So my boyfriend is active duty Air Force and this whole situation has been stressing us both out. Back in 2018 he financed a car for $13k through some consumer finance place at 22.99% interest. In 2020 he was getting ready to ship out for basic and voluntarily gave the car back because he was behind on payments and couldn’t keep up with it.
He shipped to basic in June 2020. What we found out TODAY is that while he was literally in basic training, this company filed a civil claim against him in Virginia General District Court. Summons was issued July 2nd 2020. Hearing was August 20th 2020. He was in basic the whole time and never received anything, they used some third party process server. Default judgment got entered December 17th 2020 for around $8k total including attorney fees.
Fast forward to today and a collections company calls his commanding officer, not even him, about this debt. On top of that they sent a document showing his debt directly to his chain of command so now multiple people in his unit know about his financial situation. He had no idea any of this was even happening until his commander brought it to him today.
Now they’re claiming he owes $18,000 because of interest building since the judgment.
He has official paperwork documenting his June 2020 ship date.
He doesn’t have a lawyer yet. Is this an SCRA violation? Is contacting his commander and sending debt documents to his chain of command illegal under FDCPA? Can the judgment be vacated? Is a countersuit worth pursuing?
Any help appreciated because we’re both pretty overwhelmed right now.
LOCATION: Virginia