Credit card lawsuit- If i can make a settlement agreement with the collection company,will they drop the case?

Question

I was served papers and i have about 12 days before I need to give my "ANSWER". If the collection company accepts my settlement offer in the next few days, will i still have to give an Answer to the court?

Answer 1

I agree with 120443 and Kris.
And in my opinion, Kris posted a great answer and gave an excellent example of why you should never trust a collector and you should do everything in writing when dealing with them.

Even if you make an agreement with them, file an answer to the summons. If you fail to file an answer because you made an agreement with them, they may (and probably will) continue with the suit which will give them a default judgment against you.

If you make an agreement with them, take a copy of that agreement with their signature in it to the court clerk and request that it be filed in your case file. If you fail to do that, or depend on them to do it (which they probably will not do) they may (and probably will) continue with the suit and get a default judgment against you.

Check the collecting SOL for your state. If you are past the collecting SOL include an affirmative defense of SOL in your answer.
You would be making the point that the account is no longer legally collectible.

You need to use your states rules of civil procedure (RCP) when writing up your answer. If you are past the collecting SOL and use the affirmative defense, you would need to cite your states SOL statutes.
You might click on my profile and click on the last link I have listed. It is a totally free to use credit discussion board where you will be able to find links to your RCP, learn your states SOL, get an idea on how to write an answer, etc.

Answer 2

If you received a summons, you must answer that summons! If you have a bonified settlement agreement and a paid receipt, take it to the court and show them as proof the account has been settled in full. You still may be liable for certain court/sheriff fees.

Answer 3

Yes, you still need to respond to the courts. I had been paying on an account. They would not work with the lousy debt settlement place I was trying to use at that time. Mind you, I was making HUGE payments to them. I mean TONS more than what they would have even gotten as a minimum payment.

Well after months of paying and being in constant communication with them, they decided to sue me anyways and I can honestly tell you I was never late with one payment, nothing ever bounced and I was always calling my account manager as they are called.

Well they decided to sue me right around Christmas last year (Merry Christmas, huh?) so I had to prove to the courts that I had been paying them and all that and I sent all the proof I had to them that I had been working with them and the current balance since they were trying to sue me for about $3000.00 more than I actually owed them as well.

The courts ended up turning it over to a mediator but in the mean time I was rip roaring mad and dealt with every manager you can imagine at this debt collection agency and they finally called off their lawyer who represents my state and they filed a "conditional dismissal judgment" meaning I signed the judgment saying I would keep paying and they would only reopen the case to continue on for judgment if I stopped paying.

Well they tried to start that again when I went to file bankruptcy after the debt settlement place did not work for me. But when I filed bankruptcy, it also wipes out that "conditional judgment" that was filed with teh courts and not even listed on my credit reports yet. With filing bankruptcy they were forever barred from collecting on that debt and from trying to sue me for that debt anylonger.

SO yes answer the courts or you could end up in worse shape because who knows if this company will even notify the courts.

Plus, the only way I found out I was being sued was by keeping track of my monthly statements and I noticed strange fees being tacked on by the collection agency so when I called them and asked them why they told me "oh...looks like we are suing you and the papers have been filed with the courts. You should be getting served any day".....yeah what jerks.

People can call me a jerk for not paying off all my debts and having to declare bankruptcy but when I was draining every penny I had to give it to these people and trying to get out of debt...they were the jerks for suing me even though I was working with them.

Answer 4

IF YOU HAVE THE CASH SETTLE WITH THEM NOW, START AT HALF, GOING TO COURT AND WINNING IS HALF THE BATTLE FOR THEM SO START AT HALF. THREATEN BANKRUPTCY ON THEM AFTER THE COURT HEARING.

Answer 5

maybe and maybe not.