Elle - your Mom on Medicaid in a NH is judgement proof. Her SS and any other state or federal retirement income cannot be attached by any creditor. Ever. Even if they have a judgement on her.
the only ones who can place a garnishment of this type of income is the supercreditors..... which is IRS and State Treasury departments.
its not your debt, but unfortunately they have your address and cell # to harrass you. If mom only has this debt out there, I’d say block the calls and refuse service on anything addressed to her. If it’s addressed to you as DPOA for her, you kinda have to sign for it. But not if it’s her name solo.
Now if BoA is just the tip of an iceberg of debt out there surfacing, I’d suggest you asap get a private mail box rented and it becomes mom’s new address for everthing from SS, MediCARE / CMS, NH bills, credit card co., etc. Now you’ll need to rent it as they need your drivers license to open. But it’s your & mom’s name as to who receives mail at the rented post box. uPS stores rent them. But what may be better is a independent mailing & shipping store. If you have a college or university in your town, there’s going to be one nearby campus. Get it there as you develop a relationship and they tell you when something interesting comes in. Plus you go like twice a mo to gather mail and deal with it. Right know it’s all piecemeal and driving you loco.
Once you have the box, then you do a letter on change of address notice and mail to everyone mom gets mail from. I’d do certified mail with the return registered card to any CC that she owes and within the letters to the CC you put in a sentence that all communications must be in writing only and to this address. The certified/ registered combo is like $8.00 at USPO.
Also what will happen that you’ll as her dpoa will have to deal with is a IRS 1099-c Cancellation of Debt. Only the OC aka Original Creditor, which for you is BoA, can issue the 1099-C. They may try to be speeding things up so BoA can get the write off for their 2018 corporate filing. If you get the 1099-c like in January/Feb, do a new post as several of us on AC have dealt with these and can give you options as to what we did.
its all resolveable but will be a buttrash to get through....
WOAH! You're getting all of this info from a firm of lawyers chasing your business?
It's a scam. Bin them.
Did your mother actually have this credit card, did she in fact to your knowledge have an account with Bank of America? If so, and you still want advice, go to their own website and search "Help." There will be options for you to speak to advisers there about debt.
Whatever you do, remember that this debt (if there even is one) is your mother's debt and not your debt, and that your POA can NEVER make you liable for her debts. Do not in any circumstances pay a single cent of your own money to anybody.
So it looks like the advice that tacy provided turned out to be spot on.
The original poster found an actual lawsuit that had been filed against her mom.
Great job tacy, your advice is always well thought out and accurate. As it should be.
None of us should post just to see our name in lights, people are truly desperate in some situations and they will follow the opinion of complete strangers offering information that is nothing but opinion.
Maybe there should be a warning that you should not follow opinions without consulting an attorney on the home page of AC.
As for the posters that are trying to censor you, they are just jealous because you are so intelligent and knowledgeable. They can go away if they don't want to share a post with you, you are irreplaceable with your knowledge. We should all only post what we know and if we have a problem, do PMs, but there are those that don't allow messages so when the attack in public you have no choice. It is unfortunate that there are cliques that think they can tell others how to operate, just petty and grade school.
Keep up the great answers, you are an asset to be sure.
I don't think anyone is trying to censor tacy or anyone else, just reign in the personal insults. People who ask for advice on a public forum have to use their own common sense to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Do not confirm the debt. Do not respond to the scam solicitation.
Collection agencies do not sue if there are no assets.
Your Mom is likely what is called "judgment free", having no attachable income and no assets. Unless she has a home, but even then, this sounds like a scam.
Typically your mom's choices at this point are (1) being sued, or (2) agreeing to debtor counseling and a repayment plan. Given that she's already in nursing home and all of her income is going towards her care, you have no reason to agree to a payment plan. Medicaid does not make any allowance for her extra "expenses." She will receive all of her care in the nursing home: medical, meals, therapy, etc. Her clothing and personal needs will have to come out of the meager amount of monthly income (about $73 per month) that she is allowed to keep. So there's nothing there for a debt counselor to work with. May as well let bank sue her, she defaults, the creditor gets the default judgment, now let them try and collect. Don't even bother hiring an attorney. When they send the notice of the lawsuit, you can answer it and state that she is in a nursing home, on Medicaid, all her income goes to the nursing home, and has no assets. They may just drop it. Medicaid comes first.
BTW this will ruin her credit rating but I assume that is of no concern at this point. At this stage, if she still has credit cards you should take them away. Bank MAY try to collect from her probate estate at her death but if she's in a nursing home on Medicaid there won't be anything left anyway.
My mom has absolutely no assets. Just an 8 year old car still in her name....worth 2k maybe. Her last physical address is mine so I get all of her mail. This is making me sick to my stomach.
Yes, people are trying to censor what others say, I have had it happen. And when you post, play nice, to a response to someone that is not playing nice, again, you are trying to censor and it was directed at the wrong poster, read everything and you will see for yourself. When you take sides, you fail to see both sides and that is life. Tacy didn't do anything to be attacked for by send, so she should not be getting grief for giving accurate information.
Yes, people should not take advice from any forum without knowing, but sometimes people are so overwhelmed with what they are going through, it's a lifeline and they are not thinking clearly because of all the stress they are under. That should be considered.
As far as how AC changed how we can reply, go to them, it is a screwy format but they are the only ones that can fix it.
Ok you all; I'll be referee if you want..... Sounds to me as if both of you know a lot, and each has good points - so? Speaking of points, the point is to help the OP; you're doing it.
BTW, maybe a good PM chat WOULD help; I think both you guys give too good advice to back off the threads, we need both of you!
I don't know if this is a scam! What I do know is CC companies take unpaid CC bills and sell them for penny's on the dollar.
Rough example: lets say a person owe 3000.00 and that person did not pay on it. So, the CC company sells it to a collection agency. The CA buys it for 1000.00. The CC company recoups a 1000.00 of their money than the remaining 2000.00 either gets turn in to one of their insurance companies or it is written off. Now the CA starts their scare tactics & threats which most of them are against the law in hopes of getting paid 3000.00, if a person pays the 3000.00...boom! They just made a 2000.00 profit. If a person pays 1500.00...boom! They made a 500.00 profit. It's a game to them.
The CC was in your mom's name. "She has no money & no assets. "They can't get blood out of a turnip!"
However, collection agency will tell you the following: You are responsible for this debt. (Your not) Don't you feel bad that your mom has this debt that she ultimately stoled! (No) This is why prices are so high is because of people like your mom and you! (So, what is your point!) Won't you feel guilty that this CC company goes under? (No, not my debt!) And my favorite: Do you steal from everyone, wow, how responsible are you? (No, again this is not my debt!)
Trust me, they have a 3 ring binder on how to respond and what to say for every situation. They are highly trained to make people feel bad so they can get paid. It is a dirty business.
They CAN NOT come after you as long as your name was not on the acct.
You can always tell the CA that your mom is in a NH and doesn't live there anymore and if they keep calling you that they will be hearing from your lawyer because they are harassing you.
If it is the CC company suing your mom; just go to court with documents stating she is in NH & her SS is being used for paying for the NH. Remember they have the burden of proof. The judge will probably throw the case out. No I am not a lawyer. But again, "you can't get blood out of a turnip"!
This could very well be a scam. I had a collections agency go after me. When we got to court, my defense was "what evidence do they have that I own this money?' Guess what, they had a spread sheet, nothing else. I pointed out to the judge that I could create a spread sheet with his name on it. "Case dismissed." If your mom has no money, what are they going to do? I know it is upsetting, but even if this is a real debt, they can't do anything that's going to hurt your mom. They can put a negative listing on a credit report-so what. If you feel you must do something then do the following. Get free credit reports from the three agencies. Contact DIRECTLY the supposed creditors. See what's going on. Do not contact whoever these people are. Keep in mind please that as POA you are NOT responsible to pay any debt with your money. As POA you are responsible to not pay false claims.
Her SS and any other state or federal retirement income cannot be attached by any creditor. Ever. Even if they have a judgement on her.
the only ones who can place a garnishment of this type of income is the supercreditors..... which is IRS and State Treasury departments.
its not your debt, but unfortunately they have your address and cell # to harrass you. If mom only has this debt out there, I’d say block the calls and refuse service on anything addressed to her. If it’s addressed to you as DPOA for her, you kinda have to sign for it. But not if it’s her name solo.
Now if BoA is just the tip of an iceberg of debt out there surfacing, I’d suggest you asap get a private mail box rented and it becomes mom’s new address for everthing from SS, MediCARE / CMS, NH bills, credit card co., etc. Now you’ll need to rent it as they need your drivers license to open. But it’s your & mom’s name as to who receives mail at the rented post box. uPS stores rent them. But what may be better is a
independent mailing & shipping store. If you have a college or university in your town, there’s going to be one nearby campus. Get it there as you develop a relationship and they tell you when something interesting comes in. Plus you go like twice a mo to gather mail and deal with it. Right know it’s all piecemeal and driving you loco.
Once you have the box, then you do a letter on change of address notice and mail to everyone mom gets mail from. I’d do certified mail with the return registered card to any CC that she owes and within the letters to the CC you put in a sentence that all communications must be in writing only and to this address. The certified/ registered combo is like $8.00 at USPO.
Also what will happen that you’ll as her dpoa will have to deal with is a IRS 1099-c Cancellation of Debt. Only the OC aka Original Creditor, which for you is BoA, can issue the 1099-C. They may try to be speeding things up so BoA can get the write off for their 2018 corporate filing. If you get the 1099-c like in January/Feb, do a new post as several of us on AC have dealt with these and can give you options as to what we did.
its all resolveable but will be a buttrash to get through....
It's a scam. Bin them.
Did your mother actually have this credit card, did she in fact to your knowledge have an account with Bank of America? If so, and you still want advice, go to their own website and search "Help." There will be options for you to speak to advisers there about debt.
Whatever you do, remember that this debt (if there even is one) is your mother's debt and not your debt, and that your POA can NEVER make you liable for her debts. Do not in any circumstances pay a single cent of your own money to anybody.
The original poster found an actual lawsuit that had been filed against her mom.
Great job tacy, your advice is always well thought out and accurate. As it should be.
None of us should post just to see our name in lights, people are truly desperate in some situations and they will follow the opinion of complete strangers offering information that is nothing but opinion.
Maybe there should be a warning that you should not follow opinions without consulting an attorney on the home page of AC.
As for the posters that are trying to censor you, they are just jealous because you are so intelligent and knowledgeable. They can go away if they don't want to share a post with you, you are irreplaceable with your knowledge. We should all only post what we know and if we have a problem, do PMs, but there are those that don't allow messages so when the attack in public you have no choice. It is unfortunate that there are cliques that think they can tell others how to operate, just petty and grade school.
Keep up the great answers, you are an asset to be sure.
Do not respond to the scam solicitation.
Collection agencies do not sue if there are no assets.
Your Mom is likely what is called "judgment free", having no attachable income and no assets. Unless she has a home, but even then, this sounds like a scam.
BTW this will ruin her credit rating but I assume that is of no concern at this point. At this stage, if she still has credit cards you should take them away. Bank MAY try to collect from her probate estate at her death but if she's in a nursing home on Medicaid there won't be anything left anyway.
Yes, people should not take advice from any forum without knowing, but sometimes people are so overwhelmed with what they are going through, it's a lifeline and they are not thinking clearly because of all the stress they are under. That should be considered.
As far as how AC changed how we can reply, go to them, it is a screwy format but they are the only ones that can fix it.
BTW, maybe a good PM chat WOULD help; I think both you guys give too good advice to back off the threads, we need both of you!
Rough example: lets say a person owe 3000.00 and that person did not pay on it. So, the CC company sells it to a collection agency. The CA buys it for 1000.00. The CC company recoups a 1000.00 of their money than the remaining 2000.00 either gets turn in to one of their insurance companies or it is written off.
Now the CA starts their scare tactics & threats which most of them are against the law in hopes of getting paid 3000.00, if a person pays the 3000.00...boom! They just made a 2000.00 profit. If a person pays 1500.00...boom! They made a 500.00 profit. It's a game to them.
The CC was in your mom's name.
"She has no money & no assets. "They can't get blood out of a turnip!"
However, collection agency will tell you the following:
You are responsible for this debt. (Your not)
Don't you feel bad that your mom has this debt that she ultimately stoled! (No)
This is why prices are so high is because of people like your mom and you! (So, what is your point!)
Won't you feel guilty that this CC company goes under? (No, not my debt!)
And my favorite: Do you steal from everyone, wow, how responsible are you? (No, again this is not my debt!)
Trust me, they have a 3 ring binder on how to respond and what to say for every situation. They are highly trained to make people feel bad so they can get paid. It is a dirty business.
They CAN NOT come after you as long as your name was not on the acct.
You can always tell the CA that your mom is in a NH and doesn't live there anymore and if they keep calling you that they will be hearing from your lawyer because they are harassing you.
If it is the CC company suing your mom; just go to court with documents stating she is in NH & her SS is being used for paying for the NH. Remember they have the burden of proof. The judge will probably throw the case out. No I am not a lawyer. But again, "you can't get blood out of a turnip"!
Relax, take a deep breath! You will be okay!
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