being served by a collection company

Answer the summons and appear in court.

Why? What is the point and if I don't what can happen?

Well if you dont, they will get an automatic judgement against you.

What is an automatic judgement ( I"m sorry this is totally new to me)? I owe $736, am making $75 a month payments and owe again April 15.

A judgement is rendered by the courts if you do not appear to defend yourself. You are also assessed court and legal fees as well. Once they get a judgement, they can then garnish your wages and freeze your bank account.

Have you talked the company you are paying?

I found out someone was trying to serve me. Mu husband found out who it was and I called them today. They are a collection company for citi card (sams club). I made an agreement with them last Aufust for $50 a month. Then I find out they are serving me they explained today that They needed $75 not $50, but know one made that clear when I set up the arrangments back in August (go figure). So today I asked what I needed to do. I paid $75 for this months payment and set up an arrangment that has me paying by the 15 of each month until it is paid. The women said this would be court monitored so I could not be late. She also said she could not stop the server, but she would inform the lawyers of the agreement. I asked if I still need to go to court and she said she could not give me legal advice, but that the payments were excepted and not to be late.

You still need to respond to the summons and show up in court.

I have not seen the papers, what if there is no court date set up, do I have a chance to respond? Or will there be a definte date on the papers? Also what should I expect at court ( I have never been to court).

So what will happen in court?

I am wondering if there are papers at all; that they maybe are just trying to intimidate you into paying more. I would visit your county courthouse and ask in the clerk's office if you have actually had a case filed against you.

If you have, even if you make arrangements before the court date to settle your case, you should show up for the court date to be sure it is dismissed. Bring all the paperwork you have, relating to your case. You should get a document that says something like, "Dismissed with Leave to Reinstate", meaning that if you stick to the agreement, everything's cool, and if you don't adhere to the document you can be hauled back there again.

My county (in Illinois) is part of a state-wide website where we can actually monitor our cases via the internet. You may ask at your courthouse if they are part of such a network also.

Hi Jlcul,

You may follow the steps mentioned in the following page: -

How to answer a summons?