Collection Summons - Need Help.

State: Kansas

I make too much for free legal aid but there are too many bills that I can't afford an attorney for help with this.

This is a full outline of what has occured with this account:

To start from the beginning of this mess we were struggling to pay all bills September 2007 so we looked into getting help. We found a company that seemed reliable enough so we signed up for their Debt Settlement plan; what we weren’t informed of is how the program really worked. December 2007 we ended that program and tried to get back on track with our creditors. Most of them were willing to work with us on payments but 3 were not; they wanted full payment of what was past due.

February 2008 I found a site that explained a bit of information to help with creditors; I drew up my own settlement plans for the 3 creditors that did not want to “play nice”. I included the letter with the current billing statement stub and a check; in the letter and also on the check I wrote “by cashing this check, you are agreeing to the new terms in the letter”. I also included in the letter that if they did not agree to the new terms to send back the billing statement stub, my letter, and my check in the self-addressed envelope that I included as well.

The check was cash and cleared the bank. I received March 2008 billing statement and paid the set amount agreed upon in the letter. I then received 3 letters from Bank of America in March 2008; 3/3, 3/5, and 3/13 all stating that they are needing complete payment ASAP. I replied with a letter on 3/17/08 stating that my letter from February 2008 was confirmed as agreed to by them cashing the check included with my letter.

On April 3, 2008 I received a letter from a company called Creditors Interchange from Buffalo, NY stating that they were in attempt to collect on the debt. I replied to their letter on April 18, 2008 with a Debt Validation letter. I never received any additional information from this company.

On July 7, 2008 I received a letter from a company called Frederick J. Hanna & Associates P.C. from Marietta, GA stating that they were in attempt to collect on the debt. I replied to their letter on July 11, 2008 with a Debt Validation letter. I never received any additional information from this company.

On August 7, 2008 I received a letter from a company called Cohen McNeile & Pappas P.C. from Leawood, KS stating that they were in attempt to collect on the debt. I replied to their letter on August 10, 2008. I never received any additional information from this company until…

On September 3, 2009 I received an envelope from them which included copies of the original billing statements from Bank of America, May 2007 to May 2008. Now April and May 2008 billing statements are one I never received. May 2008 shows a Charge-Off Adjustment of the full amount leaving the account with a New Balance of $0.00 and Total Minimum Payment Due of $0.00.

Then on September 9, 2009 we receive a Court Summons delivered by the Sherriff. The summons shows FIA CARD SERVICES, N.A. as the Plaintiff and signed by Cohen McNeile & Pappas P.C. It also has a Notice at the bottom reading:
This communication is from a debt collector and is an attempt to collect a debt. Any information obtained will be used for that purpose.
You are encouraged to contact our office at (877) 811-2677 (toll free) or at (913) 491-4050 in advance of the court date if you want to settle this matter.

In the Summons it shows they filed the petition on September 8, 2009. The next page after the petition is an Affidavit of Account dated August 11, 2008 and this has the wrong account number on it. Then next are the same copies of the original billing statements from May 2007 to May 2008. Then there is a page after those dated August 5, 2008 that would have been a reminder of the past due amount; this was never sent to me and it has the wrong account number on it. The last 2 pages are photo copies of the fine print terms that you can’t even read.

I replied to the Court Summons with our Answer to Summons. I mailed a copy Certified Mail Return Receipt to Cohen McNeile & Pappas P.C. on September 25, 2009. I faxed in a copy to the court house on September 28, 2009 and receive an email confirmation that the paperwork was received.

I just received in the mail on September 30, 2009 a Notice of Hearing. It states there is a Case Management Conference scheduled for October 23, 2009.

I have tried to get a lawyer to assist with this matter and the responses I have received is either they are not licensed in Kansas or they do not practice in this area of law.

This is all I have received at this moment. Any help would be much appreciated.

You cannot write legal disclaimers on check and expect that to be binding. As a BUSINESS they are required to do certain disclosures but as a private individual, you cannot expect the minimum wage clerk who is handling mail to read through your information and respond properly.

Most of these envelopes and payments are opened and processed by machine.