February 6,2009
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News: Order in the Credit Court!
Welcome to the Age of Credit. New rules have been implemented in order to meet the needs of the day. Apparently, one of the pressing needs is for credit card debt reconciliation. Appearing more like a political rally or rock concert, the numbers didnt suggest a typical court scene in this small town of Hollidaysburg in Blair county, PA. On the first day for Credit Card Court, this Tuesday morning, 70 cases were on the docket. The cases were all pertaining to nonpayment of credit card debt but, shortly to follow are the cases where people cant pay their mortgages.
Another unique flavor of the courtroom was the venue change from lawyer-to-lawyer negotiations that usually take place just before the proceedings start to get under way was the Starbucks generation of cell phones with lawyers looking more like they were on the trading floor on Wall Street. The new look is Lawyers-to-creditor negotiations. As necessity is the mother of invention, this is the new mode of legal proceedings for the on-flood of lawsuits arising out of desperate credit card consumers vs. desperate merchants all vying for the same piece of pie. The judges of Blair County came up with this idea last month because of the skyrocketing number of local law suits over credit card debt and missed mortgage payments.
Back to the scene: There were so many defendants you could barely find a place to sit, reports Tessa Mentus, a local news reporter, stated on wearecentralpa.com. She remarks that his is just the beginning of this quickly growing model. Right now theyre in the conciliatory phase, which is Phase I. This is where local attorneys try and reconcile credit card settlements, in hopes of ending most of these case at this phase. The formal portion of these hearings involve the Judge as mediator, attorneys for the defendants and attorneys for the loan agencies.
All in all, things went pretty well. Most cases were resolved. One aspect that did pose a problem, however, was the number of defendants who showed up with inadequate paperwork and documentation. Now, these old credit card cases have to be re-scheduled for next month, adding them to a docket of an already-burgeoning caseload. Even though this puts a delay on some of the upcoming cases, the reception of this new breed of court has been met with optimism.