I had someone come to my house to give me a court order to appear regarding an unpaid account. I believe it was charged off. I think it is a collection agency or firm attempting to collect $1,700, most of it is interest charges. Should I go to court and ask for a lesser payback or deal with the company itself. I have 20 days to respond. I need a good advice.
2007-09-26 20:08:58 · 6 answers · asked by Den B 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
If your in california and it is 3+ years old they can pound sand. but if you have a court summons and not show you can lose a judgement. especially if your under the 3 year mark.
whats odd is $1,700.00 is small claims... either way not paying blows your credit to hell. Since your asking this question it probably didn't have to be blown far.
2007-09-26 20:25:03 · answer #1 · answered by isquirtsalot 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The best advice I can give you is this: Consult with an attorney! Do it NOW!
You MUST respond to the summons IN WRITING with the court or the plaintiff WILL get a default judgment in their favor. If you just show up in court without filing your response with the court, they will get the default judgment. The exception to this is if it's Small Claims Court. You don't need to file responses for SCC actions but you will need to appear on the day.
FYI, court isn't the place to negotiate for a lower amount! The plaintiff will only need to satisfy the judge that the debt is legitimate and that the SOL does not apply to get a judgment against you for the full amount. The judge will not entertain any requests from you for a lesser amount unless you present evidence in court that a lesser debt is the correct amount that you owe.
If you wish to negotiate a lower payoff you'll need to do that with the plaintiff BEFORE you go to court AND get them to drop the court case. Keep in mind that they've put up out of pocket costs for the suit and that will be added to the amount that they are suing you for.
You need to act quickly on this! It's possible that the debt has gone past the statute of limitations and is legally uncollectible. However unless you raise that defense in your response to the summons you will NOT be allowed to claim it in court!
While you could research this yourself and file your response with the court yourself it would be much smarter to retain an attorney to guide you. If the debt is collectible, the attorney will let you know quickly and his or her bill won't be very high. If it is worth fighting, their bill will probably be much less than the alleged debt.
In any case, you want to avoid a judgment against you at all costs. Those stay on your credit record for 10 years just like a bankruptcy does. Either fight it with an absolute defense such as the SOL limitations (IF they apply!) or make some sort of payment arrangement to stop the suit.
2007-09-26 22:54:55 · answer #2 · answered by Bostonian In MO 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Try to negotiate a lower payment before you go to court. See if you can contact the company and deal with them. Collection agencies are notorious for how they treat and cheat people.
You must answer the summons. If you disregard it you will have a judgment on your record that will harm your credit rating and reduce your chances in obtaining another loan or greatly increase the interest rate.
2007-09-27 00:29:11 · answer #3 · answered by DrIG 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you better show up in court to defend yourself. actually you should have asked for a lesser payback before it got this far. you could have worked something out then but since you didn't, they are taking you to court to get a judgement against you. thats not good.
2007-09-30 17:09:55 · answer #4 · answered by luciousgreeneyedlady 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you still have the opportunity to deal with the company, then you should. If you end up going to court, a judgement will show on your credit reports and it will affect you much worse in the long run. Even if you end up paying less on the judgement, it is not good to have it showing on your credit.
2007-09-26 20:17:45 · answer #5 · answered by SDlizard71 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
you have to show up in court or they win by default,
Don't agree to anything and read thru this website
I'm sure you can sue them back for placing a false
judgement, especially if they did not prove you owed
them before they placed the judgement.
www.creditinfocenter.com
2007-09-27 05:40:58 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋