Hi my name is Roberta Pereia,

and i can relate to one of the stories that i read, yesterday i got a
call from a law office saying i was going to be sued if i didnt make a
payment for $4539.50 on a credit card but they were willing to settle
for 3,000.00 cause i never got a notice. I this credit card when i was
like 19 and this credit card got stolen and i reported it to the
credit card company but i guess no one ever completely shut the card
off......and the avable balance on this card was only 300.00....and i
had only used 150.00 of it until it got stolen.....so i called the
credit card company and they said they would do an invesgition on this
but it will take 90days, so i called the law office again and told
them that the credit card company in doing this and they said it
doesnt matter u have to pay this ....and i told them this is not my
debit....and i just got reached now for this i got no letters or phone
calls until now...what should i do?? i need help...i am freaking
out....everyone told me not to worry cause i am far from banrupt or
judgements...but doesnt that law office have to wait ??what to do??

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 26 May 2005 07:37 PDT

When was the card stolen? Did you file a police report?

tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by rpnrp-ga on 26 May 2005 08:31 PDT

i dint file a police report, i didnt think that it would be a problem
and the credit card company never gave me a claim number either...but
i just dont ubderstand if the balance of a credit card is 300 wouldnt
they stop transactions from being charged?......and it was stolen back
in 2002

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 26 May 2005 16:55 PDT

If you didn't report the theft and unauthorized use of the card you
may have no choice but to pay the amount credited to the card. You
need a police report as proof that you didn't have the card at the
time the charges were made - and you need an appointment with a good
lawyer for some "real" legal advice (which we cannot give you in this
forum).

Good luck
tutuzdad-ga

It would seem that you might be able to get somewhere, at least some
more time, if you could get the credit card company to call the law
office just to inform them that an investigation is going on.

Their attitude that it doesn't matter probably comes from the fact
that in the business of bill collecting, everyone is assumed to be
lying if they use any excuses to try to delay the method of
collection.

so do u think that they will sue me....?? or do u think that they r
doing that to scare me

Tutuzdad-ga,
Isn't it unusual for a "law office" to handle collections and then by
telephone as first contact?  Doesn't anyone presenting a claim have to
document it?
It sounds more like a collection agency.  If it admits that Roberta
"never got a notice", wouldn't that be the start of new collection
process?
Is there a statue of limitations that applies?
If charges of $ 4500 had been made on a card with a $ 300 limit, the
card co. would have been chasing Roberta back in 2002, but it seems
that the co. did not.
If the co. had a $ 300 limit on the card, does it bear any
responsibility for charges in excess that were accepted by "swiping",
which the co.'s system should have refused?

Roberta,
It seems very surprising that the credit card company had not been
billing you for charges back then (2002).  Did you change your address
at the time?
If you were 19 at the time, I expect that the card did not have a very
long expiry date.  Do you remember what it was?  The card co. can
eventually tell you, but maybe you know.

Don't freak out.  You may get some more information here.

If the "law office" calls again, ask the name of the person who is
calling and the name of the "law office" (and make him/her repeat it
so that you can note it), and then calmly insist that they send you
documentation of the amount.
If your phone shows the number, note that too.  Don't get upset, keep
cool, no admission of anything, just repeated insistance that
documentation be sent.

As Tutuzdad has pointed out, this is no legal advice.  The previous paragraph
is just common sense advice.

I hope you will get more information here.
Good luck,
Myoarin

HI,
I just found this old question and the answer may apply to your situation:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=409557