Summons

Hi. I've gotten a summons before and the way it worked for me was, court was set up for a month from the day you receive your summons. The court date is listed on the summons. Also on the summons is the information of who is suing you, their address and telephone number and the amount they are suing you for. You will be told to call the number on the summons to the person who is suing you--to go from there. When you call them, they will tell you (they did with me) what they want to do. If you agree to pay the full amount and get the money into them--up to a week before court--, the case will be dropped and you won't have to appear in court AND this will not affect your credit report. However, if you can't pay the full amount and agree to monthly payments, it will still proceed to court and will go on your credit report as a judgement and will stay on there for 10 years. The only way to keep it off of your credit report is to pay it in full before the court date. That will also stop you from having to appear in court. I hope this is the info you're looking for. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. have a great day...shirley

If that happens can you get a continuation for the court date to a later date?

I'm not sure. I guess you could call the court house and ask about it, and see what would you have to do to get a continueance. That would really be their call.

I called the clerk at the court listed on summons and they were very helpful. Told me exactly what I needed to do.
I was afraid to make the call at first...but all the knowledge I have gained on this site has given me more confidence to be proactive instead of ignoring problems.....which got me into this mess to begin with!

If you recieve a summons to appear in court for an old crdeit card debt and can't pay any amount of money..what should you do? Should you go bankrupt at that point? (I have been unemployed for 5 years, and make less than proverty level~ I have earned less than $300 in 2006, so far)

Hi Renita,

If the summon served to you is in legal form, the creditor will try to collect the money from you with the help of the court. Try to make arrangements with the credit card company before the summon date so that they take back the case filed against you.

Offer them a small amount for the time being and assure that you will be making larger payments after your financial situation improves.

If you can't afford the money in any case, the judge will make decisions after looking at your present situation. They will offer you easy means to make the payments. Try for a consolidation program if that can solve your problems. You can consider filing bankruptcy if there is no other alternative.

I received a summons for a judgement on a credit card that I owed money on that I was unable to pay due to running into business and personal difficulties. My wife contacted them and work out a deal to pay them 70.00 a month. I signed an agreed order to pay them the amount and have made all the payments on time. In the agreement it is stated that if I default on the payment that will then execute the judgement for the entire amount. A couple months after making payments they send a letter stating that are going to court to execute the judgement because I defaulted on payments. I have all the paper work proving I have not broken the agreed order which they have done. After my wife finally got through to their attorney and stated our case we received another document stating that they are going back to court to not execute the judgemennt and they are going forward with the agreed order which from my point of view they breached. Do I have any legal muscle to push these scumbags back do to the fact they broke the agreement and re-executed the judgement on false pretenses. They breached the agreement.

Hi MIW

Before going to the court, you must have written evidences proving the breach of contract. If you have everything well arranged, consult your attorney and file a case against the credit card company. You can be compensated up to the extent of damages after winning the case.

my son recived a summons to appear pertaining to damages to the apt. he was evicted from. having moved he recieved the summons after required date for appearance. What should he do and what have the courts done about him not appearing?