NES Collection Agency, summons, questions!!!

I am new here and I am very overwhelmed right now. The short story is that I contacted National Enterprise Systems (I called Bank of America first - the account had been sold to NES 3 days prior). I wanted to start paying on the B.O.A account so I called - of course it was pay up right now or lawsuit. Well, I couldn't do that, but I wanted to make payments. Now it is a week later and I've been talking every day to NES, and I can't come up with their settlement offer. (Original debt was $7200, up to $9300 with fees and charges before they sold it - NES was offering $5000 settlement). Tonight they told me that they would have to send it back to Bank of America tomorrow AND the D.A. office. I said, "does that mean I will get a summons in the mail" and he said yes, that THEY (already)got the summons along with the account (that they've only had for 10 days) and that I have a court date for 2 weeks from now.

Now, I know they use all sorts of scary tactics to get their money, but this all seems a bit fast. I only got their first written "bill" or statement 3 days ago. Don't I have 30 days to send a debt validation letter? (I'm not because I know I owe the debt, and I contacted B.O.A. and that's how I got NES phone number to call in the first place) How can they sue me before that?

Then, doesn't a summons come to me, and I have 20 or 30 days to file an answer??? How can they have a summons with a court date for two weeks when I've received nothing like that in the mail?

I want to pay this debt, but I can only make payments. In the bill I got from them a few days ago, there is a stub that I can send back with payment - should I go ahead and do that even though they said they wouldn't take partial payments? If they get a judgement, will I be able to make payments?

We have a house we are not living in, but trying to sell that we took out a second mortgage on back in April (to try and get our current house live-able). Well, I filed paperwork today on that mortgage to make sure that person got paid back in the event someone tried to take that house from us, but after the two mortgages are paid, there will probably only be a thousand dollars or so left from equity.

The house we are living in has a $60,000 mortgage that we owe $60,000 on. The house isn't even finished - my husband is a carpenter and we are trying to finish it over the next few years, so anyway, there is no equity in this house. When it is done, it'll probably have $15,000 or so, but not as it is right now. It doesn't even have a kitchen at all, or a bathroom sink! We don't ever plan on selling it - can they just wait until we have enough equity built up in it to take it from that? There isn't any way they can seize it is there?

So, also I am wondering what they can do to me besides garnish wages? I make $100 a week helping at a local preschool, and my husband is self employed (meaning who knows when or how much money we get...). Our trucks are 13 years old, and we still owe about $3000 each on them.

All I want to do is start paying this debt, that is why I called them, and it seems as though they want to punish me for calling and trying to do the right thing. Why would they go to court to just get payments (which NES told me the judge would not do - ???) if that is what I am offering now? I'm sorry to ramble on, but I feel like these people are draining the life out of me and I don't know what to do, especailly with this summons and "court date" in two weeks?!? Thanks for reading - I live in AR.