Hi, if you fell behind on your credit card payments after you had thyroid surgery, and on SSI, and have no other assets, don't own a car, home or bank account. Your SSI goes direct deposit, & a debt collection agency that is suing you is asking for proof of your being on SSI, is it wise to send a copy of your award letter and a letter explaining your hardship like they requested. I am somewhat hesitant of doing this. What should I do?

Being on SSI does not mean that you are judgement proof. It means that they will not be able to garnish your income to obtain payment. If the collection agency was smart, they would not waste the time or money to take you to court. However, if they choose to do so, then you will either need to go to court and make a plea to the judge, or accept the default judgement that they will never be able to collect on. Good luck.

Thank-you for that. I meant to say my income is judgement or collection proof. Yes, you are right about the collection agency wasting their time or money to take me to court. I will see what happens. I did go to court to answer the complaint and got a court date. So, we will see what develops.

The issue to consider is "are your current assets ever going to change?" A judgement is good for 10 years plus another 10 for automatic renewal. So unless you never plan to earn regular income or own property, you are not actually "judgement proof"

Thanks for that.