Plain-English answers to the questions people search for the night they get served. Take a breath. You have options.
This is the most important thing to understand: ignoring it is how most people lose. If you do not respond by your deadline, the plaintiff can ask the court for a default judgment, which means they win automatically without ever proving their case. More than 70 percent of debt lawsuits end this way. Responding, even simply, changes everything.
A default judgment is a court ruling against you that happens because you did not respond in time, not because a judge decided the plaintiff was right. Once entered, it can be used to try to collect through wage garnishment or a bank levy. It is far easier to avoid one than to undo one, which is why responding on time matters so much.
It varies by state and by the type of court, but it is commonly around 20 to 30 days from the date you were served. The exact deadline is printed on your summons. Find that date and write it down before you do anything else.
Generally, a debt collector cannot garnish wages or levy a bank account on a credit card debt until it has first won a judgment against you in court. That is another reason not to let the case go to default. Some income, like certain benefits, may be protected, and the rules vary by state.
The standard response is called an Answer. In it you respond to the claims, deny what you do not agree with, and raise your defenses. Filing it keeps you in the case and forces the other side to prove what they are claiming. You can build a state-specific Answer with the free tool below.
The plaintiff does. They have to prove that the debt is valid, that the amount is correct, and, if they are a debt buyer, that they actually own your specific account. When you respond and demand that proof, you are putting the burden back where it belongs.
Many lawsuits are filed by debt buyers like LVNV, Midland, or Portfolio Recovery, companies that bought your charged-off account for pennies on the dollar. They must prove an unbroken chain of ownership from the original creditor to them, and that paperwork is often thin. See the guide for the specific company suing you.
Most credit card agreements contain a clause that lets a dispute be moved out of court and into private arbitration. Under the arbitration organizations' consumer rules, the company usually pays most of the fees, which can be thousands of dollars. For a debt buyer that paid pennies for your account, that cost can make the case not worth pursuing. It is real leverage, though it does not fit every case.
The statute of limitations is a deadline on how long someone can sue you over a debt. It varies by state and by the type of debt, and it is a technical, frequently contested area of law. If you think your debt may be too old, that can be a defense worth raising, and worth confirming for your state, ideally with an attorney or legal-aid organization.
Be careful. Saying the wrong thing, or making a small payment, can sometimes restart the clock on an old debt or be treated as admitting you owe it. Understand your position first. If you communicate, doing it in writing gives you a record.
Often, yes. Many debt cases end in a negotiated settlement for less than the full amount, especially once you have responded and shown you will not simply default. Get any settlement in writing before you pay anything.
You are allowed to represent yourself, which is called appearing pro se, and many people do. That said, a licensed attorney can advise you on your specific situation, and many legal-aid organizations help with debt cases for free or at low cost. These free tools help you handle the paperwork yourself, but they are not a substitute for a lawyer's advice.
No. ARBITRATE is an educational self-help resource. It explains how these cases generally work and gives you tools to prepare your own documents. It cannot tell you what to do in your specific case, and it is not a law firm.
Respond now: build your free Answer → See the full step-by-step roadmap →