Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Received a letter from collection attorney for last chance settlement before legal action continues. ( civil suit already filed under Citifinancial, inc as plaintiff ) This letter had a different creditor on it: NCO Financial ???? Called the CA and the legal assitant said NCO is who purchased the account from Citi. My question is the suit claims Citifinancial as creditor, but they are telling me NCO owns it??? Affirmative defense for "lack of privity" applicable? Summons says Plaintiff is owner/assignee of an agreement entered with plaintiff's predecessor Citi. Plaintiff having taken said assignment for value. What does this mean??? Help....
2 Answers from Attorneys
It basically means that Citi assigned the debt to Citifinancial (they are two different companies), and later Citifinancial assigned the debt to NCO. If the assignment from Citifinancial to NCO is valid, the "no privity" defense will not work. If you end up litigating this matter, I would request copies of all the assignment agreements to make sure they exist, first of all, and that they are valid.
Although the "no privity" defense will not apply, the change in ownership of the debt may make it difficult for the plaintiff to actually produce the contract, which is a popular debt defense tactic.
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