Summon is generally a legal notice which the plaintiff sends when the borrower defaults on his payments and become delinquent. When the creditor sues the debtor and files a case, the defendant receives a summon which informs him the reason of being sued by the creditor. Once the defendant receives the summon, he has only 30 days to respond to it. Now, if the defendant is not able to respond within 30 days, the case goes to default and the defendant has another 15 days grace period within which he may reopen the default and file an answer after paying court fees, but he not allowed filing an answer beyond this 15 day grace period. However, if the last date of filing the answer to the summon falls on a holiday or a week end then the defendant is allowed to file an answer on the next working day.
Once the defendant files a response to the summon, both parties to the case receive a notice from the clerks office informing them of a trial date or a court date. The defendant can bring any witness who has direct knowledge and may help the court to announce judgment in the right direction. Witness to the case (if any) must be present physically and no letters from witnesses are permitted. While filing the case, the plaintiff needs to pay all the court costs, but the defendant needs to reimburse it if the plaintiff wins the case. However, if the defendant does not file a response to the summon, the creditor or the plaintiff can bring a default judgment against the debtor and may either garnish his wage or his bank account to recover the debt.
After both the parties have presented their claims, the judge decides the case and announces judgment either in favor of the plaintiff or the defendant. Both the parties will receive copies of the judgment which will specify the money judgment that is awarded. Now, if the borrower satisfies the judgment amount, the plaintiff should file “satisfaction of judgment” with the court, so that it gets reflected on the debtor’s credit report as “judgment satisfied”. If the plaintiff fails to file “satisfaction of the judgment”, after the debtor pays off the judgment amount, then he may become liable for the damages which the debtor might face due wrong entry in the credit report.