Hi, I live in California and I got a summons last week about an old credit card debt. I thought I paid off all my debt couple years ago and cut all my cards since then and have never used one anymore. Somehow I missed one and it came back and bite me, I know it is my fault for being stupid and careless, and now I need to fix it. I searched and read a lot for the past couple days about this subject but I keep getting mix answers and I am really confused and frustrated.
I do not have a lot of money so I cannot afford an attorney, I will try my best to do everything myself. First thing first, I know I need to prepare an Answer to the Summon within 30 days and I got a couple questions:
1, I searched the California court self help website for a form for the Answer but cannot find one that seems fit. Did I overlook? Or is there a form? If not, is there a format I need to follow? Like header/footer or anything that I should be aware of? Is there a professional sample that I can follow? I just don't want to put something together that looks like it was done by a grade school student and lose half the battle even before the war starts.
2, I don't want to mess anything up again which will come back and haunt me later, so is there anything I should or should not put in the Answer? Is there a better way to another? I don't want to put something that will be used against me in court by the judge or the plaintiff's attorney.
I just want to do this first before I go any further, but I am sure I still have a lot of other questions about my case. I am sorry if I asked some stupid questions, I am by no means smart, which was proved by the whole mess I am in right now. Thanks in advance.
Hi Matt
You will get the "response to the summon" form from the clerk's office in the court from where you have received the summon. You need to fill up the form within 30 days, else a default judgment may be passed against you. You can either agree or disagree to the debt while filing an answer to it. After filing the summon, you may contact the creditor and settle the debt outside the court.
I too think that after filing a response to summon, you should contact the creditor and settle the debt outside the court. This is because if the creditor brings judgment against you, it will be reported in your credit report and will lower your credit score. A judgment may lower your credit score by as much as 100 points. So it is always better to avoid judgment.