summons to court question?

Question

I was given a summons to court yesterday for wells fargo for an account that I owe I have owed them for over 3 yrs i have been unable to pay them because of financial difficulties and i don't have a job at the moment what can they do to me if I don't have any money to pay them i have filed my answer with the court i just don't know what to do and also will other companies do this also that i owe i just need some advice from someone who has been through this thanks

I only owe 700 dollars and I don't have a court date which i thought was odd

Answer 1

They will win the judgment against you. Judgments are good for 10 years and can be renewed. With the judgment they can attach your bank account, garnish your wages, or attach your property. Even if you don't have it now, they can come after it in the future.

Yes, other creditors can also take you to court and get judgments. Creditors are becoming more aggressive in going to court instead of just writing it off as bad debt.

Judgments also put another ding in your credit score. If you ever are in a position to buy a house, the mortgage company will require you to settle all judgments before you can get the mortgage.

If you need assistance in putting your financial house in order, check nfcc.com. They offer counseling free of charge. They also have debt management programs and other services without up front fees.

Answer 2

The lesson is that you should pay your debts and not order something unless you can pay for it.You certainly could have paid $10 a week or so. You say that you owe $700. if that is the original charge wait until you see the accrued interest.

You could declare bankruptcy, but I would not recommend it if all you owe is $700.

Wells Fargo will be able to obtain a judgment. Your assets such as a car or TV could be taken by them. Your salary probably would be garnished when you had a job again.

Answer 3

If you have any assets, like a car or bank account, they might be able to seize them to pay what you owe. Otherwise if they get a judgement against you, they can just hold it until you DO have a job and garnish your wages then, or until you DO have assets and seize them.

Answer 4

"WARRANT IN DEBT" aka a summons First step to garnishment

In order to get a garnishment, a creditor has to take you to court and win. Taking you to court starts with sending you court papers. Those court papers are usually called a "warrant in debt" here in Virginia.

(They have to take you to court in Virginia if you live in Virginia. You should keep that in mind when you get threat letters from lawyers. A lawyer in Atlanta GA probably doesn't come to Virginia to take people to court. A lawyer in Rockville MD probably does. A lawyer in Richmond VA does almost for sure.)

The way you get a warrant in debt is for the sheriff to come around and tape it to your door. The creditor will sometimes also mail you a copy. The warrant in debt will have a return date which is your first court date.



YOUR FIRST COURT DATE

If you admit you owe the money or don't show up on your first court date, they get a judgment. Ten days after the judgment, then they can get the garnishment.

Around here, most people don't show up for their court date, so they automatically plead guilty to owing the debt. Ignoring court papers is usually not a good idea, and especially not in Virginia where the judges don't lose sleep over whether you really knew about your court date.

Most people who do show up for court, just plead guilty.

The judge says, "do you owe this money?"

"Yes, but I can't pay it right now."

Judge, "OK, you can discuss it with that lawyer after court."

Do that, and you just pled guilty! The ONLY judge who cares about whether you can pay is a bankruptcy judge. Bankruptcy judges worry full time about whether you can pay, so the other judges don't have to worry about it at all. And they don't.

If you go to court on a warrant in debt you should tell the judge you are not admitting you owe they money and you need time to talk about it with a lawyer. Some judges will really crowd you to just plead guilty, but if you stand your ground they can't make you.

YOUR TRIAL

If you show up for your first court date, don't plead guilty and ask for a trial, you'll get a trial date a month or two later. At the trial you need to stop the creditor from proving that you owe the money.

The creditor's lawyer probably appears in that court on hundreds or thousands of cases each year. You're there for the first time. That gives you an idea of what your chances are of winning if you show up without a lawyer.

THE GARNISHMENT

Ten days after your trial--or ten days after you plead guilty--the creditor can get a garnishment. There isn't another court hearing on whether you should be garnished, the lawyer just walks down the hall to the clerk's office and signs a paper.

That paper is called a garnishment summons. The garnishment summons has a return date, but that return date is not a date for you to tell the judge you don't owe the money or can't afford to pay. The return date is the day your employer or bank is supposed to turn in the money.

From the clerk's office, one copy of the garnishment summons goes to your bank or employer, one copy goes to you. Nobody cares whether you get your copy before your payroll office or bank gets theirs.

This is what I meant when I told you in the beginning real garnishments can come without warning. There are lots of steps leading up to the garnishment, but when it finally hits, it hits without warning.

The garnishment summons tells your payroll office to take one-quarter of your pay and make plans to send it into court on the return date. The garnishment summons tells your bank to take your whole bank account, including everything that you deposit between now and the return date, and make plans to send that in.

Obviously, as soon as you know a garnishment is coming, you need to stop direct deposit of your paycheck. That's because they only can take one quarter of your pay (that's bad enough), but they can take the whole check once it hits your bank.

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

If you are anywhere on this page, you really need to talk to a lawyer.

Fifteen million Americans filed bankruptcy in the last ten years. The reason is, for most people, bankruptcy works. For most people bankruptcy means they can't call you, they can't garnish you, and in three years you can be back to good credit.

Answer 5

when you find out let me know.. they repo'd my car about a year ago.. so i am sure they will be coming after me sooner or later!

but, more than likely you will be set up on a wage garnishment or in your case you will have to sign some sort of promissory to re-pay!