Ok my Dad passed away in May of 2012.






































 

How did you help him obtain the loan?

LAWYER UP NOW!!!!!!!! Contact the original loan company. Make them show you what their justification for pursuing you for payment is. Contact Tenn. Office of Consumer Affairs or its equivalent to find out what your rights are. Have your lawyer send a cease and desist letter. If that does not stop it then file on the Collection Agency for harassment, mental anguish, and whatever else you can come up with. Oh, and did I mention.....LAWYER THE FUCK UP!!!!. The CA is just trying to scare you into paying. It is simple theft by the CA, and they should have their business license revoked. jmtcw.

Being served doesn't mean you've lost.

But yeah, lawyer up.

This. Unless you gave him cash as a down payment ONLY, something is amiss.

Was your Mom and Dad still married at the time of his death? If so, why are they not going after her?

Tell them to prove it or piss off.

I have had similar things happen a few times (most of my family has passed). I think this is something that is done fairly frequently by groups that buy bad debts. They probably get a fair number of families to pay up. As soon as  you get into court and ask to see the original loan documents from them and they can't produce them, they lose. I have even heard of places making up false debts to try this.

Best advice. CAs buy large bundles of paper for pennies on the dollar and only care about collecting. They could care less if it is a legit claim or not. And yes they will ding your credit report.

If you can't be served, the case can still go forward and if you don't represent yourself the CA will get a judgment against you that WILL hold up in court . . . they count on this for unjustified claims. And yes, some do make up debts, knowing full well that they are bogus, but that they will collect on a percentage of them anyway. [I had to deal with this once. Many years ago I had pagers thru Arch Wireless, ALWAYS bought the devices outright. When I canceled them they tried billing me for not returning them (that I owned outright), contacted Arch Wireless and thought it was straightened out. A few years later I get harassed by a CA, had to threaten a Consumer Protection lawsuit to shut them up.]

If you are in the right, only the threat of legal action by you can stop them.

 

























































 

If they are unable to personally server you, your area might allow service by publication in a local paper. Not sure how that works for things other than divorce and DHHS stuff, but I'm sure it varies. You would lose if a court date is set and you aren't there.

If you can't afford a lawyer it sounds like you need to contact whoever your local consumer protection agency is.  And let the collection agency know you're doing so.



Collection agencies have very strict rules they have to follow.  I bet they're breaking more than one.

Your story makes no sense because there is no reason for them to believe that a "reference" is obligated on a loan. You need an attorney.

If you have a process server trying to serve summons on you, you can't afford not to pursue this further.  You need to find an attorney and have that attorney monitor the court records to ensure that the collection agency does not obtain a default judgment against you.

All the advice that talks about consumer protection agencies etc. is nonsense when there is an attempt to serve a lawsuit.

True, if they really are trying to serve papers then it's time to lawyer up.  I wonder if OP could countersue for the cost of defending himself?



My gut tells me this person wasn't really serving papers though.  Collection agencies do all kind of lying, sleazy stuff.



 

OP if you didn't sign a personal guarantee or otherwise obligate yourself to the loan call a lawyer familiar with the fair debt collections practices act.  Or if you are lucky your state will have a similar law.

Here in Florida creditors attempting to collect a debt that they knew or should have known was uncollectable have to pay you a statutory penalty plus pay your attorney fees and costs.

"Verification of the debt" is really meaningless.  Especially if the creditor is attempting to collect by suit.

 

 

IIRC there are alternate forms of service, including "service by publication", if they can't find you.  Basically they just have to put a public notice in the local newspaper of record.

Also, is it possible for the CA to file in their local jurisdiction rather than the OP's or his deceased father's?

Why don't you start by calling the constable and see what he wanted?

Until I get proof that he is a Constable then that is not happening.

 

The estate should have paid the loan.
Absent your actual signeture they are bluffing and you have no liability.
they could try and chase down the executor of the estate, but that is one of the reasons death notices and estate closings are published.
It puts creditors on notice to make their claims.
If the executor did not know of the loans existence it may have been erased.

If you have name/contact info for the constable, contact the appointing authority (or ask the local clerk of court who to contact) to verify he's "real". Yes, CAs and process servers regularly lie about who they are and what they are doing. CAs regularly shake down innocent people trying to extort money from them.

I am a Constable in MA and MA laws allow publication in a paper of record in lieu of serving the person, then the case goes forward and the person loses since they had no clue they were being sued. At that point the judgement is legal against them regardless of validity. Therefore it behooves the OP to be on top of this, otherwise he could become liable for the debt even though the debt is bogus.

What if OP's father's estate was never probated?

Sounds like HE screwed up then.
Still not liable though.

Send the a registered letter response that tells them to pound sand, and any further contact is to be IN WRITING through YOUR ATTORNEY.
You Do have an attorney, right?

I am sending another certified to the lender and CA.


 

Does your state allow you to go after the CA for damages if they try to falsely collect?

In that case I'd call the AG's office, dept of consumer affairs in your state and file a formal complaint against the company and the guy who illegally mis-represented himself. Also ask them if your laws allow a consumer protection lawsuit with double/triple damages. If so, filing that will get their attention.

Sounds like a Chicago-style shake-down to me.

That is one of the most corrupt things I have ever heard of. who the hell reads the paper, never mind all those fine print notices.

How can someone be sued when they have no opportunity to defend them self?

How can anyone defend them self against a secret?

Is one expected to have to buy a paler every day to see if they are being sued?

I live in this POS state too. How does someone protect themselves from that?

I kinda find it hard to believe if I sue Tom Brady for 100 Million and have the notice printed in the paper and he does not show, I have a valid debt against him. If it were true, everyone who hates Bosox, Pats. Celtics, kennedy's etc would be filing suit every day.

It's to allow the plaintiff a way to protect his interest. Civil suits have a statute of limitations, ie you have a limited time period to file suit. It may differ by state, but usually "public notice" via the newspaper is only used when the plaintiff has attempted to serve the defendant but is unable to find him. The plaintiff must make a good faith effort to locate the other party...,,,,and documentation is required.

And while the plaintiff may win by default, it doesn't mean the defendant has no right to appeal or that the judgment can be collected. If you can't find the defendant to serve notice of suit, what makes you think you'll get have better luck collecting your judgment?

If you find that a default judgment has been ordered against you and you weren't properly served or can show that the plaintiff made no good faith effort to serve you, you need an attorney to file a motion to have the judgment set aside.

1. It cost $$$ to file a suit.
2. It cost $$$ to pay for a newspaper legal notice.
3. File a frivolous suit and the judge may spank the plaintiff for $$$$ or bar him from filing further suits.
4. It may take Tom Brady's lawyer all of an hour to have the judgment reversed or set aside.

 

OP, what the fuck did the sheriff's office have to say that somebody is impersonating an office and they have his fucking # are going to do about it?  Are you fucking kidding me....I'm calling BS.  No fucking way they would let that go.  Go file a fucking complaint and call the fucking Attorney General.


Edit that I didn't read 2nd page before I posted, but somebody above stated the same thing....TN is fucked up.

What's the amount they are due?

The collection company is going after low hanging fruit.  Probably hoping you will pay to make them go away.  Ignore them and they will give up. (Don't ignore a law suit , but they won't file).  They know they can get away with a certain amount of harassment.

The debt was probably sold to the collection company, so talking to the original company is useless.

They took a report and sent someone to Mom's house to get the rest. Mom works in Florida at the moment so they will have to call to get her statement.

 

Yup...this.  I had a creditor default on a repayment agreement we had arranged.  I was in worse financial situation then than now.  I wasn't trying to not pay it just asking to modify the terms to give them what I could afford to.  They turned it over to a company that outright harassed me with verbal threats and calling me names.  I called an attorney friend of mine who sent him a letter and I never heard form the again.  Another company picked it up and were VERY nice to work with.  

Call a lawyer a lot of them who specialize in this stuff will do it for free because there are penalties if they continue to harass you after being represented.  That's where the money is for the lawyer.

Oh, bonus if the CA was impersonating a town, city, or county constable.   No different than impersonating a police officer or deputy sheriff.  I would love to have that conversation on tape (if legal in the area).

TN constables are peace officers.  

OP, go here and pick the guy out:    http://tennesseeconstablecouncil.org/id3.html

The debt was probably sold to a debt collection agency who then research the heirs of his estate and found you.  If it is a valid debt of your dad's upon his death, they may have a valid case against his estate and heirs. Check TN's laws on this.  If they skipped your mother, my guess is that they were divorced prior to the loan and she was not a heir to the estate.  

You leave too much out of the information you gave in the original post such as was the debt claimed/paid in probate, your father was broke at the time of his debt and there was no inheritance, etc.

With the over-abundance of lawyers that are out of a job, or not fully employed, buying bundled debt for a few bucks and see what can be collected is very popular since the downturn.  My guess is that your mother met one such collection agency that is a small group of lawyers in the local area, or affiliated with a national collection agency trying to generate some revenue for the firm/themselves.

TN laws require that you be served with the summons and a copy of the compliant by an uninterested party.  If you are evasive, they can leave a copy of both with an adult and proceed with the civil lawsuit in court.  However, it sounds like they know where you live since you have sent them certified mail.  Why don't they show up at your door?  If they proceed, they will have to lie to the court on your current residence to show that you live or reasonable lived there.  

This, of course, assumes you used your current address for written correspondence.  Maybe you used your mother's address hoping to keep yourself anonymous, geographically?  If so, you're screwed as they will have good cause to leave the summons and complaint with your mother and move forward with a court date.

A subpoena is different.  Maybe your mother is confused?

Your best bet is to get out of the shadows, and continue to ask for validation of debt per federal law and provide a copy of the bank loan agreement and his death certificate.  Using a lawyer would be better if you can afford it.  If the debt was valid at the time of your fathers death, and the probate process ignored the debt while there was assets to pay some or all, and you were the executioner of the estate or heir, you need to understand this and how to move ahead.