I work in assurance services provide with businesses and cities. You would be blown away by the amount of fraud that people are allowed to walk away from because businesses and cities want to avoid losing face and/or dealing with potential litigation. In fact, the first call we are supposed to make if we identify potential or factual fraud is to our insurer.
It would bug me to "have it dismissed" due to MY full disability, as if it were my debt to begin with. I understand that is an easy way out, but it still stinks.
He's unemployed, I would not take the "hardship" dismissal, it should be dropped and they need to eat the charge or go after the rightful debtor. Take it to trial and have them announce on the record that the credit was a face-lift or a boob job, that would be CZcams gold. BTW, I hope he's got a good location to watch the eclipse on April 8th
Well the case had to be dismissed somehow against this defendant, they can't just change the name on the case. That's not how it works. This case is dismissed and a new one is opened for the correct claimant. This is just added legal reasons to dismiss for the lawyers file. Not only is is possibly fraud, but this defendant is under hardships that would prevent any sort of payment anyway. They need to know that and have proof of it to show to the plaintiff. (her client)
@@LoneWolfUsul I think the distinction we are trying to make is that inability to pay is a lot different than not liable to pay. Offering to drop the case for inability to pay doesn't create the record he needs to make sure that this does not affect his credit or happen again in the future.
@@LoneWolfUsul I understand your point, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Before I'd agree to this manner of dismissal, I'd definitely consult an attorney, especially if I were expected to sign anything. I can't help but have a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that there's a hidden danger in this.
@@vitadelicatusnormally id agree but the woman in question is very much a repeat offender it seems and if she doesn't have the money then she can't just pay it back and if she does pay it whats to say she isn't using fraud to do it, I understand innocent until proven guilty but at the same time multiple instances of a crime not just one of a small amount
It's because this is a civil case against him and only him. They seem to believe him that he's the victim. Getting the case dismissed is the best outcome he could hope for. Anything pertaining to his ex wasn't even up for discussion because she's not a named part of the case. If he wants the ex held account able he should provide as much evidence as he can the credit agency that she scammed them and possibly even make a report himself with the police that she committed fraud via identify theft.
Proving that he’s living on social security will be a very easy way to get the debt dismissed in his favor. Pursuing criminal charges against his ex (possibly across state lines) is going to be difficult and much more time consuming. This is yet another reason why Americans deserve ID cards rather than using the social security number. If someone has your credit card # you can get a new one. Try that with an SSN. It is very poorly designed for use as an ID number, and it’s awful how people can impersonate you with it.
@@siggyincr7447Disagreed. Discharging what the collections agency wrongfully believes is HIS debt, even under a Hardship Exclusion, may negatively impact HIS credit, and he has to be compensated for HIS time and effort in fighting this bogus charge. In my opinion, (IANAL), this judge is nonfeasant in his duty as an officer of the court. Clear evidence being presented to him of grand fraud, and using interstate telecommunications, and his only apparent concern is to “clear his docket” and NOT refer the matter to criminal prosecutors?
They are taking advantage of this individual and the government to just take an easy path to get through this litigation and the court can move on. I would say that this is crime against those who are owed money by this court.
The Hardship part is to clear him of any debt , depending on the information he provides to the lady it is very likely that criminal proceedings will commence against his ex wife .
From the outside looking in I understand why things look this way. This gentleman is the victim and should have filed a police report as soon as he found out. The credit company is also the victim but has clearly been working on limiting information, they sued him and not her, thus after speaking with him they may be able to, she doesnt know until that conversation takes place and the facts are checked. The Hardship might possibly be the easiest and fastest way to clear him, I have no legal expertise in this area of law, just making an educated guess. Either or both can file the criminal complaint.
This gentleman probably doesn’t know it and a lot of people don’t know that you can do a credit freeze so that no one can open up an account on your name.
@@momof4kids735 Easy easy to do. Just remember if going for a loan etc to unfreeze it. They can't even give you a credit limit increase should you do this.
It's great that he gets this taken care of but, why does this ex keep being allowed to open credit cards?!?! She needs to be held accountable! This is ridiculous! I sure hope once this case is all over, he makes a police report and she's prosecuted to the fullest! I hope if there is another court case, you follow up on it! Have a great day everyone!
The problem isnt a credit freeze, but the credit companies somehow allowing her to put his name on these accounts without his signiture or awareness. At that point, the credit card company is negligent in allowing fraud to take place in the first matter. Not only creating it, but being allowed to then remove herself from it to stick the other person with her debt is just despicable.
@@solidmoon8266 I agree but how do you prove it's not him if she's doing this online or through the mail? If it's not a bank that has his signature on file, then she can forge his name on all kinds of credit card applications! I'm sure his credit is a wreck so I don't know how she's been able to do it for so long and several times! He definitely needs to put a lock on his credit!
If what they said is valid, you want it dismissed so that the records of this case can be used in the criminal proceedings. Once criminal proceedings are over and hopefully successful, you can then send that to the credit bureau's when you dispute the credit charges as well as send it to the debt collectors and they can state it is not their debt. So yes, the dismissal hurts more but only in the short term, in the long run its actually better. And because it is a dismissal and not a judgement, it isn't that bad.
@@wolf2179 The application she used to apply for credit in his name is more than sufficient to initiate and successfully convict her of several felonies. A dismissal is not necessary.
@@chrismason123 having a judges ruling is stronger and can be used later to reference people already seen and if they provided testimony. It also means you can use evidence from that case in a new case as well. While in the short term it could hurt their credit in the long term it is actually beneficial. One of the benefits is this gives the creditor more of an ability to go after someone else because they can say well the court says the debt doesnt belong to this person. Depending on what the dismissal says the defendant can actually use the ruling to remove this particular debt from their credit report. Just have to send it to the credit bureaus. They have their own rules. Also depending on how the ruling of dismissal is worded it lets the creditor potentially reassign the debt to the appropriate person. So there is a lot of benefits of having the dismissal ruling vs just withdrawing. Withdrawing shows there was a case but cant be used because the judge didnt rule on it.
@@wolf2179 Having practiced law for almost forty years, representing credit bureaus, collection agencies, banks, mortgage companies and debtors I would assert that you know very little about what transpires in the real world.
You can dispute anything negative on your credit reports. The credit bureaus will send the dispute to the creditor if they agree or if they do not respond the negative item is removed from your credit report.
Wow!! This is awful! Some people get away with everything!! I guarantee if I tried that with my ex husband’s information I would have been arrested immediately! Not to mention that thought never crossed my mind! Some people are just evil!!
Yeah after being married for 49 years I know my ex’s ss and dl #’s. I actually thought of using his info after he kicked me out of our marital home but I knew better.
I would be arrested before I even closed my phone but my ex-wife can steal $72,000 from me, drive a stolen car with stolen plates, abandon her child (not mine) several times, get caught with drugs, DUI, fraternizing with known criminals (with a minor) amd theft of more than $1,000 in retail and she still walks free today.
Why should he have to file for hardship for them to write it off when that is not the circumstance. That puts him at a disadvantage. These people need to do their own work and figure out who the patient was from the provider. Then find out who paid the payment and drawn on which bank. Then proceed from there. Either that or of the guy needs to go to legal aid and get them to help him and the woman should be prosecuted
He isn't filing for hardship. He's already on disablity... he has a hardship claim that she can use to dismiss the case against him. These people don't know if this ex-wife used this information with permission or not, it's not on them to prove that she didn't... That's how ID theft and fraud work. As far as the creditor is concerned she had his permission to do this.
Parents opening accounts/utilities in their kids social & name is a huge issue too. Children don’t know until the try to get credit as an adult and their credit is ruined.
Happened to me when I was a teenager. 5 loan company's all "sister" companys. After I turned 18 she (grandmother) defaulted on them. I refused to pay them. They said they would sue me. I said try it. They finally dropped it. But they would not remove it off my credit records. Finally got it cleared up.
@@jackgibsxxx0750they should be able to look ur age like mmm a teen getting credit card loans for adult crap. Shame these companies know u didn't open that crap
I'm not a lawyer or a dept collector so I don't know all the ramifications of accepting a hardship dismissal but if it effects this guy's credit I wouldn't accept it if I were him.
@@bobthetitanic don't get me started on that con-job flawed system. I haven't participated in purchasing things with credit for over 20 years. If you don't participate you are worse off than a person who uses it and never pays their bills; which makes no sense. You must not only keep a line of credit open, it must be ACTIVE (i.e. you must owe someone money and be making payments) for it to have positive gains. It's a scam. A millionaire who has saved their whole lives and never used a line of credit can have the same credit rating as a person who has kept active credit open and never paid a bill. The sooner people realize how much of a scam it is and stop using it, the better off everyone will be. Credit is for broke people. Cash is for kings.
This guy is so negligent regarding his credit that this a consequence of that. It's his own fault because he's so on Auto-Pilot that he's done nothing about this stuff. What did he think, that he had no responsibility to protect his own credit? He did no education to learn he can lock his credit so new credit can't be issued while locked.
Without credit, anyone can be wealthy enough to own land. It is credit that prevents such things. Credit is what the wealthy want you to depend on to help keeping them wealthy.
@@miguelbermudez5426Trouble is it's not up to him. If he can convince the DA to take the case great but the DA will look at the case and decide if they want to pursue it.
I maintain no one should ever use lines of credit. This is 2024, not 624. We don't need to open up lines of credit with the Knights Templar to ensure we have money at the end of the pilgrimage to the holy land. We have CashApp and Paypal. Escrow is all you need, and you don't really need credit for that. (it even works for houses)
@@TimHammett1964 life lock is expensive. You can go online to each credit bureau set up an account and lock it down. I think it cost $5 when you need to unlock it. It has saved us a couple of times.
Portfolio Recovery services lost a high profile case where they could not prove they own the debt. The chain of sale of the debt was so broken and they could not produce proper documents. Took 2 appeals for that judgment to get correctly overturned. About 90 % of the people who have their debt sold just pay it when they get served with a lawsuit. The other 10% fight and usually have better outcomes. Glad to see this guy fought it and the judge saw it for what it was.
My MIL did this to my husband and his siblings. We found out after our bank account was garnished. Luckily, I worked with a debt collector attorney who filed a 58 page motion to vacate the default judgment (and won). The collectors had a full Lexis Nexis report on us for years and we lived at one address the entire time, but they never once sent notice to our address. They even had an order to seize my husband’s truck, but apparently the dumb dumbs kept looking for it at my MIL’s house. The debt collector argued that they mailed it to a “known mailing address”, judge said “YOU GUYS are the ones that mailed it to that address, that doesn’t make it legitimate!”. Case thrown out, we even got fees back from them. Nothing ever happened to MIL (she doesn’t have anything to take anyway).
the problem is that it will still show up on his credit rating and will be taxed as income! The police need to arrest the thief and place her in prison for years!
Yeah, guys are always rushing off to plastic surgeons. After all, we all want humungous man-boobs, don't we? As soon as I heard seven grand to a plastic surgeon I knew it had to be his ex doing this. I hope he makes the police complaint and gets it investigated.
i like that Christene Richter straight away jumped to finding a way to help Mr Modert, there was no delay in her offer of help. He might not have understood completely what she was offering but there was no delay in her willingness to help someone in the best way she could as easily as she could. Everyone always thinks of lawyers being out for blood, but she was there to protect her clients but not to the detriment of others.
yet with the dismissal she is still saying it is his debt when obviously not and as such she is doing him no favor saying it is his debt and she is dismissing due to financial hardship and not the credit issuer being involved in the fraud with the ex
@@alroth6308 but that is the limits of what she can do in a civil case, unless it is reported and registered as fraud a criminal act it can not be moved to being the debt of another person it is not an error in their company processing it was not a failing by them with a spelling error or such. She can wipe the debt out but not change it to someone else's name without either the other person accepting it (which the ex wife will not do) or a criminal court order to move it.
She jumped at the chance because she saw which way the wind was blowing. By making it a hardship discharge she made it a tax write-off for the company, where otherwise they would just have to eat it. She was just helping herself and her company. These people have no souls and don't care about anyone, ever.
This poor guy she should be arrested if it’s true. If he is like me my credit score means a lot to me. I’ve never had a late payment in my life I’m 48 now. I’d be furious if an ex wrecked my credit.
Trouble with letting them dismiss this is that a charge-off would reflect still on his credit record. The charge-off could be seen by SSDI as INCOME and therefore affect his benefits. People who are getting their student loans dismissed by the government may have this same problem with the amount being seen as income by the IRS who then report to the SSDI. Gotcha coming and going.
many years ago i had a bank account with a bank solely because i worked at a company & that bank was right down the road, so id stop in & cash my check. i had gotten hurt, and began getting disability, and somehow id either overdrafted, or over drawn that bank account, despite it not being a savings, and me not putting money in it. i never really questioned it too much, but they began garnishing the account when i put my disability money in to it. one day like $500 was missing, and i found out they had taken it to collect a debt i owed. i didnt make a fuss over it, but it was money from SSA, so they had no choice but to put the money back, and they told me to close my account. i dont know how they found out it was SSA money, i didnt tell them, but they were NOT happy. you cant garnish that money, & if you do its bad news for whoever does garnish it
He should lock his SS# so this can not happen again to him. Things like this happen a lot to people on SSI. ID theft is a PIA to get rid of and can take year to get off your record.
It makes me so mad that companies like Portfolio Recovery are allowed to exist. Buying charge off debts from other companies and the viciously going after debtors for their own gain.
It saves smaller companies tons of money not to have to pursue bad debt on their own with their own debt collection department. The companies pay a commission to the debt collectors on receipt. Nothing wrong with that.
The collection agency could see their own legal bills exceed what ever pennies on the dollar, if any, they'd receive. Based on his total disability, that would be $0 collected anyhow.
I don't understand why he doesn't get one of those credit fraud detection services. They're much cheaper than dealing with her continuing fraud, and would detect the new credit lines immediately. It may even lead to her arrest and prosecution.
The ex-husband should have filed a complaint with the police EVERY time this happened to him. His daughter would probably be upset with him, but nobody should be treated like the ex-wife is treating people.
He needs this to be ordered to be removed from his credit report to. If she puts this down as a hardship, it will very likely be on his credit report as an adverse account that was closed out and never paid. I think that is her intent I would not accept the offer
What my ex did is she agreed to pay for all of the credit card charges and things she bought in the divorce agreement. We would split the house what I didn't know was when I went by the realtors to sign a offer he said she was late to sign because she was at her bankruptcy attorney! Turns out because bankruptcy is federal and the divorce was state , she was going to get out of paying any debt after we were divorced I would have been stuck but my attorney went to the judge and he called it defrauding me by knowingly signing a agreement with no intention of honoring it. She had to pay for all charges out of her portion of the house sale and it was all done through the title company. I thank the realtor for being upfront.
This happened to me except it was a former boyfriend. He used my info to obtain several credit cards in my name. Long story but I ended filing civil charges with the attorney general of the state I lived in. Never had a problem after that.
the correct solution would be to reverse the charges against the prosecutor for false accusations and for Christene Richter or Portfolio Recover to pay the defendant $1B for his time and aggravation
It seems to have ended up okay so far, but the guy really needs to get some kind of document from Portfolio stating that the debt is not his, regardless of what happens. If Portfolio just ends up charging it off and ceasing collection efforts, but still considers him the debtor instead of having the debt assigned to his ex, he'll get a 1099-C for the forgiven amount and be liable for taxes on that "income".
I was shocked he doesn't have a paper trail. If this is as widespread as he alleges, I would have a STACK to back up myself. Not to mention, freezing my credit, and pursuing charges.
They won't go so far as to forgive the debt unless they absolutely have to. If it is eliminated (as far as him) due to fraud it is not considered income for taxation purposes.
Hardship vs. charging his ex is not a good option. Still says he is liable and she is STEALING!!!!! File a report against her. Get her charged and arrested for crime.
When the debt is written off in this manner some creditors report this as bad debt on your credit report and send notice to the IRS and then it can and usually is counted as income. By giving your letter of disability and other information you can be considered accepting the debt was yours. It depends on your state.
My ex did this. Spent 15 years signing leases, opening utilities, getting cars in my name. Judge just laughed at me and told me I was responsible for the debt anyways... if she has my information she can do this. This poor dude. They are basically asking him to admit to the debt and write it off as his own. That ex is going to keep doing this non stop, especially to him.
That's a good judge and he has a good lawyer .they are all working together to help him fight against an x that is clearly committing fraud and making sure he is cleared of all guilt and not lose his social security and disability payments .you may notice he has all his documents and paperwork there with him. over all they were well prepared before coming before the Judge .I hope we all get a fallow up as this case moves forward .
This is why when you're getting divorced, you need to contact all three credit reporting agencies and LOCK YOUR CREDIT DOWN! On advice from a friend who went through divorce, this is precisely what I did. My ex would have definitely opened lines of credit in my name had I not done that. Seeing this video just served to reaffirm my action here.
The lawyer representing Portfolio Recovery was dreading having to start a civil recovery case against the ex-wife. So as soon as the guy said he was on disability, she jumped on being able to clear the case. Sad thing is, PR won’t instigate a police report either so the ex gets away with.
I had an ex get a loan with a revolked power attorney by the bank for a mortgage. This was filed and available for anyone to see so the bank didn’t do due diligence. When I found out about it I went to an attorney and we raised hell in a monetary way with the bank and they cancelled her loan within a week. That’s the only good thing that came from that ex was the bank settlement. It was the same bank that got into trouble opening accounts in peoples names about 15 years ago.
Just wiping out the debt is not holding the person responsible for paying the bill….This should come off his record and onto hers. She should also be charged criminally for identity theft and fraud.
Thank you Attorney Christene Richter for acting exactly as a good lawyer should. When I say good, I mean she is a good person who happens to be an attorney.
If they do a dismissal and they waive the charges I'm pretty sure he has to pay taxes on that amount. They need to go get plastic surgery sally and throw her in jail
I would want it dismissed and I'd want any mention of it removed from my credit. These collection agencies like to report collections as "settled" or "discharged" so it stays on your report.
If I were the man in question, the only possible objection I would have to this planned solution would be if if the case dismissal remained on my credit record as a negative item. If it doesn't negatively affect my credit record, then I'd accept the offered solution without reservation.
Virtually ALL divorce cases use boilerplate forms and a part of that form is the severing of financials. At the point of filing the separation agreement, again a boiler plate form set up by the lawyer, the ex would be enjoined from opening any lines of credit loans etc and if she did it would be her full and total responsibility. ANY lawyer who does a divorce/separation agreement with a client who does NOT include such language is looking at serious charges of malfeasance, lawsuits and disbarment. This is simply that basic of "lawyering". My moron ex did this. She tried to stick me with $14,000, but she would up having to eat it all. Took her 8 years and a partial bankruptcy. This IS Fraud all the way thru and the police should be involved. She really should be in jail.
This woman should be investigated. I just also see a lot of unanswered questions on both sides. He said there was 30,000 dollar debt but only 8,000 or whatever it was, was being looked into. It might be nice to hear her side of the story, maybe get an attitude of the situation from her. It might be nice to know how old the daughter is to because this could affect her to.
Same exact thing happened to me. Ex wife got a tummy tuck using a synchrony care credit account she opened in my name and forged my signature on. Unfortunately for her, I was able to prove with military orders that I was in Korea on the day I (didn’t) sign
The judge is following his abilities and gave him solid advice, ex wife is about to get hammered IF they can find a da worth their salt and willing to pursue charges, either way he wont have to pay a dime for her crime.
I would not allow this to be dismissed because of my disability and SSI. He needs to file charges with the DA’s office then sue her for fraud and identity theft.
There is no way in hell I'd eat that charge and have it dismissed on 'hardship' grounds. That's an easy cop out/win for the Lawyers and Recovery Company instead of doing their jobs properly. It should never have even gone to court.
I have an ex-wife who tried to do this to me. Had been divorce from her since 2001 and I get a call from a creditor in 2008 and they told me she had me down as the next of kin. I gave them the info about her and where she may be.
Right before we split up, my 'ex' took out a second mortgage on the house, took along her boyfriend at the time and forged my name.......I had no choice but to declare bankruptcy (while also filing for divorce) - she then demanded that she receive 50% of my income (for child support & alimony)......and all this AFTER she opened credit cards in our infant daughters' name!!! she was a real alcoholic 'piece of work' (and almost drove me to madness). Sadly, she's still pulling these kinds of stunts (as our daughter - who's now 38 - just got a bill from a hospital that's nowhere NEAR where she lives.....and after doing a little research, she discovered that her Mom used HER social security number to avoid paying any bills!!) - consequently, my 'ex' has NO current relationship with her mother~
I know a guy who started getting calls from a collection agency that were pretty aggressive about collecting a debt he'd never heard of - they were going to start proceedings to seize a house. his ex had filed using his SS number in obtaining a line of credit at the bank she worked at, but in her name. They'd been divorced something like 5 years. He gave his divorce date to the caller, said he wasn't responsible for any debts after that date per the decree, and provided them whatever they call the seal marked copy from the cleark of court, and he called the cops on her. Later had a credit reporting agency run and there were a half dozen things he'd never heard of on it. She ended up having to pay to clean up his credit report and close all the accounts before she was released from probation - she got 3 years probation for all that.
This never should have been brought to court the collection agency knows he was on disability they find that out when they do check for assets to be able to sue him for.
The woman should be put in jail for fraud.
Good luck with that from personal experience.
What about the court lady who tried to help her get away with it?
Identity theft is a felony in a lot of places
Darn right she should
@@anonymouse9833Not in Michigan...
If she isn't charged and held accountable she'll do it again. Why wouldn't she?
If the genders were reversed, they would go after him with less info
After my divorce in 1970, my ex ran up a charge with Macy's. She finally paid it before she was charged.
Hopefully, someone will tell him how to lock his credit, so she cannot do it again. He might also want to change his SS# as well.
I work in assurance services provide with businesses and cities. You would be blown away by the amount of fraud that people are allowed to walk away from because businesses and cities want to avoid losing face and/or dealing with potential litigation. In fact, the first call we are supposed to make if we identify potential or factual fraud is to our insurer.
@@ashfordj81
The sad part is no one here is surprised by what you just told us.
It would bug me to "have it dismissed" due to MY full disability, as if it were my debt to begin with. I understand that is an easy way out, but it still stinks.
He's unemployed, I would not take the "hardship" dismissal, it should be dropped and they need to eat the charge or go after the rightful debtor. Take it to trial and have them announce on the record that the credit was a face-lift or a boob job, that would be CZcams gold.
BTW, I hope he's got a good location to watch the eclipse on April 8th
I was thinking the same thing, he's not liable for this debt, disability or not, his ex is!!
Well the case had to be dismissed somehow against this defendant, they can't just change the name on the case. That's not how it works. This case is dismissed and a new one is opened for the correct claimant. This is just added legal reasons to dismiss for the lawyers file. Not only is is possibly fraud, but this defendant is under hardships that would prevent any sort of payment anyway. They need to know that and have proof of it to show to the plaintiff. (her client)
@@LoneWolfUsul I think the distinction we are trying to make is that inability to pay is a lot different than not liable to pay. Offering to drop the case for inability to pay doesn't create the record he needs to make sure that this does not affect his credit or happen again in the future.
@@LoneWolfUsul I understand your point, but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Before I'd agree to this manner of dismissal, I'd definitely consult an attorney, especially if I were expected to sign anything. I can't help but have a nagging suspicion in the back of my mind that there's a hidden danger in this.
If this woman is guilty, she belongs in prison.
The US guys want everybody in prison she should pay the money back and a large fine.
@@vitadelicatusnormally id agree but the woman in question is very much a repeat offender it seems and if she doesn't have the money then she can't just pay it back and if she does pay it whats to say she isn't using fraud to do it, I understand innocent until proven guilty but at the same time multiple instances of a crime not just one of a small amount
His ex needs to held accountable.
Identity Fraud and Plastic Surgery, we got a full on skinwalker here.
She committed fraud and identity theft and they want him to show that he’s on SS to dismiss it against him, WTH!!!
It's because this is a civil case against him and only him. They seem to believe him that he's the victim. Getting the case dismissed is the best outcome he could hope for. Anything pertaining to his ex wasn't even up for discussion because she's not a named part of the case. If he wants the ex held account able he should provide as much evidence as he can the credit agency that she scammed them and possibly even make a report himself with the police that she committed fraud via identify theft.
Because the courts are LAZY.
Proving that he’s living on social security will be a very easy way to get the debt dismissed in his favor. Pursuing criminal charges against his ex (possibly across state lines) is going to be difficult and much more time consuming. This is yet another reason why Americans deserve ID cards rather than using the social security number. If someone has your credit card # you can get a new one. Try that with an SSN. It is very poorly designed for use as an ID number, and it’s awful how people can impersonate you with it.
@@siggyincr7447Disagreed. Discharging what the collections agency wrongfully believes is HIS debt, even under a Hardship Exclusion, may negatively impact HIS credit, and he has to be compensated for HIS time and effort in fighting this bogus charge.
In my opinion, (IANAL), this judge is nonfeasant in his duty as an officer of the court. Clear evidence being presented to him of grand fraud, and using interstate telecommunications, and his only apparent concern is to “clear his docket” and NOT refer the matter to criminal prosecutors?
They are taking advantage of this individual and the government to just take an easy path to get through this litigation and the court can move on. I would say that this is crime against those who are owed money by this court.
Dismiss it against him and remove it off of his credit report. Then go after her
Hardship? This lady wants to sweep it away BUT the crime MUST be addressed.
She's picking the low hanging fruit. It's the easiest (laziest) way out, with less effort to resolve this issue. Lord knows, he'll have more...
The Hardship part is to clear him of any debt , depending on the information he provides to the lady it is very likely that criminal proceedings will commence against his ex wife .
birds of a feather flock together. she's probably doing that same thing to her ex husband.
From the outside looking in I understand why things look this way. This gentleman is the victim and should have filed a police report as soon as he found out. The credit company is also the victim but has clearly been working on limiting information, they sued him and not her, thus after speaking with him they may be able to, she doesnt know until that conversation takes place and the facts are checked. The Hardship might possibly be the easiest and fastest way to clear him, I have no legal expertise in this area of law, just making an educated guess. Either or both can file the criminal complaint.
sweep it away as his debt, this is wrong
His ex needs to be found and charged with identity theft and fraud.
He wants her to be accountable!!!! Not just write off the Bill in his name/ credit
I would highly recommend that this guy contact all the credit reporting agencies and put both a fraud alert and a credit lock on his file.
This gentleman probably doesn’t know it and a lot of people don’t know that you can do a credit freeze so that no one can open up an account on your name.
I didn’t know that either. I have never needed it, but it’s good to know 🙏♥️
@@momof4kids735 Easy easy to do. Just remember if going for a loan etc to unfreeze it. They can't even give you a credit limit increase should you do this.
You need to do it across all 3 credit reporting agencies and depending on circumstances it can cost money to freeze your credit.
At this point, even though he has no income, a credit freeze isn't a bad idea.
@@notme2dayEasy I pay for a 3 credit system monthly and the cost is peanuts compared to say what he went through.
Put her in jail!!
She need to be held accountable for this
Women are never held accountable.
It's great that he gets this taken care of but, why does this ex keep being allowed to open credit cards?!?! She needs to be held accountable! This is ridiculous! I sure hope once this case is all over, he makes a police report and she's prosecuted to the fullest! I hope if there is another court case, you follow up on it! Have a great day everyone!
The defendant has probably not requested a freeze on his credit. Or he has and did not renew it, so she just waits until the freeze expires.
The problem isnt a credit freeze, but the credit companies somehow allowing her to put his name on these accounts without his signiture or awareness.
At that point, the credit card company is negligent in allowing fraud to take place in the first matter.
Not only creating it, but being allowed to then remove herself from it to stick the other person with her debt is just despicable.
@@alfie44 that's far from the truth!
@@solidmoon8266 I agree but how do you prove it's not him if she's doing this online or through the mail? If it's not a bank that has his signature on file, then she can forge his name on all kinds of credit card applications! I'm sure his credit is a wreck so I don't know how she's been able to do it for so long and several times! He definitely needs to put a lock on his credit!
The Complaint should be withdrawn, not just dismissed. If it is only dismissed it will still appear of his credit record.
If what they said is valid, you want it dismissed so that the records of this case can be used in the criminal proceedings. Once criminal proceedings are over and hopefully successful, you can then send that to the credit bureau's when you dispute the credit charges as well as send it to the debt collectors and they can state it is not their debt. So yes, the dismissal hurts more but only in the short term, in the long run its actually better. And because it is a dismissal and not a judgement, it isn't that bad.
@@wolf2179 The application she used to apply for credit in his name is more than sufficient to initiate and successfully convict her of several felonies. A dismissal is not necessary.
@@chrismason123 having a judges ruling is stronger and can be used later to reference people already seen and if they provided testimony. It also means you can use evidence from that case in a new case as well. While in the short term it could hurt their credit in the long term it is actually beneficial. One of the benefits is this gives the creditor more of an ability to go after someone else because they can say well the court says the debt doesnt belong to this person. Depending on what the dismissal says the defendant can actually use the ruling to remove this particular debt from their credit report. Just have to send it to the credit bureaus. They have their own rules. Also depending on how the ruling of dismissal is worded it lets the creditor potentially reassign the debt to the appropriate person. So there is a lot of benefits of having the dismissal ruling vs just withdrawing. Withdrawing shows there was a case but cant be used because the judge didnt rule on it.
@@wolf2179 Having practiced law for almost forty years, representing credit bureaus, collection agencies, banks, mortgage companies and debtors I would assert that you know very little about what transpires in the real world.
You can dispute anything negative on your credit reports. The credit bureaus will send the dispute to the creditor if they agree or if they do not respond the negative item is removed from your credit report.
He shouldn't have it "dismissed" for hardship - that would be on his record and the debt isn't his.
Wow!! This is awful! Some people get away with everything!! I guarantee if I tried that with my ex husband’s information I would have been arrested immediately! Not to mention that thought never crossed my mind! Some people are just evil!!
Yeah after being married for 49 years I know my ex’s ss and dl #’s. I actually thought of using his info after he kicked me out of our marital home but I knew better.
I would be arrested before I even closed my phone but my ex-wife can steal $72,000 from me, drive a stolen car with stolen plates, abandon her child (not mine) several times, get caught with drugs, DUI, fraternizing with known criminals (with a minor) amd theft of more than $1,000 in retail and she still walks free today.
His ex needs to be in prison breaking rocks on bread and water.
Why should he have to file for hardship for them to write it off when that is not the circumstance. That puts him at a disadvantage. These people need to do their own work and figure out who the patient was from the provider. Then find out who paid the payment and drawn on which bank. Then proceed from there. Either that or of the guy needs to go to legal aid and get them to help him and the woman should be prosecuted
He isn't filing for hardship. He's already on disablity... he has a hardship claim that she can use to dismiss the case against him. These people don't know if this ex-wife used this information with permission or not, it's not on them to prove that she didn't... That's how ID theft and fraud work. As far as the creditor is concerned she had his permission to do this.
I believe the lady said she was going to look into it like you said should happen. If I remember correctly, it sounded that way.
@@LoneWolfUsulwell said. The debt collector likely can't get money from that guy anyway.
Even a hardship would cause a 1099C for cancelation of debt, ending up with taxable income for the canceled debt.
Agreed. His credit and life circumstances will be altered and damaged needlessly. It’s pure criminality!
Parents opening accounts/utilities in their kids social & name is a huge issue too. Children don’t know until the try to get credit as an adult and their credit is ruined.
good point
Happened to me when I was a teenager. 5 loan company's all "sister" companys.
After I turned 18 she (grandmother) defaulted on them. I refused to pay them. They said they would sue me. I said try it. They finally dropped it. But they would not remove it off my credit records. Finally got it cleared up.
@@jackgibsxxx0750they should be able to look ur age like mmm a teen getting credit card loans for adult crap. Shame these companies know u didn't open that crap
That happened to me as a child, and worse the person who did it, my mother, died before I turned 18yo.
You can have it removed they can't bill a minor
I'm not a lawyer or a dept collector so I don't know all the ramifications of accepting a hardship dismissal but if it effects this guy's credit I wouldn't accept it if I were him.
What credit? You think this guy worries about things like credit? He's probably not had any credit to speak of since before 2007.
@@bobthetitanic don't get me started on that con-job flawed system. I haven't participated in purchasing things with credit for over 20 years. If you don't participate you are worse off than a person who uses it and never pays their bills; which makes no sense. You must not only keep a line of credit open, it must be ACTIVE (i.e. you must owe someone money and be making payments) for it to have positive gains. It's a scam. A millionaire who has saved their whole lives and never used a line of credit can have the same credit rating as a person who has kept active credit open and never paid a bill.
The sooner people realize how much of a scam it is and stop using it, the better off everyone will be.
Credit is for broke people. Cash is for kings.
This guy is so negligent regarding his credit that this a consequence of that. It's his own fault because he's so on Auto-Pilot that he's done nothing about this stuff. What did he think, that he had no responsibility to protect his own credit?
He did no education to learn he can lock his credit so new credit can't be issued while locked.
Without credit, anyone can be wealthy enough to own land. It is credit that prevents such things.
Credit is what the wealthy want you to depend on to help keeping them wealthy.
I don't think this guy gives a crap about his credit. He's living off disability, and has no paperwork over some serious fraud allegations.
His ex needs to face criminal charges
He should take this to criminal court not family court where they can do whatever.
@@miguelbermudez5426Trouble is it's not up to him. If he can convince the DA to take the case great but the DA will look at the case and decide if they want to pursue it.
So, so nice to see a debt collector with some humanity and decency! Judge Middleton is the man. The ponytail of justice strikes again!
If i were this man, id talk to a district attorney and help them file against her for fraud!
He not only wants to not be liable for this but also to make sure this does not go on record as his bad debt.
If they dismiss it for inability to pay it will trash his financial status. I would write out a fraud complaint and fight the collection.
He can pursue both. He can be done with the St. Joe District Court and still pursue prosecution.
This is why everyone should have a credit freeze in place. Its free in all 50 states now.
And this is why you should lock down your credit.
Good point. Life Lock or something like that.
@@TimHammett1964 life lock is expensive, you can do it yourself for free.
I maintain no one should ever use lines of credit.
This is 2024, not 624. We don't need to open up lines of credit with the Knights Templar to ensure we have money at the end of the pilgrimage to the holy land.
We have CashApp and Paypal.
Escrow is all you need, and you don't really need credit for that. (it even works for houses)
@@TimHammett1964 life lock is expensive. You can go online to each credit bureau set up an account and lock it down. I think it cost $5 when you need to unlock it. It has saved us a couple of times.
@@LoneWolfUsul
Need a lie down?
The ex wife needs to be charged with fraud
I love Judge Middleton - this man has heart.
Portfolio Recovery services lost a high profile case where they could not prove they own the debt. The chain of sale of the debt was so broken and they could not produce proper documents. Took 2 appeals for that judgment to get correctly overturned. About 90 % of the people who have their debt sold just pay it when they get served with a lawsuit. The other 10% fight and usually have better outcomes. Glad to see this guy fought it and the judge saw it for what it was.
So she gets away with it ... its A FRAUDULENT ACT...
My MIL did this to my husband and his siblings. We found out after our bank account was garnished. Luckily, I worked with a debt collector attorney who filed a 58 page motion to vacate the default judgment (and won). The collectors had a full Lexis Nexis report on us for years and we lived at one address the entire time, but they never once sent notice to our address. They even had an order to seize my husband’s truck, but apparently the dumb dumbs kept looking for it at my MIL’s house. The debt collector argued that they mailed it to a “known mailing address”, judge said “YOU GUYS are the ones that mailed it to that address, that doesn’t make it legitimate!”. Case thrown out, we even got fees back from them. Nothing ever happened to MIL (she doesn’t have anything to take anyway).
What a despicable woman, I really hope she doesn't get away with it!
She'll stop when she's in prison.
the problem is that it will still show up on his credit rating and will be taxed as income! The police need to arrest the thief and place her in prison for years!
The credit card company wants to "discharge due to (his) disability". Hell no. Because if he ever GOT any money, they'd come back for it .
This is pretty low. What a despicable thing to do. With friends or family like this, who needs enemies?
The attorney is just looking for an easy way out for herself.
Report the fraud and demand the court dismiss any action for lack of standing..
This happens all the time court's need to start holding these women accountable
Above all, I really like the "Lone wolf" sitting in the corner with his subtle comments!😬🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺
Yeah, guys are always rushing off to plastic surgeons. After all, we all want humungous man-boobs, don't we?
As soon as I heard seven grand to a plastic surgeon I knew it had to be his ex doing this. I hope he makes the police complaint and gets it investigated.
i like that Christene Richter straight away jumped to finding a way to help Mr Modert, there was no delay in her offer of help. He might not have understood completely what she was offering but there was no delay in her willingness to help someone in the best way she could as easily as she could. Everyone always thinks of lawyers being out for blood, but she was there to protect her clients but not to the detriment of others.
I think she believed him, and that helped a lot.
@@betsykeller9096yes but there are plenty of jobsworths who do not think
yet with the dismissal she is still saying it is his debt when obviously not and as such she is doing him no favor saying it is his debt and she is dismissing due to financial hardship and not the credit issuer being involved in the fraud with the ex
@@alroth6308 but that is the limits of what she can do in a civil case, unless it is reported and registered as fraud a criminal act it can not be moved to being the debt of another person it is not an error in their company processing it was not a failing by them with a spelling error or such.
She can wipe the debt out but not change it to someone else's name without either the other person accepting it (which the ex wife will not do) or a criminal court order to move it.
She jumped at the chance because she saw which way the wind was blowing. By making it a hardship discharge she made it a tax write-off for the company, where otherwise they would just have to eat it. She was just helping herself and her company. These people have no souls and don't care about anyone, ever.
The ex needs to be held criminally accountable and held responsible, he needs to file police reports.
His ex needs to be charged. He should also freeze all of his credit reports.
This poor guy she should be arrested if it’s true. If he is like me my credit score means a lot to me. I’ve never had a late payment in my life I’m 48 now. I’d be furious if an ex wrecked my credit.
Trouble with letting them dismiss this is that a charge-off would reflect still on his credit record. The charge-off could be seen by SSDI as INCOME and therefore affect his benefits. People who are getting their student loans dismissed by the government may have this same problem with the amount being seen as income by the IRS who then report to the SSDI. Gotcha coming and going.
Only if the bank reports it with a 1099, outerwise the IRS will never know.
many years ago i had a bank account with a bank solely because i worked at a company & that bank was right down the road, so id stop in & cash my check. i had gotten hurt, and began getting disability, and somehow id either overdrafted, or over drawn that bank account, despite it not being a savings, and me not putting money in it. i never really questioned it too much, but they began garnishing the account when i put my disability money in to it. one day like $500 was missing, and i found out they had taken it to collect a debt i owed. i didnt make a fuss over it, but it was money from SSA, so they had no choice but to put the money back, and they told me to close my account. i dont know how they found out it was SSA money, i didnt tell them, but they were NOT happy. you cant garnish that money, & if you do its bad news for whoever does garnish it
They knew it was SSA because of the name on the deposit show it. All they had to do was look. Glad you got your money back.
You are very correct.
He should lock his SS# so this can not happen again to him. Things like this happen a lot to people on SSI. ID theft is a PIA to get rid of and can take year to get off your record.
It makes me so mad that companies like Portfolio Recovery are allowed to exist. Buying charge off debts from other companies and the viciously going after debtors for their own gain.
It saves smaller companies tons of money not to have to pursue bad debt on their own with their own debt collection department. The companies pay a commission to the debt collectors on receipt. Nothing wrong with that.
I’m impressed by the common sense response of the attorney for the collection agency.
The collection agency could see their own legal bills exceed what ever pennies on the dollar, if any, they'd receive. Based on his total disability, that would be $0 collected anyhow.
I don't understand why he doesn't get one of those credit fraud detection services. They're much cheaper than dealing with her continuing fraud, and would detect the new credit lines immediately. It may even lead to her arrest and prosecution.
The ex-husband should have filed a complaint with the police EVERY time this happened to him. His daughter would probably be upset with him, but nobody should be treated like the ex-wife is treating people.
He needs this to be ordered to be removed from his credit report to. If she puts this down as a hardship, it will very likely be on his credit report as an adverse account that was closed out and never paid. I think that is her intent I would not accept the offer
What my ex did is she agreed to pay for all of the credit card charges and things she bought in the divorce agreement.
We would split the house what I didn't know was when I went by the realtors to sign a offer he said she was late to sign because she was at her bankruptcy attorney!
Turns out because bankruptcy is federal and the divorce was state , she was going to get out of paying any debt after we were divorced I would have been stuck but my attorney went to the judge and he called it defrauding me by knowingly signing a agreement with no intention of honoring it.
She had to pay for all charges out of her portion of the house sale and it was all done through the title company. I thank the realtor for being upfront.
If it was the other way, accountability, repayment and criminal charges would be immediate!
Judge Middleton seems like a great and understanding judge.
This happened to me except it was a former boyfriend. He used my info to obtain several credit cards in my name. Long story but I ended filing civil charges with the attorney general of the state I lived in. Never had a problem after that.
the correct solution would be to reverse the charges against the prosecutor for false accusations and for Christene Richter or Portfolio Recover to pay the defendant $1B for his time and aggravation
that would still be a hit on HIS credit score. He REALLY needs to also flag his account with the credit agencies to stop this happening again.
It seems to have ended up okay so far, but the guy really needs to get some kind of document from Portfolio stating that the debt is not his, regardless of what happens. If Portfolio just ends up charging it off and ceasing collection efforts, but still considers him the debtor instead of having the debt assigned to his ex, he'll get a 1099-C for the forgiven amount and be liable for taxes on that "income".
I was shocked he doesn't have a paper trail. If this is as widespread as he alleges, I would have a STACK to back up myself. Not to mention, freezing my credit, and pursuing charges.
They won't go so far as to forgive the debt unless they absolutely have to. If it is eliminated (as far as him) due to fraud it is not considered income for taxation purposes.
He should have filed criminal charges against her too, not just a civil case against her
This type of fraud is common. And parents doing this type of fraud to their children is also happening what a horrible thing to do to someone .
Hardship vs. charging his ex is not a good option. Still says he is liable and she is STEALING!!!!! File a report against her. Get her charged and arrested for crime.
They want to ding SSI and Mitchell Modert for the charges. WTF go arrest the right person and get their money from them.
Dismissed as a hardship case against him????? He's not responsible. at all !!!!!!!!!!
Put court cases BACK in the courthouse!
5:32 that may be all well and good but it would still appear on his credit history. They should find the woman responsible and go after her....
Someone needs to pursue this woman legally, so this poor man can have a break from her illegal, bothersome actions!!!
That means the guy will have to take an active role instead of being an observer of his own life.
There needs to be a update! I would hold her responsible for all of the 88,000$! Omg, she’s just gonna walk away again?! NO F’ING WAY!!!😮😮😮😮
When the debt is written off in this manner some creditors report this as bad debt on your credit report and send notice to the IRS and then it can and usually is counted as income. By giving your letter of disability and other information you can be considered accepting the debt was yours. It depends on your state.
She does it because she can and get away with it. Put her in jail for fraud and it stops immediately.
My ex did this. Spent 15 years signing leases, opening utilities, getting cars in my name. Judge just laughed at me and told me I was responsible for the debt anyways... if she has my information she can do this.
This poor dude. They are basically asking him to admit to the debt and write it off as his own. That ex is going to keep doing this non stop, especially to him.
He should freeze all his credit files, so she can’t open any more accounts in his name.
That's a good judge and he has a good lawyer .they are all working together to help him fight against an x that is clearly committing fraud and making sure he is cleared of all guilt and not lose his social security and disability payments .you may notice he has all his documents and paperwork there with him. over all they were well prepared before coming before the Judge .I hope we all get a fallow up as this case moves forward .
This is why when you're getting divorced, you need to contact all three credit reporting agencies and LOCK YOUR CREDIT DOWN! On advice from a friend who went through divorce, this is precisely what I did. My ex would have definitely opened lines of credit in my name had I not done that. Seeing this video just served to reaffirm my action here.
The lawyer representing Portfolio Recovery was dreading having to start a civil recovery case against the ex-wife. So as soon as the guy said he was on disability, she jumped on being able to clear the case. Sad thing is, PR won’t instigate a police report either so the ex gets away with.
Writing it off as hardship throws the loss upon Taxpayers. Zero accountability of the Ex.. Court and Debt Recovery Service are not enforcing the law.
I love it when a judge follows the law. This wouldn't happen in New York, or Georgia, and probably California.
I had an ex get a loan with a revolked power attorney by the bank for a mortgage. This was filed and available for anyone to see so the bank didn’t do due diligence. When I found out about it I went to an attorney and we raised hell in a monetary way with the bank and they cancelled her loan within a week. That’s the only good thing that came from that ex was the bank settlement.
It was the same bank that got into trouble opening accounts in peoples names about 15 years ago.
Just wiping out the debt is not holding the person responsible for paying the bill….This should come off his record and onto hers. She should also be charged criminally for identity theft and fraud.
Thank you Attorney Christene Richter for acting exactly as a good lawyer should. When I say good, I mean she is a good person who happens to be an attorney.
A judge makes actually a real investigation and wants to solve this ,respect.
If they do a dismissal and they waive the charges I'm pretty sure he has to pay taxes on that amount. They need to go get plastic surgery sally and throw her in jail
I would want it dismissed and I'd want any mention of it removed from my credit. These collection agencies like to report collections as "settled" or "discharged" so it stays on your report.
If I were the man in question, the only possible objection I would have to this planned solution would be if if the case dismissal remained on my credit record as a negative item. If it doesn't negatively affect my credit record, then I'd accept the offered solution without reservation.
Virtually ALL divorce cases use boilerplate forms and a part of that form is the severing of financials. At the point of filing the separation agreement, again a boiler plate form set up by the lawyer, the ex would be enjoined from opening any lines of credit loans etc and if she did it would be her full and total responsibility. ANY lawyer who does a divorce/separation agreement with a client who does NOT include such language is looking at serious charges of malfeasance, lawsuits and disbarment. This is simply that basic of "lawyering".
My moron ex did this. She tried to stick me with $14,000, but she would up having to eat it all. Took her 8 years and a partial bankruptcy. This IS Fraud all the way thru and the police should be involved. She really should be in jail.
This woman should be investigated. I just also see a lot of unanswered questions on both sides. He said there was 30,000 dollar debt but only 8,000 or whatever it was, was being looked into. It might be nice to hear her side of the story, maybe get an attitude of the situation from her. It might be nice to know how old the daughter is to because this could affect her to.
dude needs to put his credit on lock so new lines cant be opened. its not hard and would have protected him.
Same exact thing happened to me. Ex wife got a tummy tuck using a synchrony care credit account she opened in my name and forged my signature on. Unfortunately for her, I was able to prove with military orders that I was in Korea on the day I (didn’t) sign
He needs to,communicate with the others she’s defrauded and they can all take her to court.
The judge is following his abilities and gave him solid advice, ex wife is about to get hammered IF they can find a da worth their salt and willing to pursue charges, either way he wont have to pay a dime for her crime.
Lets close it out, but still give him the blame. What a snake the woman was
I would not allow this to be dismissed because of my disability and SSI. He needs to file charges with the DA’s office then sue her for fraud and identity theft.
There is no way in hell I'd eat that charge and have it dismissed on 'hardship' grounds. That's an easy cop out/win for the Lawyers and Recovery Company instead of doing their jobs properly. It should never have even gone to court.
I have an ex-wife who tried to do this to me. Had been divorce from her since 2001 and I get a call from a creditor in 2008 and they told me she had me down as the next of kin. I gave them the info about her and where she may be.
Right before we split up, my 'ex' took out a second mortgage on the house, took along her boyfriend at the time and forged my name.......I had no choice but to declare bankruptcy (while also filing for divorce) - she then demanded that she receive 50% of my income (for child support & alimony)......and all this AFTER she opened credit cards in our infant daughters' name!!! she was a real alcoholic 'piece of work' (and almost drove me to madness). Sadly, she's still pulling these kinds of stunts (as our daughter - who's now 38 - just got a bill from a hospital that's nowhere NEAR where she lives.....and after doing a little research, she discovered that her Mom used HER social security number to avoid paying any bills!!) - consequently, my 'ex' has NO current relationship with her mother~
I know a guy who started getting calls from a collection agency that were pretty aggressive about collecting a debt he'd never heard of - they were going to start proceedings to seize a house. his ex had filed using his SS number in obtaining a line of credit at the bank she worked at, but in her name. They'd been divorced something like 5 years. He gave his divorce date to the caller, said he wasn't responsible for any debts after that date per the decree, and provided them whatever they call the seal marked copy from the cleark of court, and he called the cops on her. Later had a credit reporting agency run and there were a half dozen things he'd never heard of on it. She ended up having to pay to clean up his credit report and close all the accounts before she was released from probation - she got 3 years probation for all that.
This never should have been brought to court the collection agency knows he was on disability they find that out when they do check for assets to be able to sue him for.