This is all I hear, summons there and summons here. Unlike the house which you can still walk away from in most cases, with severely damaged credit history, delinquent credit card debt will more than often damage your paycheck and liquid assets. If you are gainfully employed, lenders lawyers or debt collectors will eventually summon you to court. Here, I am going to give an idea as of how to answer a credit card debt summons. You must understand that this is not a joke, like a speeding or parking ticket. Ignore a summons at your peril. The court system will chew you up and spit you out, unless you are prepared.

If you received summons for credit card debt, this is not the time to lament on how you get to this point.

1. If you were served with a summons, forget debt validation
A debt validation letter sent to the law firm or collection agency will not stop the court case. This is exactly how NOT to answer a credit card debt summons. The only thing you should do at this point is to write a coherent response on each point of the complaint. If you don’t do it, you automatically lose the case with all the wonderful consequences, including a judgment against you and right for garnishment. And from the day you are served, you only have three, may be four weeks to answer.

Before proceeding further, a very important thing is what court your case is pending. In a Small Claims Court, the pleading requirements are often liberal and the clerk might assist you in filing out a form answer on the spot. If it is a full blown Civil Court then the pleading procedure must be taken very seriously indeed.

2. How to answer a credit card debt summons – look at summons packet
There you should see the following,
– your court date and location
– a certification that you were served and how, e.g in person, by mail
– instructions how to answer the complaint, forms to fill out.
– evidence plaintiff is submitting, like affidavits from the collection agency, even documents from the original
– a list of allegations which constitutes the complaint, even if it is not titled as such it is always there

At this point, you MAY consider to assert a few affirmative defenses in your answer, but only if you have a solid ground to do that,
– were you properly served with a summons
– were the claimed damages properly calculated
– were there any violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act
– does the rate of interest exceed the legal limit
– if someone other than the original creditor is suing you, it must demonstrate that the debt was legally assigned to it by the creditor but now is not the time for such a data validation defence – leave it for court where you can use Statute of Limitations, re aging, Failure of Consideration, Lack of Privity, demand signed paperwork, etc.

3. Answer a credit card debt summons
This is no time to procrastinate. Once the legal proceedings start and courts become involved, you’d better act quickly and answer the complaint by the due date. This is of utmost importance. The three typical responses to an allegation which a summons contains are
– admit the allegation
– deny the allegation
– deny knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the allegation, meaning you don’t know enough to admit or deny it

Thus, once you find the allegation or complaint, you must answer it. You merely reply by stating whether or not you agree with the statements in the complaint and why. Don’t try to run to a different state, there were cases when people who owed a lot did just that only to be found and it cost them much more. Don’t fret too much, you have nothing to lose by answering the complaint, even if you don’t do it exactly right. The vital part is to do quickly, and answer the complaint before the due date. If you do nothing, you automatically lose and the plaintiff will have a judgment against you.

You can type your answer and print it or write on a piece of paper, it does not matter. Use plain English and give clear answer. Depending on the court, you may be supplied with written forms to fill out to provide more details. Your answer should be served on the plaintiff and filed with the court in accordance with local law, rules and practice.

Similar Posts:

Share