachment if they got a default judgment.

The most important thing now is to check if they did actually get one already. Start by seeing if the law firm will tell you. They might just be bluffing, or, alternatively, having obtained a default judgment already, be looking for attachment/lien information.

Do not be afraid to ask. If you can't get a straight answer there, check with the clerk of the small claims court in your locality to see if there are any judgments registered against your name. If so, you will have missed the opportunity for a pre-trial settlement. The thing is you don't want happen is to come out one morning and see your car missing from the driveway.
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RE: Notice of Litigation

Postby indebted » Wed Aug 18, 2010 03:34:16 PM

Thank you for your quick replies.

After a little more digging through my paper work I see that capital one did indeed have my correct address. It was written out a little weird on the bill. It was written "and half" so it seems they gave the incorrect address to the lawyer despite that they had the correct address. Seems as though this is helpful for me.

Unfortunately my last payment was in September of '09 and my last charge to the account was in October '09. So I have not past the statute of limitations.

I do know that Capital one charged off the account. Do I have the right to speak to the people that I owe the money to rather than the lawyer? In order to get a hold of this lawyer I had to speak to capital one who advised that they no longer have this account but that they would forward my phone number to the company dealing with this account. He advised that capital one will not speak to me as he is acting on their behalf. How is he working on their behalf if it has been charged off?

I am a bit of a paperwork hoarder though I don't keep it very organized. Today while searching through my things I found a capital one bill with a due date of March '10. How can litigation be started when Capital one is still sending me bills? Also the balance on that bill is $3025. The balance going up $1200 in 5 months seems a little ridiculous.
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RE: Notice of Litigation

Postby footloose » Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:36:50 AM

GOOD NEWS Time is on your side. Let me congratulate you for not responding to the law firm's request for excessive personal information. Many people would have done so and that is a major mistake.

Now, in your thread, you say that you did not receive a Notice of Litigation due to address problems. The law firm has no proof that you received it. That is where the matter stands as I understand it.

I suggest the following course of action. Request a credit report from both Equifax and TransUnion. You can order one by mail (no cost) and it will take about 3-4 weeks to arrive or you can download your report off of their website for about $15 each. This does not include your credit score but that's not important at this time. On these reports, it will show your last date of activity for Capital One. If you believe that this date is incorrect, check to see if you have any records, i.e. cancelled cheques, receipts, credit card statements, etc. that indicate when you made your last payment. This date is extremely important because it starts the limitation period. If a creditor or it's agent is going to sue you for the unpaid balance, in Ontario, the creditor must initiate a lawsuit within 2 years from this date. If any lawsuit is iniiated outside this time frame, then the debt is statute-barred. That means, the creditor cannot sue you and get a court judgement against you.

My guess is that this debt to Capial One is already statute-barred. Otherwise, why wouldn't the law firm sue you by serving you a Statement of Claim to take you to Small Claims Court. After you have done your research as I have suggested previously, determine if you are within the limitation period. If so, ignore all future Notice of Litigation statements and wait to be served with a Statement of Claim either by registered mail, by a process server or someone representing Capital One. Whether you are inside or outside of the limitation period and are served a Statement of Claim, you must defend it. If you are satisfied that you are outside the limitation period, your defence is that the claim is statute-barred. If you are satisfied that you are inside the limitation period, your defence is that you offered reasonable monthly payments under your financial circumstances and that was rejected by the creditor. You have 20 days to file a defence. Once a defence is filed with the court, the court will set down a pre-trial settlement conference within 90 days of receiving your defence. By the time it gets to this stage, you will probably have saved enough money to pay off the debt, thereby eliminating any trial.

What you are really doing here is buying time so that you can eliminate this debt with Capital One in a lump sum payment.

Good Luck and have a GREAT DAY
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RE: Notice of Litigation

Postby Ottawa_Chap » Wed Aug 18, 2010 08:19:11 AM

Curious, the fact that your account was charged off leads me to wonder when the last time a payment was made on this account? If the legal firm is not bluffing you with falsehoods, and they did infact send out a notice of litigation in Feb/2010, then I'm guessing it's been at least a year since your last payment. Correct?

Anyway, I've never gone through the litigation process, but, I've been bluffed by various agencies and their legal depts on several occasions. If you traverse the site you'll see posts by posters who have gone through the litigation process. Perhaps you'll find something beneficial within their stories?

Let us know when the last time you made a payment was. Perhaps you've exceeded the limitation period for Ontario by now?
Infuriating one C/A at a time..
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Notice of Litigation

Postby indebted » Wed Aug 18, 2010 07:06:15 AM

I'm in a dilly of pickle!

A little background. I had a Capital One account and was going through some financially hard times. I've recently been hired on in a well paying job and am in the process of getting my finances back on track. I've organized arrangments for all of my accounts but one. After a few calls to Capital One and escalating the calls to managers I managed to find out who is dealing with my account.

Capital One charged off my account a while back. At present it is being handled by a law firm. I just got off the phone with a rather crass individual.

The amount owing is about $4250. I offered to make payments of $200 for the present till I have an amount saved up to pay off the rest in full. It would take less than a couple months to do. He advised they will not accept anything but full payment till I fax him:

-A copy of my most recent paystub
-A complete list of assets/debts
-Tenancy/mortgage documents showing how much I pay each month
-Monthly breakdown of all money coming in and going out.

I advised I didn't feel comfortable sending in that information. He again advised if it's not sent in nothing but full payment will be accepted. I advised in that case I would have to wait till I have the full amount saved up and would then make payment in full.

Here's where it gets interesting. He asked if I had received notice of litigation which was sent back in February. I advised I had not. It was mailed in but the address capital one gave was incorrect.

I used to have a very weird address which had a 1/2 in it. The full number was my neighbor which was a seperate house and I had the same number with 1/2 after it which did not refer to an apartment number. I had numerous issues with this address. Most companies were unable to send me mail till I tried to have the address updated 5-6 times at which point they would escalate the call to a manager who would have to deal with the IT department to have a special alterations done to my file to have the address changed.

I ran into my financial issues prior to getting this address correct so the notice of litigation which was sent in February was not sent to my house.

With my current job plus the ridiculous amount of overtime i've been working it won't take more than 5 months to be debt free. I want to get this taken care of but I don't want to send so much information.

What do you think. And in case it matters i'm in Ontario.
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