Asset Acceptance Being Sued, fighting it, but not going according to plan. Help! ripoff Warren Michigan

Ancillam,

I am an attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Indiana and in the federal courts for the Northern District of Indiana and the Western District of Michigan. I am not licensed in your jurisdiction, and the provision of legal advice would therefore constitute the unlicensed practice of law. So do not take what I say as competent legal advice. Only a locally licensed attorney can give you that. However, as it appears that you may be proceeding pro se, I feel it is ethical for me to give you some general advice.

John is correct. Your first task should be to file a motion for continuance.

You will need two forms. The first is the actual motion for continuance. You can get a generic motion here:

courts.state.co.us/chs/court/forms/general/jdf76.pdf

Just fill in the appropriate information. Where it says "MOTION TO ______" write in "continue." Sign this document, and make three copies.

Take all three copies to the court clerk. She will keep one, stamp the other two, and return them to you. Take one copy for yourself, and mail the other one to the Plaintiff's attorney.

The second form is the affidavit of service. You can get that here:

courts.state.co.us/chs/court/forms/general/jdf409.pdf

Fill in the appropriate information. Have a friend sign the affidavit in front of a notary and mark that the Motion was served by first class mail. Make three copies, keep one for yourself, file one with the court, and mail the third to the plaintiff's attorney along with the Motion.

Where the Motion form asks why you are seeking this motion, state that you need additional time to conduct discovery, to file an amended answer, and to possibly seek counsel.

Your motion should be granted, but it may not. Immediately after filing the Motion, either get yourself an attorney or get ready for some lessons in the law.

If you choose to go it on your own, there are a few things you will want to do prior to trial. Basically, your goal is to either completely shut down their case before it ever gets to trial, or boil down the disputed issues to one or two, so that you know exactly what you are trying to show and can focus your energy on those factors.

I'll try to make this clear and painless for you.

First, the answer. You already filed one answer. You should file an amended answer, as I'm fairly sure your original answer was not sufficient (and by the way, NO case will be dismissed based purely on the answer). Take a look at the complaint in your case. Is it a simple, small-claims complaint that sets forth their case in a brief paragraph? If so, your answer should consist of a general denial of all of the substantive allegations contained in the complaint.

On the other hand, is your complaint a longer document, with a bunch of numbered paragraphs? If this is the case, then your answer should answer EVERY one of these paragraphs, individually, with either "Admit," "Deny," "Lack sufficient information to answer this paragrpah," or "this paragraph contains a legal conclusion and does not require an answer."

All of those intro paragrpahs, such as "The defendant resides at . . ." will probably be "admits." When you get into the meat of the complaint, answer each question truthfully. If a simple "admit" or "deny" isn't sufficient, you can state something along the lines of "Admit, however, by way of further answer, the defendant states that . . ." If you don't know the answer to a paragrpah, and you can't readily obtain the answer, use "lacks sufficient information." If the paragraph states something that is not a factual assertion but, rather, is a legal conclusion, use the "legal conclusion" response.

After you do all of that, add your defenses to your complaint. In a case such as yours that is likely aged, you'll want to at least include the following:

1) The debt claimed is beyond the statute of limitations for such actions.

2) Laches: the Plaintiff has waited too long to bring this action and the existence and integrity of documentary evidence is in question and the identity and memory of material witnesses is questionable.

3) Failure to mitigate damages.

Then you'll want to move on to discovery. That's a whole 'nother complicated ball of wax. If your motion to continue is denied, you'll want to get discovery rolling RIGHT AWAY. You may have in fact missed the deadline for discovery and may need to seek a request to extend discovery.

I'll save the discovery instructions for another rebuttal. Let us know if your motion to continue is granted and, if applicable, copy your answer in an update.

I'd first contact the court and file for a "motion for continuance," which is a fancy term for postponing....The worst they can do is say "no," so I'd strongly recommend doing this first.

Asset is hoping and praying that you don't show up for the court date so that they'll get a default judgment against you...That's how these sleaze bags operate.

I'd strongly recommend getting an attorney specialising in consumer issues...one resource is:

naca.net

If are low income, contact your local Red Cross or Salvation Army about referrals for free legal aide

If you do not get a "motion of continuance," I'd strongly recommend having an attorney with you. If you can't or you don't want one and you want to do this on your own, don't be afraid to say the following phrase in response to any question Asset might as you: "I'm not prepared to answered that question at this time."

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Info below from: budhibbs.com

ARE YOU A VICTIM OF ASSET ACCEPTANCE CORP? HAVE YOU BEEN SUED BY THEM? WAS A JUDGMENT OBTAINED? ARE YOUR WAGES BEING GARNISHED, BANK ACCOUNT LEVIED? IF SO, PLEASE GET IN CONTACT WITH ME.

Asset Acceptance Corp. (AAC) is a publicly traded company. (Nasdaq: AACC)

They purchases old portfolios of mostly worthless charged-off accounts for pennies on the dollar. Once owned, they appear to inflate the value of the portfolio, send out dunning notices and try to collect at a ridiculous profit.

Don't be surprised if you notice the date of last activity on your credit report, as stated by AAC is WRONG! Deliberately changing the date of last activity is a way to scam consumers into thinking they are entitled to money they would not legally be allowed to collect.

This is standard procedure for them -- from "re-aging" the debt on the credit history, to suing on what is probably a statute of limitations claim, to reneging on a written promise.

Watch out for the mystery $50-$75 payment you didn't' make that magically revives the account. When pressed, they claim to do an investigation and "discover" that they made a "clerical error" and mistakenly posted someone else's payment to your account.

NOTHING this 'House of Cons' does should be believed or taken at face value. They have proven over and over they are liars and thieves!

Under federal law, the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) an account may ONLY stay on a credit report for seven years. One of the cons being used by Asset Acceptance is to claim you made a $50 payment, which would have re-started that clock. Unfortunately this is a 'bogus-claim' by AAC, is illegal and violates your rights.

Asset Acceptance Corp has earned the distinction of one of "AMERICA'S WORST COLLECTION AGENCY'S". They lie, steal, cheat, misrepresent, file bogus claims, create phony documents and commit perjury in the court system JUST to increase their bottom line.

Just wondering if anyone had any advice for me on the topic above. They set the trial for later this month. Should I file a motion for discovery and ask them to produce the original credit agreement or is it too late for that? At this point do I just show up to court to tell my story? I'm really worried now. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for responding. I showed up and filed the answer and they are still taking it to trial sometime this month. I need to know what to do now. My answer had all the pertinent information. I'm worried that they know something I don't at this point because my answer was very solid. So solid, I thought the would drop it. What should I do now besides just showing up? It is in civil court. Should I file a motion for discovery? I don't know how to proceed. Thanks for any help.

From what I hear, these scumbags will call you and tell you that they have dropped the collection, and there's no need to go to court, then they will show up and collect a default judgement.

Show up for the court date no matter what. If you are there, they will more than likely back off and let it go, since there is no way they can collect that debt without a validation, not to mention the SOW. They are counting on you not showing up for the court date, because it's the only way they will win a judgement against you.

Send them a certified letter, return receipt, to either validate this debt, or back off. Tell them not to contact you except by US Postal Service, certified mail only. Save a copy of the letter, the Post Office receipt and the Certified Return Receipt for you court date.