SCLS attorney Susan Ingles talks to clients about what to expect and do when you are being sued for credit card debt.

The papers for this case must be handed to you or someone of age at our home. There is a practice that has developed where the sheriff office's civil division may call you to pick it up. However, you do not have to go to the sheriff's office to pick these up. They are paid to bring these papers to you.

It is not a crime to fail to pay debt. You will not go to jail for consumer debt, despite debt collectors threats. In SC they cannot garnish your wages.

Your complaint will include the following
*Your county
*Company suing you
*Statement that that company owns debt
*Where debt comes from
*Amount owed

The issue in the lawsuit is not why you haven't paid or why you haven't made payments, the issue is establishing you own money and how much you owe. This lawsuit is only about whether or not you owe this credit card account and whether they have right to collect from you. You respond to this claim with a general denial. This claim is asking the company to prove you owe this debt. You have the right to require them to come to court and prove what they claim is true. The statute of limitations on a debt like this is 3 years.

Other defenses include:
*the collector is a debt buyer, and not the person you originally owed the debt to
*may not have really bought your debt and have right to sue you for this debt
*you have paid off debt, or part of debt, but they've charged extra fees to your card
*you owe a different amount
*accord and satisfaction: you come to an agreement with them that a particular amount is what is to be owed and you will pay that off in a certain time frame

Process of a case like this
*responding to claim, as listed above
*discovery: find out if they really own your debt, can they prove what you owe, if anything, and if they can prove debt, they will have to prove how much
*just because they get judgement against you, that does not mean you are required to pay it
*notice of levy: sheriff serves this on you to determine if you have any property to satisfy the debt
*examination of assets: want to bring you into court and have testimony from you about what your assets are to see if there's something you own that can be sold to pay off this debt. There are exemptions listed on our website that will not be eligible as an item to sell off.
*you can file notice of exemptions if appropriate
*"nulla bona": notice from sheriff to creditor's attorney that says you have no eligible property
*order to appear: if they pursue process of collecting judgement, they will serve you with papers that must be handed to you (again, you do not have to go pick them up). You do need to actually go to court.
*at hearing, collection attorney for creditor will try to get you to agree to payment plan before court even starts. You are not required to this. Remember your income cannot be garnished in the state of SC. If you agree to payment plan like that, then attorney will get you to sign consent order. Now there is a court order requiring you to pay, which is not a good thing when your income and assets are exempt from payment.

For more help dealing with debt collection defense, check out https://www.learnthelaw.org/group/502...

For more information on debt collection, claim and delivery, read http://sclegal.org/brochures/debtcol...

For more information on debt collection, summons and complaint, read http://sclegal.org/brochures/debtcol...

For more resources and assistance on this and other legal issues, visit https://www.lawhelp.org/sc

Apply for help online at https://www.lawhelp.org/sc/onlineintake, or call our intake line 1 (888) 3465592

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