Summons for old credit card debt

Anyone?

When you say "summons", do you mean you received legal papers that require you to appear in court? First of all, you need to check the statute of limitations in your state. Each state has laws regarding how far into the past a creditor can legally go to get a judgment in court. That is important because in order to garnish your wages, a court judgment is usually necessary. They have to take you to court, then get a court order for garnishment. If the last activity on the card falls outside the statute of limitations, that is your defense.

Since this is an old debt, it sounds to me more like a letter that is meant to LOOK like a summons. There are collection agencies that specialize in buying these old debts for mere fractions of their original value, then sending letters that are meant to trick people into thinking they are receiving some sort of court document. I am not saying that is the case here, but it could be.

Thanks for responding! I reviewed the paperwork again and it says it's a Civil Action being served on behalf of Commonwealth Financial Systems. It was delivered in person by someone from the Sheriff's office and has a file # listed on a complaint sheet filed w/ the state court. I think the last activity was in 03-04.

So do you think I should send a letter asking them to verify or is it too late to do anything about it??

Did you respond to the court or show up for the hearing? If not, probably not much you can do.

I responded to the law firm, there was no court date or hearing listed. I told them that I was unemployed and did not have ANY money. So are you saying that it is too late for me to request they validate or possibly settle for a lesser amt?? I'm really scared right now b/c I just got a new job and can't afford to have them garnish my wages. Please help!

You should have called the courthouse instead of the attorney. A summons requires a written response to the court if you are going to object. However telling them that you were unemployed wasnt going to stop a judgement from going thru.

I appreciate your feedback. So since more time has gone by is it too late for me to contact anyone now? oh, believe me, I wasn't under the impression that my call to them would foster any empathy b/c it definitely didn't. I mentioned it b/c I didn't know if my calling them may have hurt me more. Did it?? I guess I'm still asking if there's ANYthing I can do now? Or do I just wait to be garnished? Thanks again for all your help.

I am still confused as to whether this was a summons that indicated a lawsuit was filed and there is to be a court date in the future or that a judgment had been entered at a previous court date and this was a summons in an attempt to collect. If there was already a trial, you should have been served before the trial so you could appear. Were you served with a notice to appear sometime in the past regarding this. If so, and you failed to show up, there isn't much you can do. If, and when, you obtain any assets or wages, they can garnish to satisfy the judgment.

The letter has 2 addresses on it. So, if they tried to deliver to an old address would that count as prior notice? If not, then no, I have not received any other hand delivered items from this law firm. I even went to the court's website and tried to enter the file # listed and it wasn't found. I'm sorry if my questions aren't making much sense. I'm at a complete loss w/ all of this and just need help understanding my options..if I have any.

Does your community have any legal aid offices? You really need some advice from someone familiar with the law where you live. Legal aid societies will usually give basic advice free of charge. I am not a lawyer, so please don't depend on what I say. However, there really seems to be a couple of pieces missing in this.