Taken to court by credit card company

[rachaelc]

I recieved my summons today from a legal firm on behalf of a credit card company to appear in court for non payment.
I owe about 10,000. My husband and I have not been able to resume making payment since he lost work last year. He just started back to work. We are just getting our 3 rd paycheck. We have not been able to quite catch up on utilitities, hopefully this month. We are not bad people, just have not had time to get our feet up and running again to stabilize our finances yet.
Anyone else out there have the same or similar experience? How did it go for you? What would you do different if anything this time? Thanks for your time

Rachael C

 

[debilorrah]

If you make a payment of $10 a month, it shows good faith effort and they cannot come after you. They will try. Get plenty of Tums. Been there done that! It is a HORRID experience too. If they call and say anything harassing, that is also illegal. Considering the economy, 10 grand is pretty small.

 

[BarkerChickens]

 

[sune42]

Quote:
Sadly this is not true for credit card companies.

They are either going to garnish your wages or put a lien on your home, depending on your state. If it's garnishment, they can only do a %, not sure what that is though. Why did you not do bankruptcy? They have the repayment kind now that helps structure everything and keep this from happening. Make sure you show up at the summons. I am not sure if explaining your situation will do any good, but it's worth a try. Nothing will be done for you if you don't show up. You might be able to get an income based atty. Where I am we have the United Way, they would point you in the right direction. Not sure if you have something like that or not.

 

[rachaelc]

Quote:
Sadly this is not true for credit card companies.

They are either going to garnish your wages or put a lien on your home, depending on your state. If it's garnishment, they can only do a %, not sure what that is though. Why did you not do bankruptcy? They have the repayment kind now that helps structure everything and keep this from happening. Make sure you show up at the summons. I am not sure if explaining your situation will do any good, but it's worth a try. Nothing will be done for you if you don't show up. You might be able to get an income based atty. Where I am we have the United Way, they would point you in the right direction. Not sure if you have something like that or not.

I will try to find a lawyer to assist us. As for bankruptcy or debt consolidation, we just have barely had the money to make mortgage and keep utilities on...its necessary to make 2-5hundred dollar a month payments regularly and we are not that stable yet. We had our home loan modified so we could keep our payments up on our house. I will compile documentation of our past years difficulties etc. I will go to the county tomorrow to file that I will appear in court. Appreciate the feedback!
Rachael

 

[WalkingWolf]

Quote:
Sadly this is not true for credit card companies.

They are either going to garnish your wages or put a lien on your home, depending on your state. If it's garnishment, they can only do a %, not sure what that is though. Why did you not do bankruptcy? They have the repayment kind now that helps structure everything and keep this from happening. Make sure you show up at the summons. I am not sure if explaining your situation will do any good, but it's worth a try. Nothing will be done for you if you don't show up. You might be able to get an income based atty. Where I am we have the United Way, they would point you in the right direction. Not sure if you have something like that or not.

This is not true for any creditor, though it does help when and if you go to court. Most times though the credit card company will find themselves on the losing end if you do not have the resources. Most judges will punish them for wasting the courts time trying to drain blood from a turnip.

You can file for bankruptcy and if you notify them that you are filing they must back off by federal law. If they do not back off they face fines and jail time.

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

Quote:
Unfortunately making even a good faith effort of payment is no longs enough. Several months ago I recieved a summons for nonpayment of a hospital bill that I have been paying on for over a year. I paid $25/per month to this not for profit establishment but they deemed the amount not to their satisfation and sent me to collections. I continued to make my payment to the collection company, but they still summoned me to court for nonpayment.
At the time, I did not have money for a lawyer, so I wrote my own response to the summons and filed it with the court with in the time frame they required. After the agency received my response they called to say they would except my $25 for three months then renegotiate. After that time was up they petitoned the court to rule on the summons....I am still waiting......that was at the end of April.

This is an example of what I submitted to the court. Exibit B was an itemised list of all my income and all my bills, it showed a balance of $0 left when everything was paid.
Be sure to answer each complaint individually and in order.
Hope this helps.

STATE OF MONTANA GREGORY P MOHL
JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
COUNTY OF RICHLAND COURT FILE NO.




PLAINTIFF DEFENDANT'S ANSWER

VS. TO
PLAINTIFF'S COMPLAINT
DEFENDANT





ANSWER

Comes the Defendant, Your name , and for his answer to the Complaint filed herein against him states as follows:

1. Defendant specifically denies the allegations contained in paragraph one of the Complaint filed herein against him.

2. Defendant specifically denies the allegations contained in paragraph two of the Complaint filed here against him, specifically, allegations 1, 2 and 3.

3. Defendant specifically denies each and every allegation of the complaint not specifically admitted herein.

4. Defendant specifically pleads the following defenses: With the advent of an emergency visit to the Sidney Health Center, I have accumulated numerous medical costs, of which I have not received a statement for from the Plaintiff. I have continuously made monthly payments to the Plaintiff and have pleaded with them to make manageable monthly arrangements based on my ability to pay. I have offered to work out a payment plan that would achieve both our goals and have been refused each time unless I unduly stress my credit. I have been asked to apply for a loan, which I know will be denied based on my debt to loan ration and have explained this to the Plaintiff. At no time have I refused my obligation to rectify any debt I may have inccured as a result of an unexpected emergency room visit and any debt incurred thereafter. Therefore, I believe this action against me is unnecessary and not a matter to be taken up by the court system.

5. Defendant reserves the right to plead further and reserves objections.

6. Defendant asks the court to dismiss this action against him based on the above comments. Furthermore, the Defendant prays the court will direct the Plaintiff to willing negociate an affordable payment plan based on his disposable income, see Exhibit “B”. Also, the Defendant asks the court to instruct the Plaintiff to send an itemized statement of any and all debts he may have in their control. The Defendant prays the court to require the Plaintiff to pay the cost of answering this summons/complain in the following amounts:
Filing Fee-$20.00
Certified Mail- $8.00.

The Defendant respectfully asks the court to review a financial statement as attached in Exhibit “B” demonstrating monthly resources.



WHEREFORE, Defendant prays that the Complaint filed herein against him be dismissed; for his costs herein expended; and for any and all other just and proper relief.






This needs to be on the right side ____________________________, Pro Se
Your name
Address
Phone number



CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE


I hereby certify that I have this ____ day of _______________, 2009, served William O. Bronson, PLLC, PO Box 3485 Great Falls, Montana 59403, with the foregoing Answer by placing same in the U. S. Mail with sufficient postage attached.
_this needs to be on the right side ____________________________
Your Name

 

[rachaelc]

Very nice response you set up. I appreciate you taking the time to share that with me and hopefully others who might be in the same spot. I have 28 days now to respond, so I will do serious work over the next few days to get a plan in hand. Thanks again!!!
Rachael C
mother of all

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Please excuse my ignorance, but can any company take you to court for any amount of debt? I have bills varying from $100-$300 from three different companies. I make small $5 payments when I can. I doubt it's enough. I keep trying to make payments in rotations and pay off as I go along. Not a fun thing.


I'll be thinking of you and praying for a good outcome on this one. Keep positive thoughts!

 

[PurpleChicken]

Laws in every state vary.

On a debt of $10,000 they will take you to court and win. If you show up the judge will award them a low weekly payment. In CT the max is $35 weekly. If you do not show up for court they automatically win and can proceed to garnish wages.

A debt of $10k, while I'm sure is distressing for you, can easily be managed.

Bankruptcy over a $10k debt is a ridiculous suggestion.

Do not ignore this. Go to court and tell the judge your situation. You are not alone. Millions are in the same position.