Sued For An Old Credit Card Debt? Here's Help.
You have about 30 days from the day you were served to file a written response, and that's usually enough time.
Miss that deadline and the plaintiff can take a default judgment against you. Respond, and the plaintiff has to prove its case, which is harder than it sounds. Here's how, and how I can help.
If you've been sued over an old credit card debt in California, the first question isn't what you owe. It's who is suing you, and how old the debt really is. Those two answers decide almost everything about how to respond.
Start with the caption on the summons, the block naming the parties. If the plaintiff is the bank that issued your card, you're in an original-creditor case. If it's a company you've never done business with, names like Midland Funding, LVNV Funding, or Portfolio Recovery Associates, you're in a debt-buyer case. Debt buyers purchase defaulted accounts in bulk for next to nothing, and the first thing they have to prove in a defended case is that they own your account at all. Often they can't. I keep a full directory of who sues Californians and what each must prove if you don't see your plaintiff here.
Now the age. In California, a lawsuit on a credit card debt generally has to be filed within four years of the default (Code of Civil Procedure section 337), and since 2019 the law prohibits even filing suit on a debt once that period has run. If the debt is older than that, the suit may be time-barred, meaning the debt is too old to sue on. That's a real defense, but it isn't automatic. Somebody has to raise it, properly, in a filed response. Ignore the case and the plaintiff can take a default judgment on a time-barred debt anyway.
It also helps to know the scale of the machine you're up against, because it explains a lot about how these cases are litigated. A study of about 2.2 million California court records found that just five companies brought a quarter of all debt-collection lawsuits, and research by the Center for Responsible Lending found the top four debt-buyer firms filed nearly two of every three collection cases in California's most populous counties, with default judgments in about two-thirds of the covered cases. (Figures per the Debt Collection Lab and the Center for Responsible Lending.) Bulk is the business model. A defended case is the exception the machine isn't built for, which is exactly why defending is worth considering. And one more practical check. Debt collectors operating in California must hold a state license from the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation and display the license number on their communications.
Use the thirty days
From the day you're served, you generally have thirty days to file a written response with the court. If nothing gets filed, the plaintiff can ask for an automatic judgment against you (called a default judgment), and with a judgment they can levy your bank account, meaning they take the money directly, garnish your wages if you have a job, or put a lien on your house. Responding is what makes everything above matter, because a defended case is where the proof gets tested.
Two reads that will help. Here's how to calculate your deadline, which is more particular than people expect. And the top five mistakes people make when they get sued is five minutes well spent before you decide anything.
Let it be my problem
If you'd rather hand this off, the consultation is free, it takes fifteen minutes, and you speak with me directly. No intake screener, no telemarketer. Although the outcome can't be guaranteed, you can offload the process, so you know that whatever can be done is being done while you go about the other things in your life. It's sort of like the alarm clock by your bed. Once it's set, your brain stops holding the time, because that's taken care of. Let me take care of this.