[sevenladders]

Saturday when I arrived home I had one of those cards in the mail because the mailman missed me. I finally got over today to receive it since I had off work and capital one is taking me to court for a balance of 1508.73. My credit card was only like 700$ max I think.

I am low income, I called the legal aid to apply for a lawyer right away, but it will be about a week until I hear anything. I have a few questions:

Can they sue me without delivering a summons?

Can I call and ask for the date (august 14th) to be pushed back so I have time to get a lawyer (hopefully) and meet with him to discuss options?

Should I call and try to negotiate a settlement or is that a bad idea?

A collection agency tried to sue me in October for over 10,000 I had on a chase card and I did get a laywer for that. I am not sure I will be appointed one because they don't have enough for everyone but with that I did receive a summons, so I had time to reply.

And I know I have bad credit, please no lectures. I broke my ankle years ago and was unable to work and pay them. I know that is no excuse but I was young and dumb, wish I would have been smarter.

I am so worried... help please!

[JudyKayTee]

Saturday when i arrived home i had one of those cards in the mail because the mailman missed me. I finally got over today to receive it since i had off of work and capital one is taking me to court for a balance of 1508.73. My credit card was only like 700$ max i think.

I am low income, i called the legal aid to apply for a lawyer right away, but it will be about a week until i hear anything. i have a few questions:

Can they sue me without delivering a summons?

Can i call and ask for the date (august 14th) to be pushed back so i have time to get a lawyer (hopefully) and meet with him to discuss options?

Should i call and try to negotiate a settlement or is that a bad idea?

a collection agency tried to sue me in october for over 10,000 i had on a chase card and i did get a laywer for that. i am not sure i will be appointed one because they dont have enough for everyone but with that i did receive a summons, so i had time to reply.

and i know i have bad credit, please no lectures. i broke my ankle years ago and was unable to work and pay them. i know that is no excuse but i was young and dumb, wish i would have been smarter.

i am so worried...help please!

Please don't direct how your question will be answered. We are all volunteers, trying our best. Maybe you won't like the answer, but this is a public board.

At any rate, yes, that could be the final step of serving you IF it's been served on a responsible adult at your residence on your behalf or IF it's been "nailed" to your door. I'm a process server, by the way.

You can always make a settlement offer. Just be very, very careful what you agree to. If the debt is out of the Statute in your State making a payment will start the clock running again, so to speak, and the Statute won't apply.

The dollar amount might be the charge card plus expenses, interest, late fees.

Is a Court appearance scheduled or something else? I can't tell.

[AK lawyer]

Saturday when i arrived home i had one of those cards in the mail because the mailman missed me. I finally got over today to receive it ...
Can they sue me without delivering a summons?
...

They did deliver the summons. They sent it by certified mail and you signed for it, if I'm understanding correctly. Certified mail is an acceptable method of service in most states.

...
At any rate, yes, that could be the final step of serving you IF it's been served on a responsible adult at your residence on your behalf or IF it's been "nailed" to your door. I'm a process server, by the way. ...

It appears that this is service by mail, not service "in person".

[JudyKayTee]

They did deliver the summons. They sent it by certified mail and you signed for it, if I'm understanding correctly. Certified mail is an acceptable method of service in most states.

It appears that this is service by mail, not service "in person".

Depends on the State - in NY it is served in person. If not, it's called nail and mail. Three attempts at different times of day, "nailed" to door (stuck in door), followed up by regular mail. No need to certify. That perfects service.

Do we know where OP is?

(My life would be easier if I could serve by mail)

[AK lawyer]

Depends on the State -...
...

Certainly.
What I'm talking about is not the "mail" part of what you call "nail and mail". It's something else. We don't have nail and mail.

Depends on the State -...
(My life would be easier if I could serve by mail)

Not having any work to do is easier, except that paying bills can be a problem.

I say this because, in those places which allow service by mail (as an alternative to personal service), if you choose that option you don't need to hire a process server to do it.

[Fr_Chuck]

A lot easier if you could serve my email.

But most likely the service company doing this, knows your law and this would be legal service, many places do just allow certified mail.

And of course what is an attorney suppose to do for you ? Don't you owe it ? And yes 1500 is cheap if you had 700 charged, and yes it can go way over your limit. They start adding late fees, then adding over the limit fees. The only way they will do a settlement is if you can write them a check, if you are going to make payments, they may agree to payments but will want full amount normlly

[AK lawyer]

...
i am so worried...help please!

No need to worry. Worst that could happen is that they get a judgment against you that they probably won't be able to collect. No big deal; happens all the time.

... And of course what is an attorney suppose to do for you ? ...

That's why I wouldn't expect legal aid to help you. They choose their cases. I don't see any reason why they would take a collection case like this. They save their scarce resources for cases in which they can make a difference.