Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: How to respond to Notice of Arbitration [from credit-card issuer]?

You have quite a few options at your disposal here legally. First and foremost, the national arbitration forum (NAF) is NOT a Court of Law, but rather simply what it is...an arbitration committee. Thus, regardless if you win or lose the arbitration hearing at issue, it is more or less a "paper tiger" having no real legal "bite" to it, unless it is ultimately upheld in a Courthouse in your jurisdiction. Secondly, even if the NAF or Court sides with your creditor at issue, it is ONE thing to merely get a judgment, but its a completely DIFFERENT thing to execute/collect on a judgment. Meaning, the judgment itself is often times useless unless there are assets of yours to collect on thereafter, whether thru wage assignments, bank levies or property liens/foreclosures. Thus, your creditors know this, and this NAF proceeding is really only an intimidation tactic "cleverly" used by alot of creditors to somehow try to scare and flush money out of you, in case you are "lying" about your lack of finances to pay the debt at issue. So, if you TRULY cannot afford to pay this debt, and you have no real or personal assets that can be attached by a judgment against you, you are more or less what they call legally "bullet proof" against judgments. Therefore, your creditors are NOT most interested in wasting time or money with arbitration or court proceedings, but are more interested in settling your account for "something" rather than nothing ultimately, not to mention their fear of you filing for bankruptcy. So, if you would like further assistance in resolving this matter VERY quickly with your creditors, most often out of court or arbitration, contact us today.

Re: How to respond to Notice of Arbitration [from credit-card issuer]?

Mr. Torrey is correct, to a point. The judgment would be good for 10 years, and may be renewed for another 10. So, if you ever work again, a portion of your wages and your entire bank account could be seized. How about filing for bankruptcy? The law changes on 10/17, and you might well fall into the category of those it's designed to throw into a repayment plan.