need advice/not sure what to do/ What would you do?

Hi Everyone

As many of you know, I was in a bad car wreck last October- and I also ran a home daycare. After my wreck I was unable to continue running the home daycare, so I decided to close it down- and sell all of the stuff like the toys and so forth. This lady came and made me a generous offer for $600 for everything.

A week later, she came by insisting she has to pay by check (I check ID, it matches etc...) and then she shows me a copy of her bank statement with an astronomical amount (I did not realize it had typos at the time).  So I accept the check. Of course, it bounces like rubber. So for 2 weeks, I inform her it bounced, let's set up payments etc. She keeps making payment arrangements, and is a no show. Though she stays in contact with me but there is always an excuse. Usually it is some medical ailment or some catastrophy which is false (such as her kid got attacked by a wolf and was flown to Children's.) so I finally give up and I file with the District Attorney.

 I deposit the check in my PayPal through check capture - and a few days later they release the funds. I get an e-mail from PayPal telling me the funds had cleared and were now availiable to use. So I purchased furniture for my guest room (on clearance, non returnable). Well the next day, it turns out they reversed the payment-so now my account is negative $-600.00.

Enter currently, 4 months later. The District Attorney contacts me and informs me they are having trouble finding her to issue a warrant (she was a no show on her court date of July 29) and she has not contacted them. Apparently, they can't match her ID with the check and she is out of state, so there is not much they can do. While they are still going to attempt to find her, even if they were able to serve a warrant, she would have to be picked up in Texas). this could be a traffic violation, anything - and to just remain patient while they try to help me.

Yesterday, PayPal contacted me to attempt to collect on the negative balance- and have frozen my account so I can not even log in. They have put me to a third party collection company who called me yesterday and was just being rude. I explained numerous times about the hot check, the reason it was negative etc.The words of the bill collector "Well you owe it, only scums don't pay their bills. You're a scum of the earth for not paying this it has been long enough". I explain that I will be getting my school money in on the 29th, and I will pay it then- (I have worked for years to rebuild my credit).

So he asks for a post-dated payment and I tell him no, I will call back on the 29th. He starts asking me if I have things, or plasma, or anything I can sell, friends I can turn to, or anything I can liquidate. I explain my husband lost his job a a month ago and I get by on $820 a month for social security. He said "What is your disability? Refusal to pay bills". ughhhhh . I have been burned before with a post dated payment, where they will wipe out my account- take out the money before the payment date etc... so I plan on putting the cash on a pre paid debit card and calling to pay with that, only to keep my credit rating in tact.

Last night, the woman's husband text messages me out of the blue saying she had a stroke, can we settle this out of court etc. And another outlandish medical story (his wife had a stroke while on a cruise doing mission work............. EYE ROLL.......I message back and say what did you have in mind? I mention the many times they failed to show and bring cash, etc. They are under the impression they have a warrant against her, and I can drop it. I didn't tell them differently, she still thinks there is a warrant for her due to failure to appear for her court date. So they say "We have the money it is just a matter of taking time to deal with it". So I say okay, no problem. You can PayPal it to such and such e-mail, or mail me a money order to this address and I gave them my PO Box. I then said Monday I was going to tell the court to go ahead and pursue the warrant if I don't see it by then. I had offered payment plans, arrangements etc. I even offered to let them bring the stuff back.

I will mention I have contacted Judge Judy and I am a finalist. If I appear, I get $500 for appearing + my winnings. The trip is all expenses paid for both her and I (she also gets money for appearing on the show). The whole show is fake, but the the scenarios are real. The producers pay you to appear + they pay your winnings. I would get my money but she would not actually be paying it, so it is somewhat of a win-win situation for us.

Now, I would like to know what you would do in this situation?

I am split between several options

#1- Forgive the debt completely and move on as it is not worth the stress

#2 - Forgive the debt but leave the charges pending and whatever happens with the law happens, I won't try and stop it or drop the charges

# 3- Continue texting back and forth to make payment plans and giving them a chance to pay (which I doubt they will do)

# 4- Some other option I have not thought about open to ideas

I fully plan on paying the PayPal balance on the 29th, to save my credit rating. And lesson learned never ever take a check- I was so stupid and just wanted to have that room empty that I let my guard down.

I am sorry for the full length of the post but I needed to give details. I look forward to responses!

Mel

Nebula, that's one long complicated story and I'm so sorry you were obviously taken advantage of greatly.

Do not forgive the debt.  I'd continue to try to collect.  However, once your name goes to a 3rd party collection agency, it does become more difficult to correct the matter for your own records.

By law, you do NOT have to speak to anyone who calls for collection.  If you do choose to answer these calls, do not say anything at all to them, just hang up.  Do not get sucked into a discussion with them, as difficult as that might be.  

Also, you should look up your credit ratings asap.  Everyone is entitled to one free copy a year from one of the major companies that run reports such as Experian, or Equifax.  I do this routinely, to keep on top of making sure that nobody has used my identify to create accounts I'm unaware of and of course, for other errors which might show up.  For instance, my health insurance screwed up a submission, sent it to the incorrect place for payment.  I wanted to make sure my credit report had no dent in it because of that delay.  If you do see issues, you can contact the credit reporting company and they will make a note on your file to that affect.

Ok, now, is the Judge Judy thing for real or are you concocting this as leverage to get this person to pay you?  I can't tell from what you wrote.  If true, that is an amazingly good way to force her to pay.  I can't imagine anyone would want to be on tv only to be made a fool of and Judge Judy is excellent at that.  However, if it's false, I think you're only getting yourself further into resolving the problem.  

I'd stop trying to contact the person who owes you the money at this point.  It seems fairly obvious they are not worth your personal effort.  Let the law work for itself.  Hard as it might be, it will be better for your sanity if you discontinue trying on your own.  At least, that's what I'd do.

If you can pay the money back, do so.  It is no small amount, but it might be better than having this drag on and potential ruining your credit.  Again, if you choose to do this, contact the agencies to make that note on your file just in case it did have some impact on your credit rating.

Best of luck.  I can't even imagine being in your position and I really feel bad for you and yours. 

sivyaleah said:

 
Nebula, that's one long complicated story and I'm so sorry you were obviously taken advantage of greatly.

Do not forgive the debt.  I'd continue to try to collect.  However, once your name goes to a 3rd party collection agency, it does become more difficult to correct the matter for your own records.

By law, you do NOT have to speak to anyone who calls for collection.  If you do choose to answer these calls, do not say anything at all to them, just hang up.  Do not get sucked into a discussion with them, as difficult as that might be.  

Also, you should look up your credit ratings asap.  Everyone is entitled to one free copy a year from one of the major companies that run reports such as Experian, or Equifax.  I do this routinely, to keep on top of making sure that nobody has used my identify to create accounts I'm unaware of and of course, for other errors which might show up.  For instance, my health insurance screwed up a submission, sent it to the incorrect place for payment.  I wanted to make sure my credit report had no dent in it because of that delay.  If you do see issues, you can contact the credit reporting company and they will make a note on your file to that affect.

Ok, now, is the Judge Judy thing for real or are you concocting this as leverage to get this person to pay you?  I can't tell from what you wrote.  If true, that is an amazingly good way to force her to pay.  I can't imagine anyone would want to be on tv only to be made a fool of and Judge Judy is excellent at that.  However, if it's false, I think you're only getting yourself further into resolving the problem.  

I'd stop trying to contact the person who owes you the money at this point.  It seems fairly obvious they are not worth your personal effort.  Let the law work for itself.  Hard as it might be, it will be better for your sanity if you discontinue trying on your own.  At least, that's what I'd do.

If you can pay the money back, do so.  It is no small amount, but it might be better than having this drag on and potential ruining your credit.  Again, if you choose to do this, contact the agencies to make that note on your file just in case it did have some impact on your credit rating.

Best of luck.  I can't even imagine being in your position and I really feel bad for you and yours. 

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Hi thanks for your quick response. I subscribe to Credit Karma, and it isn't on my score yet... which is 605. (Up from 380).

The Judge Judy thing is real, they contacted me after I submitted my story. The problem with Judge Judy is, the producers of the show pay the money for her, so she does not have to pay it- though I do still get my money +  money for appearing. She just ins't held accountable. However, the humiliation that Judge Judy is good at might be worth it  an I would get my money plus a free all expenses paid trip to LA.

I am going to pay the amount as I get nearly $3500 in at the end of month from leftover school money, so I can pay it easily- that way it won't ruin my credit and will unfreeze my account.

This whole thing is a mess I am ready to go away, but I will stop contacting them.. it is useless at this point and only serves to frustrate  me.

Thanks for clarifying!

Yes, absolutely let her know about JJ in that case.  The potential humiliation might move it along.  Pretty awesome that they actually contacted you.  I watch her pretty regularly and enjoy the program.  I did know the parameters involved because my BF and I once had one of those dumb arguments about the show, and I had to go online to prove my info to him about how it works LOL.

Also good that you are already looking out for your credit rating.  

Hoping this will rectify itself by the end of the month.  The whole thing completely stinks.

The Judge Judy thing would be wonderful.  How soon do you find out if you are picked to do the show?  She would also have to agree to do the show for it to work so I wouldn't count on that, she may have other people she is hiding from!  Don't get hung up by a desire to have her held financially accountable -- if you want to do the show and you get your $600 back, who cares who pays it, go ahead and do it.   I would not mention it to her until you actually get chosen.  Does being a finalist mean you are already chosen and all that remains is for her to agree?  If so, yes, tell her.

By the way, don't put money into PayPal because they are NOT a bank, banking rules do not apply, so YES, they can totally reverse it at any time and then they hold you liable for it.  If you had put that check in your bank and it had cleared, and you took the money out, then the bank is responsible for the liability.  I had someone reverse a credit card payment they made through PayPal a full 6 months later!  And PayPal actually put a hold on that amount and froze my account.  I called them and pointed out that the person had actually been refunded her money six months ago, and they could actually SEE in their records that she got the money back six months ago, then they cleared my account and said they would deal with the credit card company about the chargeback.  If the refund had not gone through PayPal, her credit card chargeback would have stuck and I would have had to pay it six months later.  We do use PayPal like it's a bank, and we need to remember not to do that!

Red Top Rescue said:

 
The Judge Judy thing would be wonderful.  How soon do you find out if you are picked to do the show?  She would also have to agree to do the show for it to work so I wouldn't count on that, she may have other people she is hiding from!  Don't get hung up by a desire to have her held financially accountable -- if you want to do the show and you get your $600 back, who cares who pays it, go ahead and do it.   I would not mention it to her until you actually get chosen.  Does being a finalist mean you are already chosen and all that remains is for her to agree?  If so, yes, tell her.

By the way, don't put money into PayPal because they are NOT a bank, banking rules do not apply, so YES, they can totally reverse it at any time and then they hold you liable for it.  If you had put that check in your bank and it had cleared, and you took the money out, then the bank is responsible for the liability.  I had someone reverse a credit card payment they made through PayPal a full 6 months later!  And PayPal actually put a hold on that amount and froze my account.  I called them and pointed out that the person had actually been refunded her money six months ago, and they could actually SEE in their records that she got the money back six months ago, then they cleared my account and said they would deal with the credit card company about the chargeback.  If the refund had not gone through PayPal, her credit card chargeback would have stuck and I would have had to pay it six months later.  We do use PayPal like it's a bank, and we need to remember not to do that!

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The show producer told me they contacted her about the show and I should not mention it to her. All that is waiting on is her to agree to do so, then we go to LA

Everyone wants PayPal it seems now days. I don't like PalPay and even more now. But I am paying it because I dont want it on my credit- after that I will be closing my account.

I keep my PayPal account and it is linked to a bank account that I dont keep a lot of money in, but that allows me to pay for things in eBay (I get flea medicine there and some other things occasionally, and I sell stuff there sometimes so I need it.)  PayPal can't pull money out of your bank even if it is linked without your permission, so they can just give you a negative balance and freeze your account if somebody does a chargeback.  I only had that happen once, because this person was vindictive and wanted to give me grief.  She was unsuccessful, however, so again, I was glad I had PayPal because they had evidence of the return so she could not get me with the chargeback.  If she had paid you THROUGH PayPal instead of you putting her check in from your end, then SHE would have been the ones the collection folks came after.  If I were you, I would just get rid of the check reader but keep PayPal until something better comes along.  They pretty much rule the internet right now.  Amazon has some payment thing too but that's the only other one out there.

Nebula said:

 
Hi thanks for your quick response. I subscribe to Credit Karma, and it isn't on my score yet... which is 605. (Up from 380).

The Judge Judy thing is real, they contacted me after I submitted my story. The problem with Judge Judy is, the producers of the show pay the money for her, so she does not have to pay it- though I do still get my money +  money for appearing. She just ins't held accountable. However, the humiliation that Judge Judy is good at might be worth it  an I would get my money plus a free all expenses paid trip to LA.

I am going to pay the amount as I get nearly $3500 in at the end of month from leftover school money, so I can pay it easily- that way it won't ruin my credit and will unfreeze my account.

This whole thing is a mess I am ready to go away, but I will stop contacting them.. it is useless at this point and only serves to frustrate  me.

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If you still can, go with Judge Judy !!

I don't know about small claims court there, but where I live, the court doesn't help you collect the money if you win!   And trying to collect it on your own is pretty much impossible.

Some years ago I took a job telephone soliciting to book appointments for an insulation company. I was in my early 20's and pretty naive about stuff such as payroll, taxes etc.

I can't remember what happened, but I was let go for some reason; it was not on good terms I do remember that. My cousin went to pick up my final cheque and the guy refused to give one. Not only that, but when it came time for T4 slips for income tax time, he refused to provide me one stating that I was an "independent contractor" and he was not responsible for providing me with a tax slip.

I contacted Revenue Canada and asked them, and based on the terms of my employment (He set my hours. I worked out of his office etc etc), by definition I was NOT an independent contractor and he was breaking the law. He ended up being audited by the government for tax evasion

He ended up paying Revenue Canada ALL of the income tax that he didn't deduct from me in the 6 months that I was employed by him. And that amount was taken from the total amount of money that he owed to me. I never did get a T4 slip for my taxes. Revenue Canada told me to just estimate my income based on my hours worked and minimum wage paid.

I took him to small claims court to recover the balance of money owed to me.The hours that I had worked that he didn't pay me for, plus 2 weeks pay in lieu of notice.

He didn't show up in court and I won. He then appealed, and I won again. When it came time for him to pay up, the court wouldn't help me collect the money. It was up to me to collect through either him voluntarily giving it to me, or me garnishing his wages.

By that time he had changed banks, and I had no way of finding out where he was now doing his banking. He was self-employed, so how do you garnish someone who does their own payroll?

I went back to Small Claims Court to see if they could help me; and imagine my surprise when they couldn't find the claim! It had completely vanished like it never happened. No record of it at all. Very fishy to me.  Today that wouldn't be possible because things are computerized now. But back then, things could be misfiled, or people paid to make things disappear.

I never did get my money, or the costs that I put out suing him; and it was a hard life lesson learned.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I just hope that your laws there are different than they are where I live and that you will actually recover the money owed to you, plus what you are suing for.

 

Natalie_ca said:

 
If you still can, go with Judge Judy !!

I don't know about small claims court there, but where I live, the court doesn't help you collect the money if you win!  And trying to collect it on your own is pretty much impossible.

Some years ago I took a job telephone soliciting to book appointments for an insulation company. I was in my early 20's and pretty naive about stuff such as payroll, taxes etc.

I can't remember what happened, but I was let go for some reason; it was not on good terms I do remember that. My cousin went to pick up my final cheque and the guy refused to give one. Not only that, but when it came time for T4 slips for income tax time, he refused to provide me one stating that I was an "independent contractor" and he was not responsible for providing me with a tax slip.

I contacted Revenue Canada and asked them, and based on the terms of my employment (He set my hours. I worked out of his office etc etc), by definition I was NOT an independent contractor and he was breaking the law. He ended up being audited by the government for tax evasion

He ended up paying Revenue Canada ALL of the income tax that he didn't deduct from me in the 6 months that I was employed by him. And that amount was taken from the total amount of money that he owed to me. I never did get a T4 slip for my taxes. Revenue Canada told me to just estimate my income based on my hours worked and minimum wage paid.

I took him to small claims court to recover the balance of money owed to me.The hours that I had worked that he didn't pay me for, plus 2 weeks pay in lieu of notice.

He didn't show up in court and I won. He then appealed, and I won again. When it came time for him to pay up, the court wouldn't help me collect the money. It was up to me to collect through either him voluntarily giving it to me, or me garnishing his wages.

By that time he had changed banks, and I had no way of finding out where he was now doing his banking. He was self-employed, so how do you garnish someone who does their own payroll?

I went back to Small Claims Court to see if they could help me; and imagine my surprise when they couldn't find the claim! It had completely vanished like it never happened. No record of it at all. Very fishy to me.  Today that wouldn't be possible because things are computerized now. But back then, things could be misfiled, or people paid to make things disappear.

I never did get my money, or the costs that I put out suing him; and it was a hard life lesson learned.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble. I just hope that your laws there are different than they are where I live and that you will actually recover the money owed to you, plus what you are suing for.

 

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Thanks!

In a fortunate turn of events, the DA called me and they were finally able to issue a warrant, which is something. And apparently if I do win they will garnish her tax returns or wages, etc So maybe it will be ok.

Nebula said:

 
Thanks!

In a fortunate turn of events, the DA called me and they were finally able to issue a warrant, which is something. And apparently if I do win they will garnish her tax returns or wages, etc So maybe it will be ok.

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If she's in jail, what are they going to garnish?  Sorry, but if they arrest her, you are never going to get your money.

You are probably better off going the Judge Judy route, this way you get your money.

Natalie_ca said:

If she's in jail, what are they going to garnish?  Sorry, but if they arrest her, you are never going to get your money.


You are probably better off going the Judge Judy route, this way you get your money.

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I completely agree! I'm still waiting to hear back from Judge Judy