Technically speaking, this was not my debt, but my wife's. That said, she had a serious mental break about a year ago due to her (then) psychiatrist changing up her meds. So, she was not in a state to be capable of handling...well, anything. Thus, I had to help her sort this out. Here's what happened.
The company (Chase) sent a letter requiring a signature. She signed for it. So, postal rule was in effect. The amount due was just over $20k. They gave her approximately a month to make the payment or they would pursue legal action.
I had been through at least a few of the courses here already, so I knew about the CA and 1099A stuff. Reading over the paper they had sent, I realized they weren't as smart as they thought they were because they left an opening for me to accept their terms and render payment via a 1099A with no recourse for them but to either accept the payment or discharge the debt...BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN TERMS in THEIR CA.
Reading over it, I identified three options they provided in the CA. (anything in quotes is a direct quote from their CA)
1) Ignore it and they would pursue legal action.
2) Call them to make "acceptable payment arrangements".
3) "Send payment to address"...
I wrote up a letter of acceptance for her outlining the option THEY provided and indicated she had chosen to accept the 3rd option. Then I explained the payment would be a monetized 1099A and how to submit it for payment. Lastly, I included a closing statement that I wasn't going to bother including the relevant statutes because they should already know these...but, suffice to say, IF payment is rejected there is discharge.
I checked the account again today. Previously, the account showed both our mortgage and her credit card. Today, there is no trace she ever had a credit card with them. I hunted around to try and, at the very least, find a history for the account. It has been completely wiped as if it never existed in the first place.
2 Answers
This is a follow-up to this.
I received a letter from a law firm that has now been hired to attempt to collect the debt today 07/22/23. I checked the delivery date for the certified mail, and it shows it was received on 06/29/23. The letter from the law firm is dated 07/18/23. This is the only communication I have received about it since the delivery.
Additionally, I have checked the website that has showed her CC debt for over a year now...and as of about a week ago, and including just now, there is no evidence the credit card ever existed. There isn't even a history of payments. Nothing. In spite of hunting and trying to find some record of its existence, I have been able to find no trace it ever existed.
So, this is the course of action I have taken. On the letter sent, they said the debt could be disputed. Now, from listening to lots of stuff from Christopher Hauser and David Straight...the word "disputed" sent up major red flags. I thought about it, and realized they are using language to try and snare me into a court case. IF THERE IS NO DISPUTE...THERE IS NO CASE. Thus, I crossed out the dispute option and wrote "NO DISPUTE" next to it.
On the back of the letter, I explained payment in full had been sent via a monetized 1099-A along with an explanation of how to submit it for payment. I added in the certified mail tracking number and noted the date it was picked up was 06/29/23. I added that there was no debt at this point because the valid payment had either been accepted...or, if they chose to reject it, the debt was discharged entirely as per UCC 3-603. I added at the bottom of the explanation something to the effect of, "This is not a dispute, merely an explanation of the events. The official debt as of now is $0.00, regardless of what their decision was regarding payment."
This correspondence will be sent out on 07/24/23. To bring the matter into court, there must be something to dispute. As long as I refuse to engage in any form of dispute, there can be no court case.
