Being sued by credit company

I had a CC with Household Bank back in 2004, that I couldn't pay off. This debt was charged off by Household and purchased by Atlantic Credit and Finance, Inc.
I was served last week by the Sheriffs Dept to appear in court here in Los Angeles on Aug.15. What rights do I have? I know the SOL hasn't passed.
I never signed any contract with Atlantic Credit and don't know who they are except I guess they purchased my account. The court summons says I have 30 days to file a written response (from April 25) - how do I respond? Should I try to contact Atlantic Credit to try to arrange for payments to be made prior to the court date? I am being sued for $3988, and I don't have the money to pay that. Should I file for bankruptcy? I can't take the chance of having my wages garnished or my bank account frozen, as I'm barely making it paycheck to paycheck as it is. How can I protect my wages and bank account - or should I close my bank account now? What should I do?

Luckily time is on your side. You can still try to make payment arrangements without having to go to court. Do file a written response stating that you would like to work out arrangements to pay this off. Try this before you call an attorney because you may be able to get this worked out on your own.

Thank you for your help! Do I file a written response with the court stating I would like to make arrangements to pay it off? If so, do I then need to contact the credit card company (by letter or phone?)to try to make arrangements?

First off, I think you should write an answer to the court stating what you would like to do, because you have 30 days to give an answer. I am not really sure if the courts then contact the credit card company or not. I was never smart enought to file an answer and had a default judgement against me and I made payment arrangements after that. Give it a little bit and I am sure someone will come along and tell you exactly what the next step should be.

ooking at these court papers again (I am in California), it says "you have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this summons and legal papers are served on you to file a written response at this court and have a copy served on the plaintiff. A letter or phone call will not protect you." It also says that "your written response must be in proper legal form if you want the court to hear your case" - what do they mean by "if I want the court to hear my case?" The court date is already set for Aug. 15. Apparently, there is also a filing fee for my response, and it says that "if you do not file your response on time, you may lose the case by default, and your wages, money, and property may be taken without further warning from the court." Now I'm really freaked out - I have no money for an attorney, but make too much salary to be given one.
A new development, I just now checked my voice messages, and there is a message from the law office suing me to call them. Should I? This is all so confusing - I don't know what to do.

A new development, I just now checked my voice messages, and there is a message from the law office that is suing me to call them. Should I? This is all so confusing - I don't know what to do.
After looking at the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, should I send the attorneys a letter asking them to validate the debt by providing me with the name & address of the original creditor, showing me that this debt was sold to them, and how they calculated the amount I owe them, as well as a complete payment history, a letter of agreement that bears my signature, and a letter of sale or assignment from the original creditor to their company? Or is this all something to be put in the response letter to the court? HELP!

Yes, you have the right to send a letter to the attorney asking for any evidence against you. Ask if the debt was purchase or assigned. Ask how they calculated the amount of the alleged debt, in full. Ask them to provide any contractual obligation to them.

Thank you so much for your help. So I should not return the phone call from the law office that is sueing me, but rather write them a letter? Or should I just try to figure out how I am to respond to the court within the next 2 weeks in "proper legal form", which the law office will get a copy of and include in that my request for evidence against me? Would the law office be calling me to try to settle? I feel somewhat vulnerable in returning their call, yet I don't want to blow an opportunity to settle this - but I also don't want to get trapped by them via the phone (I suppose I could tape the conversation if that would help protect me). I can't tell you how much I appreciate your assistance.

Another question - upon close inspection of the summons served on me by Atlantic Credit & Financial's attorney, Law Office of Curtis O Barnes, there is a notice of "Case Assignment & Notice of Case Management Review" from the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, about half way thru the summons packet. It says that the above entitled matter (although the plaintiff and defendant sections are blank) has been assigned to the Judicial Officer, Judge Diana Wheatley, for all purposes including trial. It goes on to say that "No appearance is necessary. The court will set any furture hearings/required actions, based on the Case Management Review. Your Case Management Review has been scheduled at the courthouse address shown above on Aug. 14, 2007, at 8:30 am."
WHAT DOES ALL THIS MEAN? Am I being sued? The first page of the Summons, labeled SUMMONS, says "Notice to Defendant" with my name and then "You Are Being Sued by Plaintiff" with Atlantic Credit & Finance, Inc." That certainly sounds like I'm being sued - but there is no court date on this sheet, just the date of filing which was April 25, 2007. How can I find out what is going on? I sure as hell don't want to miss the court date if there is one, besides this Aug. 25 date. I can't make it if my wages are suddenly garnished out of the blue.

I would call the courthouse and ask them. They can tell you when/if you need to appear and what your next action should be. Since they are impartial they are the best ones to ask this question to. They can't give you any legal advice, but then can explain the procedures to you.

When I got too deep into debt I got into a credit reduction program and they are supposed to be handling negotiations with my creditors. It appears I am still being sued despite that. Should I tell the people suing me about that program before it goes to court, or are they just not willing to negotiate with my credit management program and are suing anyway?

I got a letter from an attorney rep.credit card debt and they asked me questions about injuries medical bills and future medical bills i did not reply waited for court date. Got 2nd letter a default from court never got notice for a court date. Can they attach my pay

It depends on your state. Most states allow for garnishment after a judgment has been obtained. TX, SC, and NC are three that come to mind that do not allow wage garnishments.

No Appearance Case Management Review scheduled for Sep. 19 in LA County Superior Court. I found out by accident that a collector is pursuing a legal action against me.
I have never of this company and never received anything from them in regards to this debt. In addition, I have never received anything from the Court.
So, I checked the record and found the case against me is filed.
What is No Appearance Case Management Review?
I contacted a law office who has handled many cases brought up by this company.

I too was served just last night. The letter is very similar to the OP's I found it odd that a plain clothed guy driving a regular pickup truck gave them to me. He was just a courier. I also, did not have to sign for anything which I thought was odd as well.

I am pretty sure it's from a CC I had a few years ago. Long story short I became a broke college student and quit paying. Well now I have a good job and can make those payments. Is it really necessary that I have to appear in court? Can I just make payments to them? If the plaintiff won't accept payments I guess I will be forced to go to court. Also, are there any kind of convictions the state can follow up on me? Can I be arrested? I did notice in this thread that they do not allow your wages to be garnished in Texas. Should I pull my money from my bank account?

I've never had to deal with anything like this before and am looking for some info.

When I got served last year for an old CC, I called the lawyer that was suing me. I set up payment arrangement s with him. He faxed me paperwork to sign saying that I was agreeing to the payments and so forth, Once I signed and returned it to him, he filed it with the court. No appearance necessary. It actually cancelled the court date. They were very willing to work with me. Try calling them to see what can be worked out. Be prepared though many times they are going to ask you a lot of questions regarding your bills and income and such. They explained to me that they did not want to set an amount that I would end up not being able to pay and be right back in court anyway.