Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Texas
I just recieved a "courtesy" letter from a P.C stating that he has filed a civil suit on behalf of a large credit card company seeking about $6k for an old 2002 credit card debt of about $2k. I have a few questions hopefully some people here can help answer.
1) As I understand procedure, the suit needs to be filed in the county and precinct in which the defendant lives. This was not done. My address city is in the county in which suit was filed purely for postal delivery reasons. My physical domicile, law enforcemnet service, and taxing authority is located in an unincorporated area of an adjacent county. So is this something that can be used in some way to my advantage? If this went all the way to judgement, could this be used at that point to have the judgement overthrown? Clerical errors have let murderers walk free right? If I stop things early and point it out they can simply take their suit and file in the appropriate county. If they dont know or notice their own mistake I shouldnt point it out to them right?
2) As I understand the law, Texas has a 4 year SOL on this type of debt from the time it was charged off or last had action. How can I find this date without causing said action to be initiated? My credit reports dont give dates of charge off, only an account opened date which was around mid 2002. But I have not had a card from this company in at least 5-6 years.
3) Should I strike pre-emptively before being served any legal or court documents and remove my name from my joint bank checking account? The letter I received was non-certified, no signature or delivery confirmation services of any kind. Hence no evidence of actual delivery for the sending party. So officially I will be presumed to know nothing of this suit until I am served documents. Were this to go against me at some point Wage garnishment or hitting my employer matched 401K for this type of debt wont likely happen in Texas. But a writ of execution against my bank account is a possibility, unless I am no longer a party to the account correct?
4) In the event of a writ of execution for non-exempt property: I have no significant non-exempt property. My home is protected via homestead, my vehicles both have loan balances that are greater than even the high blue book value, and I dont own any of the other fun toys (motorcycles, goKarts, race cars, boats, planes, etc...) With regards to items inside my home, firstly how can it even be determined what I possess and do not possess (do I make a list, does someone come inspect, or something else)? Secondly How can it be determined that an item is actually mine and not that of another person either living in the home or not? For instance one of my items of value would be my firearms. But they were all purchased legally in Face to Face cash in hand transactions which required no background checks and no transfer/ownership documentation. If these firearms were said to belong solely to my wife, The burden of proof to dispute that statement would fall on the person attempting to execute the writ correct? Same would go with virtually all other items in the home. Anything attached to the home such as new appliances would be exempt correct?
Anyway, Never had anything even remotely like this come up in the past. so I am looking for whatever useful info you guys might have. I am sure i will have more questions as things progress.
1 Answer from Attorneys
1. After you get served, you will probably want to object to the venue. However, you should really consult a lawyer before you file an answer.
2. The statute of limitations dates from the time that the creditor knew or should have known that he wasn't going to be paid; charge-off has nothing to do with it. Generally, the SOL date is four years after your last payment. You plead SOL in your answer (after you're served).
3. Don't do anything until after you're served. Your wages CANNOT be garnished in Texas for a credit card debt, but AFTER they get a judgment, they can garnish a bank account IF they know where you bank and IF they find enough money in the account to make it worthwhile (the threshold is about $500.00).
4. Nobody's going to try to execute on your home furnishings; they're exempt. Only TWO firearms are exempt (believe it or not), but nobody knows how many firearms you own.
It is POSSIBLE that after these guys take a judgment against you, they will engage in post-judgment discovery to find out what kind of assets you have; don't worry about that until it happens.
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