If a Person Is Not Served Personally for a Credit Card Debt Do They Have to Appear in Court?
- Regardless of whether the sheriff hand-delivered your summons or you received it through the mail, you cannot be jailed for failing to appear in court to defend yourself against a credit card lawsuit. A lawsuit for unpaid credit card debt is a civil matter, not a criminal one. Because of this, the judge cannot issue a warrant for your arrest should you fail to appear in court on the appointed hearing date.
- While failing to appear in court won't result in you being arrested, failing to defend yourself still carries considerable consequences. If you do not show up in court, the judge will assume that you agree to the creditor's claims against you. The creditor then wins the lawsuit by default without presenting its case against you. The creditor has the right to use its default court judgment to pursue you more aggressively by garnishing your wages and places liens against your assets.
- The fact that you weren't personally served does not prevent your credit card company from winning a default judgment against you in court if you fail to appear, but if you were not served a summons or received a summons through means not approved by your state, you can fight to have the default judgment overturned. The summons notifies you of the lawsuit and gives you the chance to formulate a defense and file an answer with the court. If you do not know about the impending lawsuit, you never receive the opportunity to tell the court your side of the story. Filing a Motion to Vacate for improper service re-opens the case--giving you the chance to present your defense and overturn the court's original ruling.
- Regardless of how you receive your summons, you have the right to compile a court defense against a debt collection lawsuit even if you legitimately owe the debt. As long as you file an official answer and appear at the hearing, the credit card company must prove its case against you to the court. The majority of debt collection lawsuits result in default judgments. Thus, credit card companies and collection agencies are accustomed to simply filing their paperwork and waiting for the judgment to come through. The company does not actually want to argue its case. New York's Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project notes that if you make your intentions to defend yourself at the upcoming hearing clear by filing an answer to the creditor's summons, the creditor may drop the lawsuit altogether.
