First off breathe. If you met with the Sheriff and he didn't haul you away then it was a good day. (tips my hat Ice Cube)
Just study onit and contact them once you figure out who it is and go from there. They don't want to pay to go to court any more than you do.
I've had this happen to me twice and I will say that it's a scary experience because it's a sheriff but in the end they are just like any other subpoena server. Calm down and relax whether it was a sheriff or anybody else their job is just to give you the summons. Once you get the summons you usually have two choices at the point: 1. Contact the company suing you on behalf of the creditor and work out a deal to stop the court date or else pay in full if you have the means. The two people that I talked to seriously were jerks and wouldn't budge on taking anything other than the full amount to stop the court summons. I think Fenton & Mcgarvey were the first creditors I had and some other local slime ball lawyer the second time. 2. If you do not work out a settlement then they will setup a court date and then you can show up in court to fight it , show up in court to confirm the debt, or not show up. They won't send the police after you if you decide not to show up. If you do not show up to defend yourself then the judge will just rule in favor of the creditor and then they will win a judgement against you. I freaked out the first time and I went and it was literally just waiting in line to speak to one of their paralegals and they'll probably ask you if you are willing to make a payment arrangement. I realized the second time that it was a waste of time since I knew that I owed the money. Either way you are going to have a judgement on your record and then you can work on a payment arrangement with the company afterwards. My DW and I had 3 that we paid off and they stayed on our records for a little while. Someone showed me a trick a few months back and I got all 3 of my DW's expunged from EQ a few months back so now we're both free and clear of any court records. Several were only like one or two years old. I also got approved for many credit cards as well with a paid judgement on my record so the sting will disappear if you have the means to pay it off. I'm not sure of your financial situation but if you want to try and avoid a judgement on your record just try and see if you can come up with the 1200 prior to the court date. You probably already have the account charged off or in collections so the judgement is like the proverbial cherry on top. God bless and I feel for you I went through credit hell for many years but you will turn things around 