Scary tag indeed. Someone needs to change the usury laws. If you notice most credit card companies have their credit divisions located in South Dakota, or Utah. But none in Arkansas were the cap is like at 8%.

/works for a credit card conpany
//rather a charge card company

Theres two issues there... Yes they have to do better at finding the right person, but once they do I don't think people need more ways to ditch their debts!

Knew it was MBNA before I even clicked on the article.

RobertBruce: Theres two issues there... Yes they have to do better at finding the right person, but once they do I don't think people need more ways to ditch their debts!

They should at least be required to farking NOTIFY you of the pending arbitration, and let you take part in scheduling it so you can attend if you don't want to forfeit.

Cynical Idealist: RobertBruce: Theres two issues there... Yes they have to do better at finding the right person, but once they do I don't think people need more ways to ditch their debts!

They should at least be required to farking NOTIFY you of the pending arbitration, and let you take part in scheduling it so you can attend if you don't want to forfeit.


Yeah, this is exactly the type of bullshiat that more and more credit card companies pull. I'm not saying that all of them are immoral assholes, because they're not. Certainly, people should consider what they're getting into before signing a credit card agreement, because these things aren't designed to really help you. They're banking on the fact that you'll fark up sometime, and then they hammer you.

Now when it turns out that YOU weren't even using the card, and you have to pay for someone else's lazy ass attitude? That's beyond wrong into straight up illegal.

I don't sign arbitration clauses. Arbitration is a great idea for handling small cases. That means small for both parties, not three months's net income for one and the law department's weekly coffee budget for the other.

you know, the burden of proof really needs to be on company's like this to prove that they made the honest effort to get into contact with the people they're going after. Even just the simple act of requiring a certified letter would help.

"I had a jury and judge who actually cared what I had to say and then we won," she said.

Good on her, I hope she pleaded the whole "emotional distress" thing and got a few hundred thousand in damages in compensation for her plight. You may disagree with that, but this affair more than likely took several months, if not years from start to finish and many many hours and much stress on her part. She deserves some payback and a good ol' groin kick upon those who dealt this crap her way.

It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.

SilentStrider: Even just the simple act of requiring a certified letter would help.

If only. Our postal carrier just signs all certified mail themselves and if you're lucky, leaves them in the right box.

Just strike out and initial the arbitration clause in your credit card contract before you sign it.

How would doing anything about the arbitration clause have helped this woman? She'd never signed anything or even had a card with that company.

captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.

Ahhhh, the troll is strong with this one.

Everyone, please ignore this troll:
captain_heroic44:

That is all.

Tainted1: captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.

Ahhhh, the troll is strong with this one.

Right. As usual, anyone who expresses a conservative point of view gets labeled a troll. Isn't it just possible someone actually disagrees with your knee-jerk liberal elitism?

1) She didn't have to agree to arbitration.

2) She could have gone to arbitration if she wanted to avoid this problem.

captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.


Congrats on not RTFA. The woman who was being taken to artibtration didn't have a card with the company in the first place. The credit card company got her mixed up with someone who did have a card with them. Nor was she even told she was taken to arbitration, which is (or should be) downright illegal.

captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.

DNRTFA, I see. Wasn't her bill in the first place.

/Then again, subby farked it up too.

Broom: Everyone, please ignore this troll:
captain_heroic44:

That is all.

Is it really trolling, though, if he didn't understand the article?

Broom: Everyone, please ignore this troll:
captain_heroic44:

That is all.

Oops. Well, I will now. ^^; My bad.

captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.

captain_heroic44: t's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.

hey, IDIOT read the farking article, It is not her debt!1111!

Nickers and Yume no Hikari, please refer to the story of "Three Billy Goats Gruff".

I would never pay a debt I did not owe.

Nickers: captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.


Congrats on not RTFA. The woman who was being taken to artibtration didn't have a card with the company in the first place. The credit card company got her mixed up with someone who did have a card with them. Nor was she even told she was taken to arbitration, which is (or should be) downright illegal.

That's her CLAIM. But can she PROVE that? Do you think an arbiter would allow a company to win a case like this if the credit card company didn't have PROOF that she owed on the card?

Advice: don't get into debt with a MBNA credit card.


Oh, wait..

cheap_thoughts:
/works for a credit card conpany
//rather a charge card company

Most folks don't know the difference. Sounds like Amex. It was the first card I had. Taught me discipline by having to pay it off every month. Credit card companies must hate me because I never pay interest.

Yume no Hikari: /Then again, subby farked it up too.

Erk, nevermind, I fail. And so does captain_heroic44 'cos the not-her-bill part does show up in the headline. Yup, troll, got nothing to do with liberal/conservative.

/I'm pretty nastily in debt of my own making.
//I'm doing my best to pay it off myself.
///I'm about as liberal as they come.

See Captain Heroic, the problem is that the lady in the story was not the person with the credit card, and so had a default judgment against her despite the initial debt not belonging to her. Hence, you=troll

captain_heroic44:
Right. As usual, anyone who expresses a conservative point of view gets labeled a troll. Isn't it just possible someone actually disagrees with your knee-jerk liberal elitism?

Could you actually read the article before you continue to flay your ass like this in public? The woman in the article didn't even OWN an MBNA credit card and it wasn't even her debt.

captain_heroic44: Right. As usual, anyone who expresses a conservative point of view gets labeled a troll. Isn't it just possible someone actually disagrees with your knee-jerk liberal elitism?

1) She didn't have to agree to arbitration.

2) She could have gone to arbitration if she wanted to avoid this problem.

Just a heads up: You are making yourself look like an idiot.

captain_heroic44: Right. As usual, anyone who expresses a conservative point of view gets labeled a troll. Isn't it just possible someone actually disagrees with your knee-jerk liberal elitism?

You're an idiot.

captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened.

I can't tell if you're trolling, or just didn't read the article. Either way there's not much point in saying anything beyond that.

Not credit card related, but notification related. I had an apartment complex try to collect money from me when I bought out of the lease (legally, according to the lease contract). Well, 4 months later, I'm trying to sign up with a new electric company, and they made me pay the highest deposit they had. I figured that couldn't be right since I just checked my report the previous month, and everything looked fine. Well, sure enough, there was a judgment against me for that rent I supposedly owed. I got a call from one of my old neighbors a week later, saying that he saw a note nailed to my old apartment's door with a court summons attached.

Well, since I lived over 800 miles away by then, I had to spend almost $800 on a lawyer to reverse a $700 judgment just to get it off my record, because the morans thought that the best way to reach me was by posting a note on my old door, after I had moved out and given them a forwarding address.

Oh, and the judge refused to award me legal fees, because I was "lazy" for not taking 4 days off from my new job to drive across 3 states because they never thought to check and see if I was notified.

So yeah, fark judgments against without notification.

captain_heroic44:
That's her CLAIM. But can she PROVE that?

Yes. Obviously. In court, where she proved it, and won.

What i don't get is that how can there be arbitration if she didn't have a contract with this company. I've always understood arbitration to be something you add to a contract, which should reduce legal fees for both parties in disputes. Of course in US the laws a so farked up, that consumers are always screwed.

captain_heroic44: That's her CLAIM. But can she PROVE that? Do you think an arbiter would allow a company to win a case like this if the credit card company didn't have PROOF that she owed on the card?


Apparently she could prove it and the judge and jury agreed.

/reading comprehension 1
/captain_heroic44 0

IcyBlackHand: See Captain Heroic, the problem is that the lady in the story was not the person with the credit card, and so had a default judgment against her despite the initial debt not belonging to her. Hence, you=troll

That's her CLAIM. But can she PROVE she didn't have a credit card with the company??? And if so, why didn't she just go to arbitration and prove it?

"B-b-b-but they didn't tell her about the arbitration." I'm sure they complied fully with the requirements of the contract. And if you get a letter from a bill collector saying you owe $7,000, isn't the most reasonable course of action to FIND OUT IF THERE'S A PENDING CAUSE OF ACTION AGAINST YOU SOMEWHERE?

SilentStrider: you know, the burden of proof really needs to be on company's like this to prove that they made the honest effort to get into contact with the people they're going after. Even just the simple act of requiring a certified letter would help.

captain_heroic44: Tainted1: captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.

Ahhhh, the troll is strong with this one.

Right. As usual, anyone who expresses a conservative point of view gets labeled a troll. Isn't it just possible someone actually disagrees with your knee-jerk liberal elitism?

1) She didn't have to agree to arbitration.

2) She could have gone to arbitration if she wanted to avoid this problem.

Did you even read the headline? The woman in question didn't agree to arbitration. She wasn't the one who owned the card. She didn't sign the agreement.

Ha Ha captain_heroic44 you have been TOLD!!!!!

/oh snap...

FlameDuck: What i don't get is that how can there be arbitration if she didn't have a contract with this company. I've always understood arbitration to be something you add to a contract, which should reduce legal fees for both parties in disputes. Of course in US the laws a so farked up, that consumers are always screwed.

Easy. The arbirtation company's basically a rubber stamp for the credit card companies. They claimed she was the person who owed them money, and when she didn't show up to dispute it, they automatically took everything the company said as the absolute, unvarnished truth, depsite being a steaming pile of crap.

captain_heroic44: Nickers: captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.


Congrats on not RTFA. The woman who was being taken to artibtration didn't have a card with the company in the first place. The credit card company got her mixed up with someone who did have a card with them. Nor was she even told she was taken to arbitration, which is (or should be) downright illegal.

That's her CLAIM. But can she PROVE that? Do you think an arbiter would allow a company to win a case like this if the credit card company didn't have PROOF that she owed on the card?

Well she won a court case that said it wasn't her card or her debt and now she's suing the entire system to fix it so that type of things can't happen again. So yes, she can prove it.

/it's ok to admit you didn't read the article.

Litig8r:
Broom: Everyone, please ignore this troll:
captain_heroic44:

That is all.

Is it really trolling, though, if he didn't understand the article?

I would have guessed mental retardation, rather than troll.

ZAZ: I don't sign arbitration clauses. Arbitration is a great idea for handling small cases. That means small for both parties, not three months's net income for one and the law department's weekly coffee budget for the other.

This. If you ever sign a contract, be it a car loan or a residential lease, most businesses are willing to allow you to strike out the arbitration clause or you can refuse to sign if it's a separate document.

captain_heroic44:
That's her CLAIM. But can she PROVE she didn't have a credit card with the company??? And if so, why didn't she just go to arbitration and prove it?

adamgreeney: captain_heroic44: Nickers: captain_heroic44: It's called "personal responsibility." Maybe if she would have taken personal responsibility and paid her debt, or bothered to go to arbitration, this wouldn't have happened. This is what happens when you make bad life choices. Hopefully she'll see this as a learning experience, and grow from it.


Congrats on not RTFA. The woman who was being taken to artibtration didn't have a card with the company in the first place. The credit card company got her mixed up with someone who did have a card with them. Nor was she even told she was taken to arbitration, which is (or should be) downright illegal.

That's her CLAIM. But can she PROVE that? Do you think an arbiter would allow a company to win a case like this if the credit card company didn't have PROOF that she owed on the card?

Well she won a court case that said it wasn't her card or her debt and now she's suing the entire system to fix it so that type of things can't happen again. So yes, she can prove it.

/it's ok to admit you didn't read the article.

All this proves is the need for tort reform. This is another case of an out of control jury siding against a plaintiff just because they perceive her as a "little guy" up against a big faceless corporation. I don't think they have damage caps in California. That means YOU'RE paying for this.

studebaker hoch: I would never pay a debt I did not owe.

That's why I am in debt right now, and will be until I die. I am okay with this.

The short version is that a hospital didn't file with my insurance company, and didn't send me any bills for a year, at which point the insurance company said it was too late to accept a filing.

Combine that with an explicit f-you attitude from the hospital staff, and my resolve hardened. Not one cent to them, even though it meant financial ruin. It's a matter of principle, and people have paid higher prices for less.

captain_heroic44:

Looks like you've got everyone in a tizzie now.

Don't you people ever remember the trolls user names?

/actually disregard that last statement
//off to troll

You people really should stop feeding captain_heroic44.

For responding to his ridiculous trolling, he's making a lot of you look really foolish.

captain_heroic44: All this proves is the need for tort reform. This is another case of an out of control jury siding against a plaintiff just because they perceive her as a "little guy" up against a big faceless corporation. I don't think they have damage caps in California. That means YOU'RE paying for this.

yeah this whore should shut her whore mouth, dam it

captain_heroic44: Right. As usual, anyone who expresses a conservative point of view gets labeled a troll. Isn't it just possible someone actually disagrees with your knee-jerk liberal elitism?

I wonder why no "conservatives" are responding to this troll, who's so heavy-handedly lampooning the "corporations can do no wrong" conservative stereotype? I'd hate to think that they actually agree.