If I have a charged off credit card that was purchased by a debt buyer can they sue me for the full amount?

Question

I had a credit card with a balance of $300 that unfortunetly did not get paid. The balance then rose to above $1000, however, that credit card company charged my account off and sold the debt to another company whom did not disclose to me any of their finance charges or terms of payment prior to taking me to court. Now they want to collect almost $1500 from me when the bought the account for an incredibaly lesser amount. If I go to court is there any way I can only pay them what they bought the account for plus the 9% interest they are charging instead of what the credit card company charged off? Or am I not obligated to pay this company because I did not originally owe the debt with them but with credit card company who charged it off and stopped pursueing me?.....PLEASE HELP! COURT IS ON THE 18th!

Answer 1

The reason why the debt buyer bought the debt for less than the full amount was because the seller did not know whether or not you would pay the full amount. Therefore, they decided to cut their losses and settle for a sure payment from a third party, even though it was for less than the face value of the debt... it's a shame that the credit card company didn't offer the same dollar amount to you!!! (but then again credit card companies are evil, so why would they have done something nice for you?)

Unfortunately, the amount for which the debt buyer bought your account for will probably not matter in a court of law (unless you have a REALLY good lawyer, which you can't get for less than the $1,500 unless they take the case pro-bono). However, it might gain sympathy from the judge.

Why not try to settle out of court with the debt buyer? Call them and tell them that they have not disclosed their terms of payment to you and therefore are in violation of state and federal law, however, that you will pay them $1,000 over ten months in order to avoid taking them to court... it saves them that $500 from having to pay a lawyer, and it makes the outcome slightly more reasonable for you.

Or, if that doesn't work, try finding a group that will take your case pro-bono (it's when a lawyer takes a case for free because it's a good cause or an exciting/benchmark case). Everyone knows that credit card companies and their ilk are evil (Chase is the worst!!!). Try and find someone that wants to charge them with profiteering, exhorbant rates, etc. But that isn't a case you can make using advice from yahoo users (no offense to you or me).

Your best option is to try to settle out of court for an amount closer to what they bought the debt for or you can try and find a group to take your case pro-bono.

Answer 2

SCH, you don't have any idea either! Don't pay this off now. Doing so will actually do more damage. The older an unpaid debt is, the less impact it has on your credit. If you pay it off now, the activity will become current and your score will drop. Unless you can get the collection agency to agree to a "Pay for Delete" (get it in writing), then I would do nothing. It will drop off your report in 2 years anyway. And don't believe SCH, once it's beyond the 7yr. reporting period, it CANNOT be put back on your credit report; regardless that the debt has been resold to another collection agency. Also talking to the CA, cannot reset the 7yr reporting period. However, it may restart the SOL for collecting the debt. You could negotiate a settlement but unless they also agree to a 'pay for delete', don't bother with them.

Answer 3

If the the debt was at $300 when it went bad and is now almost $1500, it's a fairly old account?

You NEED to check your states collecting statutes. If it is an old account there is a possibility that you may be out of the collecting SOL.

If you are out of the collecting SOL for your state, you NEED to utilize your rights and claim an "affirmative defense of SOL" and request the judge dismiss the case.

Click on my profile and click on the link to find the collecting SOL for your state. Then if you find that you are out of the SOL, scroll down to the bottom of that page and click on the home page. Scroll down to near the bottom of the home page and click on your state. You will find the statutes you need to back up your SOL defense.

If you have any other questions, you might click on my profile and click on the last link listed.

Answer 4

Heres the thing.
You may clear this with the current debt collection agency, but they can sell your debt to another agency and you will have to start the process of clearing it all over again.
What they are actually looking for you to do is to make a deal with them so that they get something from you.
Unless you have declared bankruptcy, this is going to haunt you for a while.
Debt can be sold, and you are still obligated to pay it, but you can probably get them to lower the amount owed.

Answer 5

for credit card detailstry this