When a Creditor Sues You...

[sisterfunkhaus]

When a creditor sues you because you have defaulted on a credit card or loan, do they serve you with papers in person, or do they send something in the mail to you? Our lawyer told us to hold off a bit on filing. She said we might get sued by a creditor and that we could be able to file an answer and get a court date. I forgot to ask if you get served by a real live person when they decide to sue, or what.

Sorry if this has been asked here before. I just can't find where it has.

[HHM]

It depends on the state...typically, if it's small claims court, I think they can just mail you the complaint...otherwise, someone will try to deliver the complaint to your last known address...if you don't answer the door or are not home, then things vary wildly from state to state on what happens next...in some states the plaintiff will have to publish the summons in a newspaper for a period of time (usually 3 weeks) before the court will enter a default judgment...in others, the attempted delivery is enough, and the court will allow the creditor to obtain a default judgment.

[ConnieS]

In our case ( we were served by BofA) the Sheriff's department sat in their car in my driveway until I came home from work and handed me the papers. Very intimidating!

[Spartan]

In my case, some dork knocked on the door. I told the cc not to be bothered with wasting their court fee and attorney fee. They didn't listen. Too bad...

[no_it_all]

Typically you will have to be served in person, and that is usually the sheriff. Unless you are unemployed and have no known address, it is pretty simple to find you. If you get a decent sheriff they <might> call you first and let you know they want to serve you, otherwise they can just show up at work and give you the papers there. Many states don't allow counsel in small claims courts, so rarely do creditors sue in that venue. The cost of service will be added to the amount you owe. Figure on two hundred dollars or so.

If you want to save some $$ you can respond to the summons that you <might> get in the mail. Usually though, people ignore those, and then the Plaintiff has to go out and hire a sheriff and of course those costs are added to the debt. Good luck

[sisterfunkhaus]

My debts are way too big for small claims :lol: Just trying to know what to expect. I have a home daycare business and would hate to be served while my parents were here. I'm sure that would make a great impression on them. Great for business too.

[HHM]

It's not the first choice of process servers to serve a person at their place of business because of issues with property identifying the person. The law presumes that if you server someone at their last known residential address, that in all likely hood, the person will get notified about the lawsuit.

However, it does happen, people will get served at work, but its not the first choice.