They say they are not a debt collector although they swear in court that they did not buy the debt from american express, that american express hired them... after 2 years of different debt collectors calling, and writing... now him... been to court, pretrial date is set, although in a motion to compel last week, the judge said he'd take it under advice meant... (meaning to see if Gary H. Kreppel has answered all the discovery) he would render a decision in 30 days... but my pretrial is already set... can I change that... plus funny as it is I have jury duty the same day.. at the same court... help

If they were hired by Amex, then they ARE a debt collection agency, and must abide by Title 8 law.

Now that you are being sued, I HIGHLY recommend that you get an attorney to represent you.

Alternatively, you could offer a settlement (try 40%) and see if that will make them happy and drop the suit.

As for the dates, make sure that the court knows that you are scheduled for jury duty on the date of the pretrial. They'll either relieve you of the jury duty or move the pretrial... that would be up to the court.

I know, If I had the money to hire an attorney I would... I'm getting good help... did the discovery and a motion to compel, when to court on my motion and the judge said he would take the matter under advisement and have an answer in 30 days... but the pretrial is next week... and he has not made a judgement as of yet. So I have no way of knowing going into the pretrial if the other party has to come forth with the answers to the questions I have asked. Long story... this debt is in my name only... I am not on any legal forms... house car or any assets... I have no job, and no way of paying anyway... what would happen if amx wins.. and I can't pay.

Ok, what if they award Gary H. Kreppels office, and I have no bank account, no assets, and this card is in my name only... they gave me credit with out a job... back in the 90's as a stay at home mom... I'm not on any legal doc's... house, car, land... anything... what happens then?

If you have no job, no bank account, etc. and they win a judgment against you, it will still be bad: A judgment against you will make it hard to get a job, a loan, a credit card, etc.

Sure, they won't be able to collect $$ today, but it will haunt you for many years. They can renew the judgment every 7 years or so if they wish, which would mean that the judgment would haunt you for a long long time.

Consider bankruptcy.