I am going to court on Monday, Jan 11, 2014. I am sued by Capital One. I am on SDI and I cannot pay them. I can barely afford to pay my bills. Sometimes I get help with utilities from my church. Can the creditor take my home or my car? My car is paid off. My home still has a mortgage.

I'm quite nervous about the upcoming court date. I feel that things are bad enough without having to worry about trying to pay for an old debt from 6 or 7 years ago. The limit on the credit card was $1500. Now with fees, they want over $3,000. Robbery!

What can I do? I cannot afford to hire an attorney.

Where do you get this as robbery? You signed an agreement to allow you to make purchases on credit. This means you agreed to borrow the money and pay it back with interest. You reneged on that agreement. If anyone is guilty of robbery its you, not the lender you borrowed from. Interest and fees can easily cause a balance to double over 6 or 7 years.

However, if the debt is very old the statute of Limitations may have passed. Since you don't indicate your location (any question on law needs to include your general locale as laws vary by area) we can't tell. And if the court accepted the case it is likely to still be within the SOL. Depending on local laws your house is likely to be safe, but they might try to seize the car if they get a judgment.


So you go to court and make sure they can prove the debt. You are probably judgment proof, but you will need to be careful about not keeping money in the bank.

I will have to agree, robbery, you took 1500 of their money and never paid it back. So who is robbing who ? I could go into bibical morals of debt and repayment, but we do not go religious on legal boards.

They have a legal right to expect repayment, and can charge late fees and interest in the amount allowed by the contract you agreed to.

At the time, you used the card, what was the intent to repay, Over the lat 7 years, has any attempt been made to repay them ?

But at the judgement they will win. Depending on location, they may get a lien on the home, but can not do anyhitng but wait till the house is sold, to get their money.

You own a home and a car, which is far more than many people these days. I can't believe you aren't taking in lodgers/roommates instead of taking money from your church. Take out an equity line of credit, negotiate the fees and interest (try to get it back down close to the original amount you charged) and PAY it.

Old debt or not, circumstances beyond your control or not, they have a right to their money by contract and walking away without cutting a deal, or filing bankruptcy was a huge mistake because your options will be severely limited after they have a lawful judgment against you. If they cannot garnish your wages, a lien on home or property is likely, or any future income.

Likely this is but a first step to a process of collection.