Help! Being Sued By Discover Bank

[helianthus]

Jurisdiction

Mississippi

Hi, all. I am a 22 year-old college student residing in the state of Mississippi. It seems I've gotten myself into a pickle with the good folks at Discover Bank (picture it: a young, retail-obsessed freshman in 2013 with a $1500 Discover It card limit). At this juncture in life, I'd be willing to bet that no 19 year-old needs $1500 of disposable credit. We live and learn, I suppose.
Anyhow, my mother was served a summons on my behalf two days ago with Discover Card, of course, as the plaintiff, and I as the defendant. Their attorneys in this case are local, and I had received mail contact from this particular law office requesting that I call them, mid-year 2015. I did. I spoke with who I can only assume was a receptionist, and she took down my address to send out the instructions on sending in money order payments. I never received this correspondence via mail or otherwise. I was contacted several weeks later by the same woman. I explained the above situation to her, and she reviewed the mailing address in her files. It was incorrect, and from what I was told, she revised the address and resent the letter. I never received such a letter, and therefore was never able to send the attorney's office any money orders.

The summons itself includes a statement saying that I owe Discover Bank $1883 'plus costs,' a testimony of the knowledge of my Discover account from a litigation specialist on behalf of Discover Bank, and a copy of a mailed statement from 2014. In my frantic research to see how this should even be tackled (without paid legal representation), I've come across some defenses but I'm not so sure on how to proceed. I am a young (budding) professional who nannies full-time, schools part-time, and does outreach for a grassroots non-profit part-part-time. In short, I just don't have $1883 to shell out to Discover Bank, even if I wanted to, but I was (and am still) open to making payments to the law office, if possible. I've never attempted to deny the debt before, and I don't intend to let a default judgement be entered. Should I try contacting the law office before responding to the complaint? I've 27 days left to formally respond.

Any feedback or advice would be tremendously appreciated, as this process is totally foreign to me

 

[C-Note]

Hi, all. I am a 22 year-old college student residing in the state of Mississippi. It seems I've gotten myself into a pickle with the good folks at Discover Bank (picture it: a young, retail-obsessed freshman in 2013 with a $1500 Discover It card limit). At this juncture in life, I'd be willing to bet that no 19 year-old needs $1500 of disposable credit. We live and learn, I suppose.
Anyhow, my mother was served a summons on my behalf two days ago with Discover Card, of course, as the plaintiff, and I as the defendant. Their attorneys in this case are local, and I had received mail contact from this particular law office requesting that I call them, mid-year 2015. I did. I spoke with who I can only assume was a receptionist, and she took down my address to send out the instructions on sending in money order payments. I never received this correspondence via mail or otherwise. I was contacted several weeks later by the same woman. I explained the above situation to her, and she reviewed the mailing address in her files. It was incorrect, and from what I was told, she revised the address and resent the letter. I never received such a letter, and therefore was never able to send the attorney's office any money orders.

The summons itself includes a statement saying that I owe Discover Bank $1883 'plus costs,' a testimony of the knowledge of my Discover account from a litigation specialist on behalf of Discover Bank, and a copy of a mailed statement from 2014. In my frantic research to see how this should even be tackled (without paid legal representation), I've come across some defenses but I'm not so sure on how to proceed. I am a young (budding) professional who nannies full-time, schools part-time, and does outreach for a grassroots non-profit part-part-time. In short, I just don't have $1883 to shell out to Discover Bank, even if I wanted to, but I was (and am still) open to making payments to the law office, if possible. I've never attempted to deny the debt before, and I don't intend to let a default judgement be entered. Should I try contacting the law office before responding to the complaint? I've 27 days left to formally respond.

Any feedback or advice would be tremendously appreciated, as this process is totally foreign to me

Perhaps you can contact the other side and make payment arrangements. Make absolute sure they have your correct address and vise-versa, so you can receive billing statements and they can receive your payments. They may have to file a stipulation with the court before they would dismiss their complaint without prejudice, though. You have plenty of time to get your payment arrangements organized, so make sure the arrangements are something you can handle.

 

[helianthus]

This is helpful. Thank you!

 

[adjusterjack]

Agree with C-note. Call the attorney ASAP and see if you can get a payment arrangement. If yes, make sure you get it in writing along with a written stipulation for dismissal if that's part of the agreement.

I strongly suggest that you come up with some cash before you make that call. I think about a third of the amount owed would be an incentive for the creditor to allow a payment plan.

Keep in mind that they don't want to hear talk about payment. They want money. If all you give them is talk, they'll just go right to judgment. You have no defense so stop imagining that you do.

Since this is a credit card you are going to owe the creditor's attorney fees and those could grow to thousands of dollars if you don't get this handled quickly.

Also keep in mind that Discover doesn't give a crap about:

I am a young (budding) professional who nannies full-time, schools part-time, and does outreach for a grassroots non-profit part-part-time.

You cheerfully took the money, then reneged on paying it back. You're the bad guy. Your only leverage is cash.

 

[mightymoose]

It is doubtful that this was legitimate contact from an attorney.
It is more likely a collection agency.
There is no defense that will get you off the hook for the debt or excuse your delinquent payment.
In the grand scheme of life $1800 is really not that much. Contact Discover, not the "attorney" and try to arrange a payment plan.
Budget yourself to allow a small payment every month, just $50 or so, until you can pay more. Paying something is better than nothing at this point. Don't get suckered in to paying all the extra fees either.
Personally, I would avoid all contact with the alleged "attorney".