Just found out I received a summons for credit card debt next week, please help! (million, rent)
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I checked the court filing online and the status is disposed. It was disposed in March. But looking at the summons letter, they say "at the date noted below" and right by the signature at the bottom is a date stamped that is very legibly next week.
So if disposed means the case is completed, why did the case happen sooner than the date provided on the summons? And if it means completed they likely got a judgement on me, but my bank account hasn't been frozen for the past two months at all, and when an officer ran my license last month to check for any warrants (after a neighbor called about me being parked outside my house....), it came back clean. Also if the case was completed, then shouldn't the proceedings have been sent to my NY address in a letter? But I received no such letter in the stack my grandparents sent me, and I just called my grandmother up and she said she has nothing else. What is going on here?
I understand that, but many people in this thread have said I need to show up for court. If I'm not able to do that, what is my best option? I don't understand your first paragraph, are you saying it may be possible to handle this case in court out of state?
Perhaps those reading your post did not do so carefully.
If am correct this summons was from more than several months/year ago. Few if any courts will keep something open that long. If you didn't show up on date listed, maybe court will have moved to adjourn it to another date (usually in response to plaintiff's motion and or agreement), but then you would have received subsequent notices advising and a new date to appear.
Usual standard procedure for all civil cases is when defendant does not appear is for plaintiff to request default judgment.
If a person summoned to appear before court cannot due to illness or whatever (and this is usually noted on summons), they are advised to send someone legally empowered to answer. This person can explain why summoned cannot appear (ill, out of town/country, dead, etc...), and request trial be adjourned to another date, and or should be dismissed.
Once properly served with a summons court considers it due notice and thus without further evidence of contrary assumes person is not appearing by choice.
Am going to say this for the last time (hopefully); stop asking for advice about this case here; Monday morning contact the clerk's office whose information most surely appears on the summons. Your situation is *NOT* unusual and they will be able to give far better and accurate information.
If you feel that you must do something; get one or more free copies of credit report as noted above and see if there is a judgment listed. On the odd chance there isn't, and court confirms plaintiff never moved to obtain; *then* you have some wiggle room. Until then all this back and forth is just beating a dead horse.
I checked the court filing online and the status is disposed. It was disposed in March. But looking at the summons letter, they say "at the date noted below" and right by the signature at the bottom is a date stamped that is very legibly next week.
So if disposed means the case is completed, why did the case happen sooner than the date provided on the summons? And if it means completed they likely got a judgement on me, but my bank account hasn't been frozen for the past two months at all, and when an officer ran my license last month to check for any warrants (after a neighbor called about me being parked outside my house....), it came back clean. Also if the case was completed, then shouldn't the proceedings have been sent to my NY address in a letter? But I received no such letter in the stack my grandparents sent me, and I just called my grandmother up and she said she has nothing else. What is going on here?
Ok, am going to say this again....
Go back to my post and look at three ways cases filed with court can be disposed.
If case was disposed *before* date you were summoned to appear it usually means plaintiff withdrew their petition. Again * CONTACT COURT Of RECORD* to find out exactly how your case was disposed.
Unless court outright dismissed the case there are few other ways legally a case can be disposed of before scheduled hearing date.
As for notices from court or collection agency they would have gone to address on record. If you have moved and court (much less collection agency) were notified by USPS then it puts a completely different complexion on things.
How did mail from your parent's old address get forwarded/reach you at your grandparents?
If court sent summons to your parents old address while first notice may have gotten through any subsequent might have been caught and marked "return to sender/moved...." by USPS. Courts consider such notices from postal service legally telling them that person no longer resides at given address, thus all or any notices sent may not be legally considered served properly.
Also usually most civil court actions have two ways of sending summonses; one is via mail (normal post and or certified), the other is a via a process server.
Process servers usually attempt to "slap a court summons" on the defendant personally. If they cannot most local statues allow for them to attach it to front door of address or some other conspicuous area. Process server will then either way swear out an affidavit attesting to proper service (f it took place), and then things go on.
However if process server did not deliver summons they must note reason why (death, moved, in a coma or whatever).
Again reason why case was "disposed" and or any other information relating will be contained in files/records of this case. You need to get those records and or contact court of record to find further information. As have said, Monday morning call the court clerk's office.....
Finally just because this particular action was disposed of (perhaps in your favor), you are not out of the woods. You still owe Discover $7k and that debt likely will just be sold to a debt collector legally operating in state where you live currently. Running you to ground may take awhile, but sooner or later don't be surprised if another debt collection agency contacts you about this matter.
At this point Discover is long out of the game. Once a CC sells off debt there is usually a small window (if any) for them to get it back in house. Charged off debts are sold off to debt collection agencies largely based upon age which relates to chances of recovery.
*If* a judgment was never entered and collection agency withdrew their action, you have a few ways of dealing with matter. None of which I'd advise you doing in your current emotional state. If you have moved out of their jurisdiction there is nothing this agency can do atm. However it is not unheard of for persons to have paid/make arrangements with one debt collection agency, only to have the debt resurface later from another claiming sums owed were never paid.
Go back to my post and look at three ways cases filed with court can be disposed.
If case was disposed *before* date you were summoned to appear it usually means plaintiff withdrew their petition. Again * CONTACT COURT Of RECORD* to find out exactly how your case was disposed.
Unless court outright dismissed the case there are few other ways legally a case can be disposed of before scheduled hearing date.
As for notices from court or collection agency they would have gone to address on record. If you have moved and court (much less collection agency) were notified by USPS then it puts a completely different complexion on things.
How did mail from your parent's old address get forwarded/reach you at your grandparents?
If court sent summons to your parents old address while first notice may have gotten through any subsequent might have been caught and marked "return to sender/moved...." by USPS. Courts consider such notices from postal service legally telling them that person no longer resides at given address, thus all or any notices sent may not be legally considered served properly.
Also usually most civil court actions have two ways of sending summonses; one is via mail (normal post and or certified), the other is a via a process server.
Process servers usually attempt to "slap a court summons" on the defendant personally. If they cannot most local statues allow for them to attach it to front door of address or some other conspicuous area. Process server will then either way swear out an affidavit attesting to proper service (f it took place), and then things go on.
However if process server did not deliver summons they must note reason why (death, moved, in a coma or whatever).
Again reason why case was "disposed" and or any other information relating will be contained in files/records of this case. You need to get those records and or contact court of record to find further information. As have said, Monday morning call the court clerk's office.....
Finally just because this particular action was disposed of (perhaps in your favor), you are not out of the woods. You still owe Discover $7k and that debt likely will just be sold to a debt collector legally operating in state where you live currently. Running you to ground may take awhile, but sooner or later don't be surprised if another debt collection agency contacts you about this matter.
At this point Discover is long out of the game. Once a CC sells off debt there is usually a small window (if any) for them to get it back in house. Charged off debts are sold off to debt collection agencies largely based upon age which relates to chances of recovery.
*If* a judgment was never entered and collection agency withdrew their action, you have a few ways of dealing with matter. None of which I'd advise you doing in your current emotional state. If you have moved out of their jurisdiction there is nothing this agency can do atm. However it is not unheard of for persons to have paid/make arrangements with one debt collection agency, only to have the debt resurface later from another claiming sums owed were never paid.
I will contact the county clerk's office first thing Monday morning. I changed my license and my address on all my accounts from my old parent's address to my grandparents address when they moved in 2015, and the summons letter was sent to my grandparent's address with no indication of forwarding, so it looks like there wasn't any confusion with Discover and the collectors with my NY address.
If this means they withdrew their case before the summons, while it's a small relief I understand the debt is still out there. If I am able to get SSI disability, I intend to pay it off so it doesn't bite me later. I just don't know the best way to go about doing that. Before that I'll have to find out if the plaintiffs really did withdraw their case and if I eventually do get SSI.
I will contact the county clerk's office first thing Monday morning. I changed my license and my address on all my accounts from my old parent's address to my grandparents address when they moved in 2015, and the summons letter was sent to my grandparent's address with no indication of forwarding, so it looks like there wasn't any confusion with Discover and the collectors with my NY address.
If this means they withdrew their case before the summons, while it's a small relief I understand the debt is still out there. If I am able to get SSI disability, I intend to pay it off so it doesn't bite me later. I just don't know the best way to go about doing that. Before that I'll have to find out if the plaintiffs really did withdraw their case and if I eventually do get SSI.
Quite honestly while there is a moral case to be made for honoring debts; sometimes you have to do *you* first.
That debt is already four years old and counting. If you have nothing and will be living on disability can think of far better uses for several thousand dollars. If persons with more in their back pocket (such as DT) can skip away from debts, or only pay pennies on dollar, cannot see much benefit of living a life in penury just to say a credit card debt is paid off in full.
Other than the moral satisfaction at this point you'll get no Brownie points for paying said debt off in full. More so if you are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
Quite honestly while there is a moral case to be made for honoring debts; sometimes you have to do *you* first.
That debt is already four years old and counting. If you have nothing and will be living on disability can think of far better uses for several thousand dollars. If persons with more in their back pocket (such as DT) can skip away from debts, or only pay pennies on dollar, cannot see much benefit of living a life in penury just to say a credit card debt is paid off in full.
Other than the moral satisfaction at this point you'll get no Brownie points for paying said debt off in full. More so if you are borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.
Just want to correct you in case it matters, I stopped paying my credit card bills almost two years ago, but my credit card was maxed out and I was just paying the monthly payments since a year or two before that. Unless that's what you meant.
If I did indeed get out of this particular lawsuit then I will certainly think about it because you are entirely right. But at the very least if I get SSI I'll be sure to keep enough money in reserve to get legal counsel in case someone comes after me again with another summons.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the number of the collector and checked my call logs to see if they have been trying to call me despite not leaving any voicemails. Turns out they were, about once or twice a month. They even called me three times after the disposition date. If they did withdraw the petition, should the fact that they're continuing to call me be worrying? Don't know if those are just routine attempts or if that makes me more likely to get another summons in the future.
Last edited by lostandpanicking; 05-11-2019 at 09:08 PM..
IF the clerk tells you the hearing is still scheduled, ask if you can attend by phone. A friend just did that and IF the plaintiff agrees, it may be a possibility
Just want to correct you in case it matters, I stopped paying my credit card bills almost two years ago, but my credit card was maxed out and I was just paying the monthly payments since a year or two before that. Unless that's what you meant.
If I did indeed get out of this particular lawsuit then I will certainly think about it because you are entirely right. But at the very least if I get SSI I'll be sure to keep enough money in reserve to get legal counsel in case someone comes after me again with another summons.
Out of curiosity, I looked up the number of the collector and checked my call logs to see if they have been trying to call me despite not leaving any voicemails. Turns out they were, about once or twice a month. They even called me three times after the disposition date. If they did withdraw the petition, should the fact that they're continuing to call me be worrying? Don't know if those are just routine attempts or if that makes me more likely to get another summons in the future.
You'll want to double check your ability to keep enough money in reserve. I believe you can only have $2000 in savings if you are on SSI. Just throwing that out for your consideration.
I will contact the county clerk's office first thing Monday morning. I changed my license and my address on all my accounts from my old parent's address to my grandparents address when they moved in 2015, and the summons letter was sent to my grandparent's address with no indication of forwarding, so it looks like there wasn't any confusion with Discover and the collectors with my NY address.
If this means they withdrew their case before the summons, while it's a small relief I understand the debt is still out there. If I am able to get SSI disability, I intend to pay it off so it doesn't bite me later. I just don't know the best way to go about doing that. Before that I'll have to find out if the plaintiffs really did withdraw their case and if I eventually do get SSI.
Again, answers to your queries are in court records of the case. Find out the why and how of disposition and you'll have at least some knowledge of what went down.
As one already stated, just because collection agency withdrew their petition (if indeed that is what happened), you still aren't out of woods. They will continue to make any and all attempts to collect that debt. If they cannot likely will sell it on to someone else who will try.
Your drivers license and other ID don't factor into this at all; again extraneous information. Collection agencies cannot access your state's DMV database. Changing your address on various other credit accounts will in time be reflected on credit reports, but only if they are active accounts.
All this back and forth speculation is beating a dead horse. Until you find out what happened with court case no one can give any sort of accurate advice.
I waded through about 10% of that and didn't see anything that could have anything to do with anything and I quit reading.
So, my only advice, based on the title of the post, is that if you receive a summons, you should show up. You need to give your side of the story or the only story the judge hears is the other side.
Oh and, when you go to court, prune it down to a reasonable length. If you bore the judge, he might stop listening long before you are through with your irrelevant life's story.
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