topic Re: Summons...help, please. in Rebuilding Your Credit

Summons...help, please.

Anonymous — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:00:47 GMT

I need some advice on what to do about the summons that I received today. I know the account belongs to me, and it's only about 4 years old, so I don't think I want to bother with validating it. I just want to avoid a judgment.

I don't have the funds to pay in full right now, but likely will in 3-5 weeks. Here's the summons:

STATE OF INDIANA

COUNTY OF XXXX in the XXXX Superior Court

SOMERHILL CAPITAL, LLC (Plaintiff) vs. JEANYWOMAN (Defendant)

SUMMONS:

THE STATE OF INDIANA TO DEFENDANT: JEANYWOMAN

Address: JEANYWOMAN'S address

You have been sued by the person named "plaintiff", in the Court stated above.

The nature of the suit against you is stated in the complaint which is attached to this summons. It also states the demand which the plaintiff has made against you.

You must answer the complaint in writing to be filed with the Court, by you or your attorney, within twenty (20) days, commencing the day after you receive this summons, (you have twenty-three (23) days to answer if this summons was received by mail), or a judgment will be entered against you for what the plaintiff has demanded.

If you deny the demand and/or have a claim for relief against the plaintiff arising from the same transaction or occurence, you must assert it in your written answer.

It is suggested that you consult with an attorney of your choice regarding this matter.

The following manner of service of summons is hereby designated: Sheriff

NAME OF ATTORNEY

ATTORNEY OFFICE, PLC Date: AUG 31 2009

Attorney Address

Phone number

Signature of Court Clerk

Court address

Phone number

COMPLAINT:

Comes the Plaintif, by counsel, and for its cause of action against the Defendant states as follows:

1. The Plaintiff owns and is the holder of an account due and owing by the Defendant, and is the assignee of Original Creditor.

2. The Defendant is indebted to the Plaintiff in the amount of $1291.31.

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff demands:

1. Judgment against the Defendant in the sum of $1291.31;

2. Interest thereon at the rate of 8% per annum from August 31, 2007 and 12% per annum from the date of Judgment, until the Judgment is satisfied;

3. For any and all other relief to which the Plaintiff may be entitled pursuant to contract, statute, or common law.

Signature of Attorney

LAW OFFICE ADDRESS and PHONE again

There is no court date listed. I would like to either pay in full before the date to be determined or set up a payment arrangement and still not go to court.

Questions:

1. What do I do first? Respond to the summons or call the law office?

2. I have to respond in writing to the summons. What do I state in the written letter and do I take it to the court in person or can I mail it?

3. When I do call the law office, what do I say? I've read elsewhere for certain collections never to ADMIT the debt is mine. Should I only state that I would like to pay in exchange for the case withdrawn?

4. Do I ask for something in writing from law office stating either that file will be made to withdraw the case (if I pay in full) or something stating it will be filed upon receipt of my last payment (if I make payment arrangements)?

5. Is it possible to ask law office if OC will PFD, or is it too late for all that?

Please offer any advice...I'm so clueless and just want to get this handled w/o going to court and definitely w/o a judgment. Thanks!

Re: Summons...help, please.

ShowCredit — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:57:37 GMT

What is the SOL in your state?

Re: Summons...help, please.

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 02:08:23 GMT

What's your state's SOL? Definitely need to know that. Don't ignore this. If you do, you'll be stuck with a default judgement. I'm crossing my fingers that this is out of SOL for your state.

Re: Summons...help, please.

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 04:13:22 GMT

Indiana is 6 years

Re: Summons...help, please.

Underh20 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:47:36 GMT

Most of the time, you can make payment arrangements with the creditor in order to induce them not to continue with legal action. often they will ask you to sign a confession of judgment which, if paid by a specified date, they agree not to have filed.

Probably your best move now would be to contact the plaintiff's attorney to see about making arrangements to pay them. It's best not to promise them anything you ultimately can't follow through on.

Re: Summons...help, please.

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:21:23 GMT

We're in Indiana (Hustle Hard is my boyfriend, that's why he answered the question about SOL).

I definitely won't be ignoring it, I just don't know which to do first. Should I contact the plaintiff's attorney or respond to the summons in writing as stated? Does it matter? Also, what do I state in writing as my reply...just that I receive the summons.

As stated, in a few weeks I can PIF if needed. Or, I could do payment arrangements; pay something when I contact the law office and then agree to certain set dates to pay the rest of the balance, if needed.

I just don't know what to do exactly, and need some steps to follow. We don't want the judgment for sure because we've been trying to rebuild our credit to buy a house maybe next year.

Re: Summons...help, please.

Anonymous — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 22:40:05 GMT

You said you will "likely" have the money in 3-5 weeks to pay. How likely? Are you sure you'll have it?

If so, I would sit down and figure out how you can repay the debt and fax a proposal to the attorney handling it. If they accept, then answer the summons stating that you have made agreement with the attorney to repay the debt and no judgment be entered.

Make certain your proposal states no judgment should be entered and the case should be withdrawn and their acceptance(if they accept) states the same.

Re: Summons...help, please.

Underh20 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:37:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
We're in Indiana (Hustle Hard is my boyfriend, that's why he answered the question about SOL).

I definitely won't be ignoring it, I just don't know which to do first. Should I contact the plaintiff's attorney or respond to the summons in writing as stated? Does it matter? Also, what do I state in writing as my reply...just that I receive the summons.

As stated, in a few weeks I can PIF if needed. Or, I could do payment arrangements; pay something when I contact the law office and then agree to certain set dates to pay the rest of the balance, if needed.

I just don't know what to do exactly, and need some steps to follow. We don't want the judgment for sure because we've been trying to rebuild our credit to buy a house maybe next year.

1. Prepare a written response and deny the demand. Make sure it is received by the court within the time frame set on your summons. Once received, the court will schedule a hearing and that will give you at a bare minimum another two weeks. The purpose here is to buy time.

2. Contact the creditor's attorney. Offer a PIF or payment arrangements -- whichever you can follow through on. Creditors almost always would rather save time, expense and uncertainty and handle this out of court. They generally will not, however, drop their suit against you until paid in full.

3. If you PIF, get a signed and notarized "General Release" along with a copy of their court filing which drops the suit.

4. If you make payment plans, ask them to drop the suit. They likely won't, however. What they will do, usually, is offer a confession of judgment with a written guarantee that it will not be filed if you complete your payments as scheduled. A third alternative is they may be willing to schedule a delay in court hearings during which you make payments.

Re: Summons...help, please.

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:27:52 GMT

Okay, so I talked to an attorney at the law office today. 3 options were discussed, and I'd like some opinions on them.

1. First, I can do long-term payment arrangements, we discussed 6 months of $282. The amount owed as of today is $1651.16. So, payment arrangements would mean that I pay more, of course, because of interest, etc. However, what I don't like about this option is this requires an "Agreed Judgment" that I sign, that the law office signs, and the court reviews and signs...thus, making it public record and it will go on my credit report. Does anyone know how an "agreed judgment" would impact my FICO scores? We are trying to buy a house in 2010 , that is our goal.

2. I can settle by 9/29 by paying $1320. This would get a dismissal of the case completely, so nothing filed to go on my credit report.

3. I can PIF whatever the current balance is by 10/10. This also gets the same dismissal.

To me, an "Agreed Judgment" sounds the same as "Judgment" which usually does major damage to credit reports. I have some time to think it over. The attorney said by 9/29/09 to let her know so that they can set up the arrangement in time to notify the court.

Is there something I should ask for if I choose #2 or #3? Like PFD off my credit report the collection acct?

I'm responding today in writing to the summons, simply stating that I received it and I've contact the law office to make payment. That has to be done regardless of which option I choose because the summons requires a response within 20 days.

Message Edited by jeanywoman on 09-14-2009 06:27 AM

Re: Summons...help, please.

Underh20 — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:24:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Okay, so I talked to an attorney at the law office today. 3 options were discussed, and I'd like some opinions on them.

1. First, I can do long-term payment arrangements, we discussed 6 months of $282. The amount owed as of today is $1651.16. So, payment arrangements would mean that I pay more, of course, because of interest, etc. However, what I don't like about this option is this requires an "Agreed Judgment" that I sign, that the law office signs, and the court reviews and signs...thus, making it public record and it will go on my credit report. Does anyone know how an "agreed judgment" would impact my FICO scores? We are trying to buy a house in 2010 , that is our goal.

2. I can settle by 9/29 by paying $1320. This would get a dismissal of the case completely, so nothing filed to go on my credit report.

3. I can PIF whatever the current balance is by 10/10. This also gets the same dismissal.

To me, an "Agreed Judgment" sounds the same as "Judgment" which usually does major damage to credit reports. I have some time to think it over. The attorney said by 9/29/09 to let her know so that they can set up the arrangement in time to notify the court.

Is there something I should ask for if I choose #2 or #3? Like PFD off my credit report the collection acct?

I'm responding today in writing to the summons, simply stating that I received it and I've contact the law office to make payment. That has to be done regardless of which option I choose because the summons requires a response within 20 days.
Message Edited by jeanywoman on 09-14-2009 06:27 AM

A judgment is not able to appear on your credit report until it is filed by the court clerk. Generally, an agreed judgment or confession of judgment is not filed unless you fail to complete the terms of the agreement. You should clarify this with the creditor's attorney AND the court clerk's office to ensure that this is the case in your jurisdiction.

Definitely respond to the summons as it gives you time to mull over your options and prevents a default judgment from being entered.

For option #2 and #3, you should certainly try for a PFD -- especially if you pay in full. While one may think the creditor will play the role of scrooge in cases like this, generally they realize in the back of their mind that even obtaining a judgment doesn't mean they will see all -- if any -- of their money. They'd rather take the sure thing (you agreeing to pay them voluntarily) than run the risk of obtaining a judgment and actually collecting on it.