Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Illinois

hi i need help on an issue with a law office. I have an attempt to collect a debt from Kovitz,Shifron,Nesbit law offices. It is a debt with my home associations. We went to court and the agreement was that I need to get with this office as to how I would resolve paying this debt. according to my court papers my balance was a different amount than what the law office sent to me that I owed after we went to court. My ledger had more money added to my account after we settled in court. I agreed to pay $50 a month until my balance is 0. So I have been paying more than my fifty dollars a month assuming that if I did this that if and got ahead when i could not afford my payment I have already taken care or this. I did not sign anything stating that regardless if I overpay I am still obligated to a monthly. So I received a letter stating that I did not make a payment for the month of january and that I was charged 49.75 for them to send me the letter in regular mail. I called them to get an explanation about the letter for the lady to tell me that I still have to make a monthly payment regardless of how much I paid. I asked her where is that agreement written at she started to say that I signed a letter stating that then she said no you didnt but the fees are "IT IS WHAT IT IS" is what she said. Then she gives me a balance of more than what I owe and what I have receipts for what I think I owe. Also on a previous conversation with another person who I was dealing with at first ended up telling me "PLEASE DO NOT SEND US (law office) MONEY ANYMORE PLEASE SEND YOUR PAYMENTS TO YOUR ASSOCIATION FROM NOW ON. I HAVE EMAILS TO SUPPORT THAT CONVERSATION as well I need to know aht can I do because I feel I am holding my end and again it is a decrepency and i want understanding and Ifeel I am not getting my answers. Oh yeh and she hung up on me!


Asked on 2/14/12, 8:52 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stephen Messutta

Take everything to an attorney who can hopefully look at the court papers and explain what they mean. If you were taken to court then most likely attorney fees and court costs were added to the judgment amount. There may also be statutory interest added that continues to accrue as long as you owe a balance. Also, you can't just decide how much to send and when if this was a court ordered settlement. Court orders don't have to spell everything out because the assumption is that you are supposed to understand what everything means and if you're not sure you're supposed to have an attorney involved. This does NOT mean the law firm is necessarily 100% correct, because keeping track of payments and settlements can get complex and I've seen it where if you are supposed to send money to a bank account the bank can make a mistake. So if there are accounting errors they should correct them.

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Answered on 2/14/12, 6:48 pm


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