What happens now? In court?

Question

Some company just called me regarding my Credit Card that I havent made payments to in forever. I think at this point, it was a legal firm, not a collection agency. They said they were going to recommend I go to court. What happens next????? I'm scared. What can I do?

They said they wont offer any payment plan at this point

Answer 1

If they do take you to court, usually they will garnish your paycheck. Which can be up to 25% BEFORE taxes.

You will also be charged for court fees and lawyer costs.

Try seeing if you can send them any money at all to try and keep it out of court. Even a settlement is better on your credit than when they take you to court.

Answer 2

You have explained why they wont offer a payment plan at this point. You indicated you were talking to a legal firm and not the collection agency. Now that a lawyer is involved he wants to get his cut. Obviously if you have talked to them he has spent some amount of time on this collection.

The way I would handle this is to start making regular payments to the credit card company or the collection agency it turned your account over to. Sit back and hope that this takes a while to get put on a courtroom docket sheet and that you have several payments under your belt when you do enter a courtroom.

All that is going to happen if you do end up in a courtroom is that the judge will order you to pay your bill plus any applicable attorney fees, which are usually very high. If you have failed past agreements to pay back what you owe he might garnish your wages. If you have never had an agreement with the collection agency to repay the dept it might be possible to convince the judge to allow you to set one up. At this point it really depends upon the judges attitude toward you. and dept in general. If he has a thing against people who fail to pay their bills you will get a a judgement against you for a garnishment. If he has any sympathy at all he will allow you to set up the payment plan.

If it takes a while for this to go to court and you have made regular payments while waiting you might be able to convince your creditor to drop the case, on the condition that you will continue to repay on a regular schedule.

In addition: If you had reached the SOL on this debt it is very unlikely that a collection agency would have turned it over to a lawyer. They know the laws and so do lawyers. Which means if you had reached the SOL on this debt the lawyer wouldn't have even taken the case. Most lawyers won't risk wasting their time on a case they will most likely lose.

Answer 3

Depending on how much you owe. The judge will make a point that you must pay by a deadline or it will be a possible jail sentence (the length depends on how much you owe). Make sure you can get the money you owe. Or settle an agreement with the company (monthly payments) if the amount is too much to pay at once (of course, interest will be considered). Basically you are taken to court in order to find a feasible solution on how to pay them back. You wouldn't think they would just stop sending the bill...the more you don't pay, over time you have to pay way more...

Answer 4

First of all, don't make any deals over the phone. The company that called you could be scamming. Still, if you haven't been making payments interest has been compounding. I would call the credit card company directly if possible (often, once it goes to collections the original debtor doesn't want to deal with it) and tell them you intend to pay the bill but need to work out a payment schedule and you need them to get the collectors off your back.
Either that or file bankruptsy. Or, continue to dodge collectors for 7 years (it might be 10).

Answer 5

What is happening is that your wages are about to be garnished. The collection agancy has turned your account over to a legal firm that will go into civil court and get a judgement against you for the balance due on your credit account + interest+ legal fees.
Here is the really bad news, your place of employment by law has no choice but to withhold from your wages and submit the withheld amount to the courts. You are guaranteed only min wage be released to you by your employer. granishments typically run 6 months in length or til balance is pd in full.(whichever comes first) If the balance is not pd in full by the end of the 6mo. your creditors may go back to court and get another garnishment- good luck

Answer 6

Sometimes they try to scare you.
How long has it been since you made a payment? You said it was in forever.
If you haven't made a single payment on it (It's what they call the "last activity" on the account -- which means the last activity made by YOU and not by THEM) then you might be ok.

The statute of limitations is usually four years on it. So if you haven't made even one payment for four years on it, then they can't do anything to you at all. Don't even admit that it's your debt after that.

But if you make even one payment on it then the time starts all over again.

But if it's bad news and it hasn't been four years yet, then they could just take you to court and the court could tell you to start paying on it, depending upon what state you live in.

Answer 7

First of all do a simple online search to find out your states statute of limitations in collecting credit cards debts (some states use open account some use written account law) , if it's past that time do not worry they can't sue you no matter what, just let them know in a written letter it is past the SOL, also check out your states bankruptcy exemptions (the same exemptions apply to credit card litigation) they may not even be able to garnish wages in your state. Do some online search, find out the facts, and no matter what, do not worry THEY WILL AT SOME POINT ACCEPT PAYMENTS OR SETTLEMENT, better that then they end up with nothing.

Answer 8

"The judge will make a point that you must pay by a deadline or it will be a possible jail sentence (the length depends on how much you owe)"

Oh please ... there is no such thing as debtors prison.

If they are serious about suing you, they will file papers and you will be served with them.

Do not deal with anyone over the phone. Get everything in writing.

Of course they will make a deal with you. They are just playing hardball. Try to get them to accept an offer in compromise. They may have bought your debt for pennies on the dollar, depending on how old it is.

Answer 9

Sounds like you've let this get out of hand. You need to contact the collection agency and providing you can, try and arrange some kind of repayment plan. The fact that you've made the effort (and if you can at least pay something) then it shouldn't go to court.

Answer 10

If you owe money to the card and have stopped making your payments the only thing you can do is offer to create a payment plan and stick to it.

If they don't want to do that and they take you to court, you will have to pay it anyway, but maybe all at once.

Answer 11

Like one or two posters pointed out - you need to find out the statute of limitations (SOL) in your state !!!

If you are out of SOL, you are not legally bound to pay the debt. If you are out of SOL, it would be illegal for them to sue you. But, that probably would not stop them from trying. They do it all of the time since many people are not aware of their SOL or that it is illegal to be sued if the debt is past SOL.

If that phone call was the first time you have heard from that collection agency or lawyer, they have 5 days to send you a dun in writing. If they don't, that is a violation.

Order your credit reports and see if they are listed on them. If they are, see if they are reporting violations (I'm sure they are)

Wait 5 days then send them a debt validation letter. Then, after 35 days, whether you receive a response or not, and you "know" for sure you are out of SOL, send them a SOL letter.

Be sure to dispute the inaccurate info on your reports.

If you do all of that and they still sue, you will have them on so many violations that when you file counterclaims against them and they will probably slink away.

You might go to the site I've listed and do some reading in the newbie forum and then the credit forum. Learn your rights and learn how to deal with that company.