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Please help, Don't know what to do....
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Posted by david swell
(65.246.248.35) on July 08, 2004 at 13:01:38:
First off, this board rocks and has put my mind at ease for now. I received a phone call today from a lawyer which he stated he represents a Collection agency. I had a Discover card that had a $2000 balance from 1999 which was sold to a collection agency. This collection agency had filled papers against me in July 2000 for a balance of $4,224 in New York State court, I guess this is with penalties and interest. The situation is this; I have a spinal injury and have not worked in over five years. No savings, inherited some real estate from my father which is in my name, my brothers and sisters. After mortgages and taxes the real estate breaks even. I started a small web site from home to make a couple of bucks from home. Didn't incorporate, just a small business. The law firm sent my small business a certified letter asking about me, as an employee, how much i make and so on. I ignored it. This is what prompted a lawyer to call me. He stated his firm was going to sue me, I told him I would like to work this out, but I have no money saved to pay this off. He stated if this goes to court, i would need to provide my books for viewing, on how much this side company makes.
I told him, I don't have any books, of every sale. This side job brought in 4,000 last year after expenses. Which I put on my personal taxes. He offered to settle if I pay 70% of the debt in the beginning. Then after he found out he's going after a dead dog, offered 50% Settlement. He said I should see how much I can borrow from friends and family, and he’ll offer that to the collection agency (his client) to see if they accept this offer. Does he make the final decision on what the settlement should be, or does he offer this to the collection agency,? When he went down another $25% he said he had to put me on hold and call the client to offer this amount, it only took 30 seconds for him to come back on the line, which I found weird. My question is this; the starting debt was $2000 before it was sold to a collection agency, now it's up to $5,682. He said fee's and interest... This Debt is over 5 yeas old. My credit is shot to begin with, without this particulate problem. I own a car, nothing in the bank. Could I ask for a smaller settlement amount? I could come up with close to $1,000. Should I let it go to court? What can they really do, I have no job, no money, and all I have is a car and real estate I share with two others. Thank in advance…
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