received Summons - what to do next?

A stipulated judgment or agreed judgment is a judgement which both sides agree to have entered. If the agreement is not followed, the plaintiff can file an affidavit of default wherein the judgment can be entered without notice to the defendant(s). This default judgment is binding and failure to comply with it means that an enforcement action could be taken. Enforcement actions vary, but can include wage garnishment and/or property lien(s).


Basically this means that as long as you are making your agreed upon payments, they cant garnish you. Fail to make the payments and watch the garnishment start fast.

I guess i wonder if this is the best way to go...2 years is a long time and i can tell you by the past 2 years you can never predict what is going to happen in that amount of time! I just don't want to get scammed into agreeing to something bad. Is it a judgement against me? What happens on my credit report? Is there a better option than this in my situation?

You can lie in your answer and say the debt is not yours and make them prove it, which most debt collectors cannot do.

You do need to answer the summons though if not you lose by default and the court orders how much you pay by law. Just so you know, some incomes are exempt from credit card judgments.

They already sent me copies of all of the statements including a copy of the initial application.

I'm confused they said if i do this stipulation thing i don't have to answer the complaint...is that true?

I just don't really have the cash. Of course i didn't think i would b in this position, but with a child in the hospital for 3 months and a husband out of work for 8 months we got in this position...it's been all i can do to try and save my house and my car and frankly that is more important than this credit card....

I wouldn't trust them, answer the summons.

I know how you feel and you are right, feeding yourself and your family, putting a roof over your head, heating your house and putting clothes on your back are a priority in life........debt collectors and credit card companies do not see it that way, they think they are a priority, yet when they fail, they are going to our government to bail them out on tax payer money.

Since they sent evidence you can admit to the debt or neither confirm nor deny, your choice....If your income is below the guidlines for garnishment, they cannot get anything from you until your status improves.

You said you can't afford what they want every month and they said if you lose in court, you will pay more, that is not entirely true...like I said, the court goes by your states guidlines on what can or can't be taken out of your pay.

I don't know what state you are in but for an example, Minnesota has a 75% exemption for garnishment....so if you talke home $500 a week, $375 is exempt and the debt collectors can only get $125 a week from you.

They want their money quick and will scare people to get it, which is sad when people like you really fall onto hard times. These debt collectors should be going after the young punks who knowingly rack up huge bills with no intention of paying, sadly they probably never get sued.

I'm AZ. I make good money, but i have no disposible income after paying everything. I have gone over this and over this with my mortgage company so i'm aware, problem is on paper and if they just look at my paycheck and discount most of my expenses (which is what they have done) it looks like i make a lot of money. That's why i just don't know what to do. They have told me that they have to prove to the court that they tried everything to collect from me. COuldn't i just tell the court that i have tried to settle this over and over and they won't take my offer? They have told me if i file an answer then this thing goes full blown and i can't settle with them and i can't change my mind and take the stipulation...i just feel stuck. Apparantly i only have a few days left to file my answer. I don't know how to do this. What do you put in an answer???

If it was me, I would file my answer in it saying I deny there claim and make them prove it, if they are able to prove it, maybe the judge with work with you. Garnishment in AZ is 25% But thats just what I would do, if they wanted to serve me and try and intimidate me, I'm going to make the work for it, I'm not going to hand it to them.

Try the arbitration startegy. Cap One has an arbitration clause in their agreements. Tell them you elect arbitration to resolve the dispute and expect them to dismiss the case. If they don't, file a motion to dismiss or stay the case. Check out the arbitration forum at creditinfocenter -dot -com.

After the demise of NAF, arbitration is now a powerful weapon for consumers. I know some posters here will claim arbitration is anti-consumer, but that was under NAF. Everything has changed now.

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Also the agreement they sent, was it a copy of one actually signed by you? Also when was the last time you made a payment on this card? Open accounts in AZ is 3 years and most credit cards are considered open accounts. Written contracts are 6 years, they may try to say it is a written contract.

Did the last statement have the same amount of money they are saying you now owe? You should look on the agreement to see what kind of interest they are allowed to charge (this should be the agreement/contract signed by you) a blank won't cut it.

My experience is that the court system is biased against debtors. As for a jury trial, that's expensive and difficult for a pro se, IMO. I think it's too easy for the creditor to stack the jury with people who have always paid their bills on time and have a low opinion of "deadbeats."

The benefit of arbitration for debtors is that it's very expensive for the creditors, so much so, that many will just dismiss rather than spend the money on the arb fees.

You all have gone way over my head here...i still have no idea what to do...I did get their credit cards and they sent me the original app i signed which was 2001. I can't tell if this app is really for this account though. I had several accounts which i paid and closed and then opended others later on...I paid these cards several times over and only ran into trouble at the end of 2007 when all my hard times hit. The only sent me the app and statements for one of the accounts.

I'm not sure what arbitration means or what the process is for that...

I just want this to go away. I offered to pay them $150 a month, but they said no...i thought they had to prove to a judge that they tried to make a reasonable payment plan with me...i don't know...i feel like they are backing me into a corner and getting me to agree to their payment plan. If i do agree do i still need to file an answer? Problem there is it cost $100 just to do that. This is a no win for me. I wish i would have just stuck it out and made the payments no matter how hard it was to do so...

All I can say is you need to answer the summons....as none of us are probably attorneys in your state, we cannot give legal advise....you have to answer any court documents you get, if you have to look for a consumer attorney and they may help you and show you how to file forms for a small fee or even free. Another thing you can do is go to a law library and when your ready they will show you how to answer documents that must be filed in court language, again they will not do it for you but will guide you in the right direction.