How to Respond to a Court Summons for Credit Card Debt

The first thing to do is to respond the summons. Collection attorneys are used to consumers not responding to court summonses for credit card debt. Feeling helpless and guilty the consumer then loses by default, and the attorney gets the court’s backing to collect the debt.

The answer to a court summons is only the beginning of the case. Two to three pages is quite sufficient. The consumer needs to use this answer to put the collection attorney on notice that he is going to have to work hard to prove his case. The key to this is making the collection attorney document the debt, according to the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide.

Collection attorneys know the consumer has a right to proper documentation, but frequently they cannot produce it. Most credit card agreements do not have signed contracts. Producing a complete accounting of the alleged amount owed can be a challenge as well. Debt buyers buy large batches of discharged credit card accounts from banks. Collection attorneys for debt buyers have trouble documenting the ownership of the individual accounts in the batch.

The rules of civil procedure for the consumer’s local court dictate the proper service of the summons to the consumer and of the answer to the plaintiff. They also tell the consumer how much time he has to respond to the summons before going into default. Most importantly the local rules of civil procedure dictate the affirmative defenses that need to be in the answer to the summons.

The local rules of civil procedure govern the best wording of the affirmative defenses the consumer should use in the answer to the summons. As a start, the consumer can find a generically worded answer in a resource like the Credit Card Debt Survival Guide. Then, if the consumer cannot afford a local attorney, they can simply ask one to comment on the wording of their answer for a small fee.

Most consumers do not answer credit card debt summonses. Knowing this, collection attorneys will send out large batches of summonses waiting for the defaults. If they get a few responses, they drop those claims to focus on the easy money.

To beat them, civil summonses for credit card debt need to be answered!

This content is not intended as a substitute for legal advice. If you need an attorney in your local area, please contact a licensed attorney in your state.

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