Hello.
I am in West Virginia. I rec a summons on may 11 stating I had 20 days to respond at the courts office. Here it is, 11 days later. I called and was told my payment options. Never once did she tell me that by agreeing to this that a judgement would be against me. She said call back mon and tell me what you have decided. I called back and stated I would make monthly payments. That was maybe the 15th? On the 29th! I got the payment book and letter. In it, it states that a judgement has been agreed upon and will be filed with my courthouse. Also, my first payment would be due the 31 or I would be in default. BUT I haven't signed the agreement. Does that matter? I have learned that if I agree to pay, or that I owe the debt, then I start the sol over... is this true? They never validated the debt... do they have a right to sue me? How can I get out of this?? She said the only way to avoid a judgement is to pay half now, half next month. I need help before cob today!
Thanks!

Im confused. Did you go to court? What type of debt? Do you owe this debt? Who are you speaking with? A debt collector? Credit card company? Not sure what sol is?

This is a credit card copmany, handled by a law firm. I got the card in 1998 when iwas 18. I quit using it in 1999, and it was turned to collections in 2000. The sol (statute of limitations) is 5 years in wv. I rec a summons. I didn't respond because the lawyers (for them) told me I didn't have to... that agreeing to pay would void the court situation. It didn't. So I went to the courthouse today and filed an answer stating the statute was expired. I do owe this debt. I am not trying to avoid it. The problem is, I connot have a judgement against me. I agreed to repay on the scheduled amount. However, they cannot sue me in court for this, if I understand correctly. Am I right?

You have to go to court for there to be a judgement.

It's a default judgement... they tried to trick me. They told me I didn't have to respond to court. They sent the paperwork so late I only had 1 day to file an answer once I figured out what they were doing. So they purposefully delayed this information coming to me so that they would get a default judgment.

You have 30 days to appeal the judgment, file notice with the court. You have the right to be heard in court facing the plaintiff. DO NOT SIGN THE AGREEMENT. Agreement was pending validication of the alleged debt for your appeal.

:confused: soooo... I responded on the last day to court, and yesterday I got a letter in the mail from court stating to appear sept 28. For the hearing. I have tried finding a lawyer, but no one with answer their phone or call me back! What should I do? Its only a 1200.00 charge, I'm not going to pay a lawyer that much.

If anything, I'm sure that you could go to court, claim naïve ignorance and back pedal a little.[ As for the SOL, I think you can sue them for pursuing a debt beyond the SOL. Look at this website: Debt Validation: The ultimate weapon against the collection agencies There is info there about how to sue for violation of the FDCPA (fair debt collecting practices act). You can present that to a judge in court, and even if you do get a default judgement against you, you should be able to appeal it on those grounds.

Good Luck!/FONT]