Credit Card Suit

[forsteph25]

I recently recieved a summons from capitol one for a card I had with them about five years ago. I am tring to refinance my home and I do not need a jugdement on my history. So I want to take care of this before it goes to court. I contacted their attorney to set something up but the payment they wanted me to make is just not realistic for me right now. I am only getting part-time hours at my job and my husband is unemployed and has filed for disability so we are barely getting by with what I make paying a mortgage,car loan, childcare and other normal monthly bills. At the end of it all I am lucky to have anything left over. I am not sure when my card first went delinquent but it was charged off 11/24/2003. I owe $2,129.14 and I only make about $1,300.00 a month right now. They want me to pay $800 by the end of the month and another $800 thirty days later. That is just not something I can come up with that quickly. I was told they have to accept whatever I send as long as I send some kind of payment regularly? I am wondering what the statue of limitations are in missouri for them filing this suit and does it go by the charge off date or the first delinquency date? I think that I had gotten the card back in 1999 and I believe I went delinquent in 2002 but I am not sure. If their "SOl" has run is it possible to have this dismissed? And I if I can not get them to set up a different payment arrangment and they win the case what happens since there is not enough money after my bills are paid to pay the judgement. Can I go to jail for non payment? I want to pay it but the money is just not there. What, if anything, can I do???

 

[debt_helper]

The creditor has to accept your money, but not your payment schedule. If you send them money without entering into a formal contract that is signed and filed with the court, they can still proceed against you and get their judgment.

As for statute of limitations, no idea about missouri, but most likely it will begin from the date the card had its last activity, whether that be a charge or a payment to the account.

If they win, and you cannot pay off the judgment, they can start executing against you. This may include:
Taking money out of your paycheck
Levying personal property
Levying real property
Levying bank accounts

There is no such thing as debtors prison in America. What you can do is ask them to work out a deal with you. Most firms will accept a consent judgment withstanding payments. There, you pay, but if you ever miss a payment, judgment gets enetered against you. It prevents a judgment from being recorded against you, allows the creditor to enter judgment without the hassel of a trail/motions, and generally is the best for everyone. Sometimes if you can pay off the judgment amount faster, the creditor will cut you a break (50-80%?), but if your payments are going to be lower or have to be lower, creditors want to get paid off in a year. If you can't afford that, there really isn't much I can see happening other then the creditor getting a judgment and coming after your assets.