Forums
I have a collection agency that served me a summons last december, to make a long story short, we have been through discovery with no positive result and now they have filed for an arbitration hearing. Apparently, my county pulls three attorneys to hear the case. Has anyone been through an arbitration? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. I am glad to finally get some result, any result and move forward on this. It has been a thorn in my side for quite some time. I am not familiar at all with the arbitration process, any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.
Hey goodnatured...
I suppose you got your answer already....
Nope, no answer yet, sure could use anything you have to offer???????
Hey good there is the other thread on arbitration. But no solution I guess, just recommendations. :)
hey good.... I responded to a arb. thread in the mortgage forum... may want to go check.... Not sure if it will help.
Ok, I have not been on that forum in a while, I will go check it out, thanks
goodnatured, I googled the Pennsylvania arbitration and a few pages came up with some really good information on how the process works. From what I see you will be able to present evidence on your own behalf, if you are having trouble with this send me a pm and I will forward you the links directly, they will be in my history so it is no big deal.
Hi Dadummy welcome to the forum.
Could you please om me the information too?
thanks for the lead dadummy, I did find more information on google then had previously in past search results.
Yes thanks a lot dadummy. I learned a lot as well :)
I did not have time to call the courthouse, seems like my time just flies during the week. I pulled out everything I have to try and get organized, I want to write a letter to the arbitrators listing what I think they did wrong or some type of list.
Go ahead with the letter Good. Its a good step that you are taking :)
I will, I have to get it done this weekend for sure, I have been busy, but I am gonna get a date here soon, so need to get that done.
Sounds like they are going to listen to both sides so that is good for you. I would organize three packets, one for each attorney, make it simple and easy to read, state the facts and the law if you have it. I wish you lots of luck with this and please keep us updated.
Yeah, either way I will be happy to see this all come to an end, this has been stressful to say the least. I am really tired of having this hanging over my head. I just hope they wait till after the holidays.
Talked to the attorney that is serving as chairman today. He said that I will have a chance to provide my evidence to them. These three attorneys will serve as judge and jury. He said that they will make sure that I am not railroaded and that the burden of proof is on them to prove that not only do I owe the money but that I owe it to them.
I will have to work on this over the next few weeks, he said the date would be well after the holidays and gave me some guidance on where to find public law on how to present evidence. Any guidance that anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I plan to work on this and present it in an orderly fashion. He said that I will have a chance to cross examine and that this is no negotiation, it is either win or lose.
Hi Good,
Atleast you have some time now. I am not experienced in this but can say that keep your facts straight so that you are not confused when cross examined.
Good you need to make sure that everything is organized, sounds like they are gonna let you at least speak your peace, this is great, what you wanted anyway. goodluck and keep us updated.
Wondering if there is any new information about the arbitration....
Hi Good,
How is your preparation going on? You must be preparing for the hearing. Have you learned the trick to present evidences?
No anthony, unfortunately I have not had time to do any of this, I just got done with all the holiday crap, truthfully all that stuff is so exhausting. I wish I could just find the rules of evidence online somewhere, but it is looking like I am going to have to make the trip to the courthouse. I have time, have not got the hearing notice in the mail yet, when I do I will have to take a day off and go to the courthouse and dedicate a day to that. Maybe after the new years.
Do you have any leads on what rules of evidence are? I would appreciate any help you can give.
Have you contacted NACA yet? Have tried getting a lawyer that is affordable.?
Not trying to be mean or rude, but its going to take more than just a day to prepare for something like this. I have already been through something like this already..
Hey Good,
Are you looking for this? Hope this helps http://www.law.cornell.edu/uniform/evidence.html
thank you Laura, I will venture into that link first thing in the morning, getting late now but wanted to update you guys.
I was talking to an unemployment referee today who by the way was a corporate lawyer in his past life and I through the evidence question at him. He generously replied.
1. he said that they have to prove I owe the debt to them, if they do, then they win, however they must show the true ownership or transfer of the debt. They must show in the original contract that this option to transfer the debt was actually there. They must also show that they properly secured the debt and that they are not just saying they bought it, back to prove it/
2. I have to show the many times that I have tried to get this information from them. I have several letters sent via certified mail and return reciept requested that they have signed for time and time again and never provided me with the information.
3. He said also to be prepared to pay, have estimated what I can pay a month, just in case I lose.
4. He said I should try to get my hands on a copy of the original agreement, does any one know how I can get these documents? I don't think that providian would provide me this documentation, so I need to come up with it on my own. I know I don't have it in my possession. any ideas would be appreciated.
This sounds like you have been through alot with this company, what a pain in the rear huh, I really hope that you win this arbitration, I don't know you but you seem like a good person and I don't like to see or hear about good people getting screwed around.
I seen a news story on television about them raising the credit card rates, I seen some older people who are on the fixed incomes talking about how they can not afford those rates but need the cards. I think there needs to be something, a law or a clause that they can not raise it unless you have done something negative on your account.
oh my gosh erb, i didn't hear they were raising rates!! one of these days there will be a revolution of our poorer and vulnerable folks. this credit system we have is not working. it helps us out for a while but then we're seemingly punished for needing credit with the high apr and now it looks like they're raising rates. i distinctly remember a time when we had no money to our names, i mean it! we desparately needed to travel one weekend to see my parents but had no money. i had to write a check then my mom gave me money to put into our account so the check wouldn't bounce. i didn't have credit then now i'm wondering if i wasn't fortunate ;)
Good, how are yolu doing with your arbitration? i hope that all goes well. I agree with erb, i believe you are a very good person and strong and determined. i know you'll be ok, it's just a pain in the arse eh?
arbtration
goodnatured hope you get results that are good guess it depends on everyones mood on that day. good luck hopefully youll get POSITIVE RESULT
hearing
Hey, Goodnatured?........is the company who I think it is??
No, this is CACH, an old credit card sometime ago with providian, they filed this suit just prior to the statute of limitations running out, this caused a freeze on the statute of limitations. I think I have a really good chance of beating these guys though.
There is a new guy at work who used to be a corporate attorney, he gave me some really good advice on what consitutes ownership of the debt and what I should be prepared for if I lose. He did say go for it, that I have a really good chance at beating them. I am going to give it my best shot. I have dug up alot of information on the rules of evidence. If they don't have anymore than they have sent to me then they are sunk. I have not heard anything yet about the arbitration date, probably will soon though, the attorney that is the chair of the committee said that I will get a list of availability dates in the mail. Still have not received them. I will update the forum as soon as I hear.
By the way, it is good to see you back sdchargers, missed you. I still haven't heard anything from the company that you think it is yet, I am sure I will soon.
Wondering if you ever found a way to get a copy of the original agreement on your case. I know in your creit report they list the date of last payment and the original creditor on there. You also have to make sure they didn't renew the debt. I just got a new phone number and the person whose number this use to be had debt. They still call here after me telling them it isn't her number anymore. Also dealt with collections myself before and relize this is no fun. Let me know how things work out for you. :roll:
Anyone want to explain to me what 51 magic points are?
The magic points are a way to reward us to post and share our knowledge. Each post earns points, 5000 points = $50!
There are a few threads in the announcements section if you want to read more about it.
Thanks. I did in fact find those posts and now understand what the magic points are.
Hi Fireyone,
Great to see you here on the forums. So can we expect you to be a regular participant amongst us?
Yes. I happened upon this site and found it very informational. The insurance forum has helped me tremendously. Talk to you soon
Thanks a lot fireyone. Hope you see you soon here. Our community is always available during crisis. We give immense support o people out here.
Your welcome and glad to be here even if it isn't for the best of reasons.
Welcome aboard fireyone, good to see you here as well, I have seen you on the insurance forum, this forum works much in the same way, you will find the people here as helpful and as nice as those on the insurance forum. welcome aboard, glad to see you here and look forward to interacting with you here as well as on the insurance forum. If you are interested their is a mortgage forum and a debt forum as well at the top of the page is links to each of them. enjoy your stay.
Thanks goodnatured. I never thought i would find such help available on one website. I started here after an auto accident and have found so much more help beyond that. I very near and dear friend pointed me in this direction. Must say its been informational.
Glad to see that you have found your way here and have developed some friendships here, we have all found ourselves in situations that have some how become out of control, here we can all discuss it and find some resolution, what works for one may work for many, we can exchange ideas and ways to work through things that have become so stressful and seems to be out of control, in reality, it is manageable, we just have to talk it out and come to a plan to resolve it. that is possible here.
That is exactly what I am looking for. Have some old debt out there and was still continuing to get letter and phone calls so I thought I would read thru some of the posts to see how people was dealing with situations like mine. I believe it is past statutes but I don't know when the statutes of limitations changed from 6 years to 4 years here in PA. I haven't quite found the exact answer I am looking for although I did ask it on another post. Maybe you could help. If I aquired a debt back in 2000 and the statutes at that time were 6 years (I don't actually know this) and the state somewhere along the lines changed it to 4 years does the SOL run out at 4 or 6 years? I don't know if they go by the ones that were in effect at the time of the credit card or the new ones. A few years ago I checked it and thought that I had seen PA was 6 years at the time. I considered then paying off the debt but it became so astronomical. I $300 credit card turned in $1700 so quickly. There was suppose to be a one time beginners fee on the card of $99. Then a year later they charged me $99 and threw the card over the limit with. They wanted everything over the limits of the card, plus over the limit fees and so much more. A payment I was unable to make at the time. They wouldn't let me pay any less and so I sent in what I could but that just added even more fees since I didn't pay the amount they wanted and agghhh so on and so on.
You can try a settlement. Beyond the SOL your debt is no more payable legally but the debt stays.
Yes I have got that understanding from reading on this web site. I would not try settlement for a couple reasons. !. The pay off is so high and I can not afford to pay it. 2. Making a payment would from what I gather reset the SOL. The debts are to clear off my record by Auguat of this year. Thanks anyway.