Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Dear, Reader
I am being sued by Discover Card for what I owe them which is $3710.81, today an officer delivered the papers and this about scared me and my mother to death and I am still an emotional wreck. My mother has a heart condition and needs me to help watch out for her and this did not help. I am out of work and in the area I live in there are little to no jobs that I can handle, I have feet and ankle deformities so can not do farm labor which is the main employers here and now I cannot even visit my sister out of state for fear there would be a warrant. I had a good credit rating before all this. But now my life is a mess and just trying to get by on what little we have, which isn�t going to be able to pay this debt unless they can take a dollar here and dollar there, which means I am totally screwed.
Discover Card has been having a lawyer and a collection agency called General Revenue Corporation calling me constantly like all the other credit card creditors that are after me right now, to the point I had to shut the ringer off of the phone because of my mother�s heart condition and it was affecting her health. My message box is so full almost every day with long computer messages from this collection company, sometimes they just leave empty messages just to fill up my message box (the caller ID shows it was them), which means employers cannot even leave a message if they were going to hire me but with my bad credit I would have a better chance of being shot than getting a job, it is like a criminal record for most employers. This has also affected any freelance jobs that might come through because if the people cannot leave messages they will find someone else.
This harassment is affecting my mother's health and my psychological health. I need help, the thought of going to prison for this is making me scared to death and I have read where people can serve time for debt because they have no way of paying it back and no one to borrow it from. I have nothing that is worth $3710.81 and I have no one that I can borrow it from, my employment chances are almost zero,. I may have to just say take me to jail and serve it out that way, you cannot get blood out of a turnip. I do not know if you can give me advice but I hope you can at least tell me what they can do to me so I am prepared, so at least I can find someone to take care of my mother, while I walk in the shame of prison. I have no criminal record so have never been to one, it will be a new experience. I have thirty days to get a lawyer and go to court or pay the debt. I am lost.
3 Answers from Attorneys
We don't have debtor prisons so going to jail probably won't happen. You should talk with a bankruptcy attorney. You have no action on the legal use to collect ifo .
You can relax, as long as you do not ignore on Order to Appear you will not be going to hail. The law does not allow jail simply for a debt. You can go out of state without fear of a warrant.
You can lookup online how to file a General Denial, there is a form online and affirmative defense. You can also do a form form for the cost waiver so you dint pay filing fees. Contact legal aid in your area and the can help and advise if the debt is unlawful.
Even if the win the case it sounds like you have no assets they can collect on. You can write to each creditor and tell them not to call you anymore, except in writing.
I agree, it is very unlikely you will go to jail for failing to pay a bill. You should consider bankruptcy to resolve all or your debt issue and gain the peace of mind you seem to be seeking.
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