Before bankruptcy: beating a warrant in debt

by Robert Weed on July 29, 2010

Bill, not his real name, is filing bankruptcy with me in October. (He needs a couple more months to finish everything to get his bankruptcy approved.)

In the meantime, he received a . Midland Credit Management, a big debt buyer, was suing him on a old Chase card. He didn’t want to get a judgment and a garnishment while we were waiting for the right time to file the bankruptcy.

Bill knew, from my website, that he had to go to court on his return date, and tell the judge he wanted a trial. He had an easy basis for saying he wanted a trial. ”I never heard of Midland Credit Management. I don’t know who they are or what this is about.”

He asked for a bill of particulars, and Midland’s lawyer asked for grounds of defense.

When Midland submitted their bill of particulars, they wrote they had bought the debt from Chase, and Bill owed Chase $4822.

For Bill’s grounds of defense, he wrote to the court and Midland’s lawyer that there were no documents showing that Midland really bought the debt from Chase; and that Midland had no evidence of how much he owed Chase–they would need a witness from Chase to prove that.

Bill was nervous on his warrant in debt trial date, but it was easy. When they called his name, the lawyer for Midland said, “Your Honor, this is our first dismissal of the day.” The Judge then turned to Bill and scolded him slightly to be financially responsible. Then he said, you won today, you are free to go.

Bill handled this on his own, but I had given him some tips. One thing I said, if this is still America, you’ll win. Nice to know this still is America.

Under Virginia law, Midland would be able to bring the same warrant in debt a second time. But they won’t be able to move fast enough to beat our October bankruptcy filing. (And they probably couldn’t prove it then, either.)

When we get to October, his bankruptcy will go fine.

After bankruptcy

Avoid Personal Bankruptcy