On Saturday evening, my son received a civil summons for a credit card debt my husband and I had with Capitol One. The summons was served via a processor; my son says he did not sign for it. As the debt is valid, the amount is not. The summons came from Capitol One's attorney. At this point, I am unsure if we need to contact them directly as certain websites say that is not the thing to do since it has already been turned over to the courts. I did speak to a relative who is an attorney who advised us to contact the attorney for Capitol One and work out some sort of payment plan. We defaulted on the credit cards when it came down to either paying them or putting food on the table and tanking both of our cars for work 2-3 times a week as he works 50+ miles from home and needs to have a car at his disposal and I worked 35+ miles from work and also had to take our children to school as they attended a high school about 15 min. from where I worked. In addition, I was recently severed from my job. Could someone please offer some advise? Thank you.

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Originally Posted by ccc3082

On Saturday evening, my son received a civil summons for a credit card debt my husband and I had with Capitol One. The summons was served via a processor; my son says he did not sign for it. As the debt is valid, the amount is not. The summons came from Capitol One's attorney. At this point, I am unsure if we need to contact them directly as certain websites say that is not the thing to do since it has already been turned over to the courts. I did speak to a relative who is an attorney who advised us to contact the attorney for Capitol One and work out some sort of payment plan. We defaulted on the credit cards when it came down to either paying them or putting food on the table and tanking both of our cars for work 2-3 times a week as he works 50+ miles from home and needs to have a car at his disposal and I worked 35+ miles from work and also had to take our children to school as they attended a high school about 15 min. from where I worked. In addition, I was recently severed from my job. Could someone please offer some advise? Thank you.

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You do not have to sign when service of process is made - the server files the Affidavit and that's that.

I don't know what you mean by service by a processor.

Unfortunately, inability to pay is not a legal excuse. Yes, I would contact Capital One and see if you can work out a payment arrangement but keep in mind that they very well may proceed to Judgment to guarantee that they will be paid rather than have the statute run.

A Judgment can be filed but a payment schedule honored.

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Originally Posted by ccc3082

Could someone please offer some advise? Thank you.

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Hello ccc:

Judy is right. Even if they accept your payment plan, they'll probably still get a judgment. So, if you were to miss a payment, or even be late by a day, they'll be able to seize your bank accounts and start garnishing your husbands wages... Plus, you'll have a judgment on your credit report, which is worse than just having the account charged off.

So, instead of contacting the lawyer with a sob story - he doesn't care - I'd try to come up with some cash for a settlement... You mentioned the amount was wrong, but I'll bet it's what they're going get PLUS some more for going to court. It's not unusual for a debt to double by the time an attorney get done with it...

The good news, is if you can come up some cash, you can probably settle for LESS than you originally owed.

excon