Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

I received a summons to notify me of legal action. A credit card company is trying to collect $1500 on a debt that I do not remember having. They state the bill is from Dec 2004. I assume this is the date of deliquency. How do I respond to this notice of legal action? It says I have 20 days to respond or I may lose judgement by default. Whether I owe this or not, (which I dont believe I do), I am positive I did not owe $1500. When my home burnt down in Oct of 2004 I paid off all my bills including my credit cards (2 total) when I received an insurance check a few months later. Maybe this one slipped through the cracks, but I have no record of this card. Any advice or suggestions as to how I should respond to this?

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

No, no, no! Don%26#039;t waste any time calling the credit card company. If you don%26#039;t answer the complaint by filing an answer in court on time, you may have a default judgment entered against you.

I%26#039;m guessing this was filed in small claims court near you? If so, get the forms you need to answer it from the court clerk there. Go there right now, today. Get the forms, fill them out and file them with the court clerk. Today.

A copy of your answer will need to be mailed to the one suing you. The address should be on the forms you received.

After you file the answer, you can contact the credit card company and demand proof of the debt. Be sure to ask for a copy of the credit card application. You may be the victim of identity theft.

There are court procedures to get them to give you this information. Generally it%26#039;s called %26quot;discovery%26quot;. When you go to the court to file your answer, ask the clerk for any forms you can use to send to the crediit card company to get the information.

Go, now.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

YOu need to advise you are not certain of the status, but will defend the action after further discussion with the credit card company; then get them on the phone and get it mailed so that it is delivered on time

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

Call them. See if you can get more information about this debt. See if you can work out a payment arrangement

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

Call the company that sent you the letter; look online for contact information.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

If they are threatening a judgement, it means there should be some sort of lawsuit. The lawsuit (or citation) should have a court address on it to which you can respond to the judge, explaining the situation and that you are requesting more information from the company. The judge will almost never grant a judgement until you are satisfied that it is your debt.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

Identity Theft, or Scam, You need Lawyer.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

This is a new racket. Get an attorney. He will sort it out. For you to do so alone is a near impossibility.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

Start pulling your files from 2004 and get to atty immediately to answer the writ before creditor obtains judgment against you! Run don%26#039;t walk!

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

1) Identify the company online, including address, phone and BBB reports

2) Contact them without giving them ANY personal info other than what is on the letter and ask them to verify the debt for you immediately, ie: court dates, card account numbers, dates, etc.

3) Verify everything, immediately. If you do owe them, in fact, contact an attorney immediately. If you dont, contact the police.

DO NOT CALL THEM AND GIVE THEM YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER OR ANY BANK ACCOUNT INFO.

SECONDLY DO NOT GIVE THEM ANY credit card numbers or payments until you absolutely 200% verify they are legit.

DO NOT LET THEM MANIPULATE YOU INTO GIVING THEM ANY, repeat ANY personal info other than what they have. If they have proof you owe them money, make them prove it to you.

Additionally, contact the courts near you in your county and ask if there have been or are any pending liens or judgements against you, of any kind.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

Check your credit report if you haven%26#039;t already. See what it%26#039;s for, see if you recognize it on your report. You can get a free one, from free credit report.com If you do recognize it. Call them up and make a payment arrangement. They can%26#039;t sue you as long as your paying something.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

It is a normal collection practice to threaten legal action. You must be served with a court summons before any court action, they just can%26#039;t get a default judgment without your day in court.

If you feel the bill is incorrect just contact them and straighten it out.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

With 1 day left, your options are few.

You should have called them and had them tell you what the charge was for...had them send a copy to you showing the transaction.

Ignoring it for 19 days has left you with no options except to accept the judgement of the court when they sue you tomorrow.

The time to address this situation has passed. You had years to handle it and you didn%26#039;t bother.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

It%26#039;s probably a scare tactic to get you to pay. Did it come directly from the credit card company? Or is it from a collection agency? If it was an actual case in the court system, you would have received notice from the courts, usually a uniformed officer hand delivering it to you. Send them a letter certified / return receipt asking for proof of the debt. You should have 30 days to dispute it not 20.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

You do need to respond immediately.

*** Many of the above responses seem to not understand that this is a SUMMONS, not a collection letter. It is not a threat, this is a real lawsuit. Do not call the creditor, that is a waste of very limited time. Answer the Summons.

It is possible that the limit on such actions is three years, but that probably has to be pled in your first response.

First try to find an attorney. If you can%26#039;t get one, you have to do this yourself immediately.

Go to the court at the address on the summons. Tell the clerk you want to file an Answer. They%26#039;ll give you a form. Fill out the standard information (case number, your name, etc), and in the part that asks for your response, write the following:

%26quot;1: This claim is time-barred.

2: Denied.

3: Leave to amend is reserved%26quot;

Give it back to them, and ask for a copy.

Then go get an attorney.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

Check your credit report online first. If the debt is real it will be on there with the creditors name and the account number. You will want to do this as is could be a scam or you could be a victim of identity theft.

Now you probably have been handed to collections. They may say that all they have is a record that it needs to be paid...... and if you did pay you need to talk to the original creditor. Also note that the letter says %26quot;you may%26quot; lose by default........ not %26quot;you will%26quot;.

So don%26#039;t just pay these people as it may be a scare tactic on the part of collection. Now if you owe you owe but that way you can deal with it then as the credit damage is already done. What if you paid collections and found out you did not owe? Good luck on getting that money back.

So gather more information. Don%26#039;t give out bank account numbers or anything else to the collection company. If needed go to you bank or even old bank and ask for your banking records.

Credit card company sent letter of legal action. I had 20 days to respond..1 day left!?

Two weeks is not the same as 20 days ... you should have dealt with this 19 days ago. What you need to do is file an answer with the court and serve a copy to the attorney who%26#039;s name is on that summons. They usually have answer forms online. What you should do RIGHT NOW is contact the attorney (name is on the summons and the complaint) and ask for an extension of time to respond ... most of the time, they%26#039;re pretty cool with extending the response time. Then either hire a lawyer, or go online and find a form for an answer and a general denial, then fill out the form (with all the details about why you don%26#039;t really owe that amount, etc.) and file it with the court, then serve it.