Summoned to court over debt & collection agency settlement?

Question

I recently received a summon to court over old debt with Providian (they demand $3000).

Couple of days later I got a settlement letter from collection agency that suing me. But they do not mention lawsuit there. It just says they will close out the account if I pay settlement amount. (which is $1000 lower then amount they are suing me for)

What are my options ?

What happens if I go for settlement before the court date ? Is my case going to get dismissed ? Any ideas what might happen ? Or any suggestions how to deal with it ?

My SOL expired Sept.2006, but it looks like they have filed lawsuit in Jul 2006, but my court date is in March. Is SOL rules apply to filing day or court date ?

Answer 1

The SOL applies to the filing date as it may take months to get an actual court date.

If the settlement is valid, and you pay it that should be enough to show in court to have the suit dismissed. Most settlements have a date you have to pay by, so if that date has passed then that settlement is no longer valid. But there is nothing that says you can't try to settle before your court date. Call the Collection agency or attorney and offer a settlement, a lot of times they would much rather just take a settlement than go to court. However, at this stage in the game expect them to want a full payment.

Answer 2

if you reach a settlement in writing--- show up for court any way. Many times they will and I have seen this give you a settlement offer --collect the settlement then get a default judgment against you since you did not show up in court with the documents in hand. The collection companies may never tell the atty that they have settled the matter and then you are paying the judgment as well.