National City Bank Now PNC Wants Info About My Home to Collect a Debt
Hi Michael,
We(husband and wife) received a judgement 6/2010 for $9,700.00 + $2100.00 interest from it's default date 2008, + 5% ann. This is in Ohio
We were in the process of negotiating a settlement during the last two months of 2008, and had made payments to the card's issuer, which was National City Bank, Cleveland.
I had no choice at the time, it was pay my mortgage, county taxes, utilities, food, or pay the credit card, and I had over 20 years of outstanding credit prior to this.
The law firm has recently subpoena'd documents from my mortgage holder.......The Note, the mortgage application, and the last six payments. Is this just fishing or are they planning something else? It's a 240K mortgage with 90K remaining..... approximately 150k in equity. Which I could not access to pay of the debt because of my credit....house rich, money poor, that's me. I do not have full time employment and my earnings vary from week to week. I have never been late on a mortgage or tax payment.
I recently made 3 payments to the law firm, for a total of $270 in the last month.
National City Bank no longer exists. National City was acquired by PNC late 2008 after it failed to receive TARP funding.
The plaintiff listed on my case is National City Bank. PNC has no record of this account. Where does the money go? In all of the documents and letters sent here, they keep referring to 'their client'. I thought they purchased this charge off and if they did, can they put whatever plaintiff they want on the paperwork?
There is a second, separate judgement of 11k that is attached to me only. This was a business credit card issued by the same bank, and although it was a corporation, I think my SSN was on the app. The corporation was dissolved in 2008. I had absolutely no notice of this one and only found out after searching myself on the county's website.
My biggest concern.....Should I worry about my home? Is there a way to defend myself? If I make random payments, does the court see this an an attempt to pay?
Thank you
Will they take our home?
—Michael
My feedback on the National City and PNC debts will be broken up into two parts starting with the National City Bank judgment.
Settling the National City Bank – PNC account is a priority
Given the information you provided it appears you were sued by National City bank. You mentioned they are who is listed as plaintiff in the lawsuit. They would be who the judgment is owed to. The collection attorney that was hired to collect cannot just name anyone as the plaintiff. It would have to be the proper party and debt owner. Yes, there are instances I know of where a debt buyer is actually the debt owner, but a lawsuit is file under the original creditors name. That does not happen often, and the last time I saw something like that was many years ago.
What can happen in a case like this is:
National City Bank is absorbed by PNC. PNC actively services existing loans while a remnant of National City Bank remains to manage non performing accounts, or package up debts for purchase. PNC never got your file in the transition because your debt, and ones like it, were likely held back.
The main issue hear is what they are asking you to provide by way of information and why. Getting you to pony up information about your home loan at this stage can easily be seen as a collection ploy. Why? Because the collection probably has access to sophisticated software that can tell them real time details about your mortgage. They would know already that you are current with payments, and what you still owe on the mortgage, from real time access to your credit report alone. Using other collection tools could chow them and estimated value of your property. The need to get this detail from you in a court setting can be a tool to apply pressure for payment, or for some ill conceived notion that they can force you into some type of involuntary foreclosure.
Is their a judgment lien on your property from National City Bank? You can check the count records to see if National City filed a lien.
You really should be looking at any and all options available to you to settle this account. That may mean getting creative and coming up with 60 or more percent of the current judgment balance. If you are not going to try to settle this as quickly as possible, consider filing chapter 13 bankruptcy. Above when I said the collection law firm may be trying a collection pressure ploy, it is because they would know (if they don’t, they are new to the collection game), you could file a chapter 13 in order to protect your equity and put their judgment debt on a 3 or 5 year repayment plan where they may not even see the full amount repaid. Many chapter 13 bankruptcies result in less than half the amount of debts, such as the National City one, being paid back.
What are your options for coming up with the money to settle the debt with National City?
Who is the attorney firm that sued and is continuing to try to collect?
Dealing with the defaulted business account with National City – PNC
My feedback for the National City – PNC business credit card with the default judgment is limited to some generalities until I hear back from you with answers to some of my questions below.
What does the court record show as the date and address of service?
Who was the attorney suing?
Who was the plaintiff listed?
How you wound up with a judgment on this one without knowing you were sued can be attributed to a number of things. The most likely answer is laziness on the part of the law firm suing you. Regardless, you could look to settle this debt, include it in a chapter 13 if you were to file one, or let it be. By let it be I mean deal with the priority debt above first, then circle back around with a strategy to handle the National City business credit card.
Because you have access to a chapter 13 bankruptcy, I would not consider your home at risk. I know you would prefer to avoid filing the chapter 13, but it would afford you the opportunity to tell the law firm collecting on the National City debt to “shut up – go sit down in the corner – I will deal with you in a moment”. Well, it would be the court telling them that, but you get my point.
If you can answer my questions above using the comment box below I will be able to respond with additional feedback.
Anyone dealing with a similar issue is welcome to post questions and concerns in the comment section in order to get some helpful tips or feedback in reply.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
Hello,
I am helping a client to clear the title of her home from the 2nd mortgage by National City Bank. My client stopped paying her 2nd mortgage, then filed Chapter 7 Bankruptcy back in 2009. She never heard from this account ever since. The mortgage appears as charge off account on the credit report and the creditor listed is PNC. I called PNC and of course they have no record of this account ever existing. The big question is who can give us a Reconveyance of the Deed of Trust to clear up the title of the home? Without the Reconveyance it cant be sold. Any advice on how to handle this situation?
Thank you very much in advance!
I would get the feedback of an experienced real estate attorney in the area. I would also ask your client to get in touch with her bankruptcy attorney as an additional resource. The bankruptcy attorney may have seen this multiple times before, and have a ready answer, and already be familiar with your client.