Ask Me Help Desk - Received Summons

To make a long story short, I had to make a choice, it was the house against the credit cards and well the credit cards lost.

I received a summons from a lawyer for credit card debt. The amount owed is heavily padded, about $1700 higher than the limit was on the card, and it was not maxed before I stoppped paying. I am not denying I owed them money, but not what they are stating.

I called the court issuing the summons and the clerk told me I would need to file a response and then she used the words "be careful how you answer". Now I am totally paranoid. I would like them to verify how they are getting to the balance they are showing. I don't even know if it's worth it, since they are the first of many I assume will be coming after me.

Does anyone know the "right" way to respond, thank you in advance.

April

My first question would be what state is the debt for then my second question would be how old is the debt. The reason I ask is there are two different ways to handle this. First, if the debt is old it may be pass the statues of limitations. If the debt is current debt my advice would be to contact the attorney and try to work out a payment plan.

The "padded amount" may be late fees and over the limit fees along with attorney fees.

Quote:

Originally Posted by screwedin08

To make a long story short, I had to make a choice, it was the house against the credit cards and well the credit cards lost.

I received a summons from a lawyer for credit card debt. The amount owed is heavily padded, about $1700 higher than the limit was on the card, and it was not maxed before I stoppped paying. I am not denying I owed them money, but not what they are stating.

I called the court issuing the summons and the clerk told me I would need to file a response and then she used the words "be careful how you answer". Now I am totally paranoid. I would like them to verify how they are getting to the balance they are showing. I don't even know if it's worth it, since they are the first of many I assume will be coming after me.

Does anyone know the "right" way to respond, thank you in advance.

April

The extra amount is fees, costs, interest. Not the least bit unusual.

Statute could be a defense - the Statute varies from State to State.

If you want to delay the hearing you can ask for verification of the debt, information like that. Maybe - if you're really lucky - they won't be able to locate anything. If they do, it has cost you time and it has cost them time.

I am never happy when I hear the Court Clerks have given legal advice, although I don't know that she did. You may have thought that the "inflated" total was a defense and she may have been warning you that it's frivolous and will not make the Judge happy if you use it.

My feeling is that the Attorney has now put time - which is money - into this and is not going to talk settlement with you. If you want to talk settlement do you have cash on hand to make a one-time, pay it all payment? I can't imagine that the Attorney will take payments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

The extra amount is fees, costs, interest. Not the least bit unusual.

Statute could be a defense - the Statute varies from State to State.

If you want to delay the hearing you can ask for verification of the debt, information like that. Maybe - if you're really lucky - they won't be able to locate anything. If they do, it has cost you time and it has cost them time.

I am never happy when I hear the Court Clerks have given legal advice, although I don't know that she did. You may have thought that the "inflated" total was a defense and she may have been warning you that it's frivolous and will not make the Judge happy if you use it.

My feeling is that the Attorney has now put time - which is money - into this and is not going to talk settlement with you. If you want to talk settlement do you have cash on hand to make a one-time, pay it all payment? I can't imagine that the Attorney will take payments.

The attorney is not required to give verification of debt to you as much as to the court now that you have been summoned. I would write a certified letter of motion of discovery to the court and copy the attorney. This will require the attorney to have to bring orignal documents with him/her to court. I don't completely agree that the attorney would not be willing to make arrangements to have the debt paid. They more motions he/she files the more money it costs. However, at the end of the day you know your money flow better than anyone.