I was just served a summons and complaint from one of those collections agencies which have a "legal front" name. I used to work in the legal department of a collections agency, but they still scare me a bit. I have been looking online today and cannot find a format to file a response to the court regarding the complaint. The debt is supposedly under $1,000 and I'm pretty sure the credit card was opened in early 2004, and closed by the end of 2004 when I settled with the credit card company. I figured that it's about to be 2008, so when I moved I threw out the paperwork regarding the settlement. I haven't heard anything about this collection in a LONG time. As a matter of fact, I can't even remember the last time I heard about this account. I tried to call the collection company to discuss the situation, but I was sent to a voicemail which tells me I am calling after hours. (It's 2:40 PM Pacific time and their hours are 8 am-8 pm Pacific time, clearly not after hours.) Then I get transferred to a voicemail which is full. I then tried to e-mail the company and received an undeliverable notice in my inbox. This all sounds pretty shady to me. I just sent out a letter requesting a verification of debt, verification of the last date of activity on the account, and a copy of the original signed contract. What do I do next?

I live in Sacramento, CA.

If you think this is bogus, and you have sent a letter requesting this information, then just sit and what. Or you could contact the credit card company and see what they say.