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Respond to a Summons for Credit Card Debt

Sarah Edwards | April 23, 2024

Sarah Edwards
Legal Expert
Sarah Edwards, BS

Sarah Edwards is a professional researcher and writer specializing in legal content. An Emerson College alumna, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Communication from the prestigious Boston institution.

Edited by Hannah Locklear

Hannah Locklear
Editor at SoloSuit
Hannah Locklear, BA

Hannah Locklear is SoloSuit’s Marketing and Impact Manager. With an educational background in Linguistics, Spanish, and International Development from Brigham Young University, Hannah has also worked as a legal support specialist for several years.

Summary: Respond promptly to a credit card debt Summons by drafting a short and properly formatted Answer where you deny the claims and list applicable affirmative defenses. File the Answer with the court and plaintiff’s attorney within your state’s deadline to avoid default judgment.

Have you just received a Summons? If so, you might (understandably) start to panic — having a lawsuit filed against you is serious. But when you break it down and understand the next steps you need to take, the whole process is demystified. Here’s a step-by-step look at how to respond to a Summons.

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What’s a Summons?

A Summons is a legal document that you typically receive in the mail (although it can be served to you directly as well). It’s meant to inform you that someone has filed a lawsuit against you, and it tells you what you need to do to respond.

The Summons usually arrives along with another document called a Complaint (or a Petition, depending on where you live). This document outlines the specific reasons you’re being sued.

Before you do anything, look at the Summons to check for accuracy. Make sure your name, address, and the amount you’re being sued over are all correct.

Getting a Summons is immensely stressful, so it’s tempting to put off dealing with it. However, time is of the essence. Your time to respond is limited, and each state has a different deadline to respond to a Summons, but most states only give you between 20 and 30 days from the filing date.

This deadline is incredibly important. If you don’t respond to a Summons by the deadline, the court is likely to issue a default judgment against you. That means you automatically lose, and your creditor might be able to garnish your wages or even take money directly out of your bank account if you don’t pay.

Check you state's deadline to respond to a Summons for credit card debt below:

Deadline Calculator

Select your state.

Select the day you were served.


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This calculator is for educational purposes only. It does not factor in weekends or holidays, so your actual deadline may be some days later.


Learn more: Resolve Your Debt With A Summons Response: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to respond to a Summons

The official response to a Summons is known as an Answer. Here’s how to draft and file an Answer to a debt Summons in every state.

Keep your Answers short, and deny as many claims as possible

One of the main purposes of the Answer document is to address each of the claims outlined in the Complaint. The lawyers for the debt collector can twist what you say, so make sure to keep your responses brief.

Most attorneys suggest denying as many claims as you can. There’s no need to deny obvious facts like your name and address. But because the opposing party’s lawyers have to prove anything you deny, it’s a good idea to deny any debt-related claims.

Include a list of affirmative defenses

In addition to addressing all the claims in the Summons, your Answer should include every affirmative defense applicable to your case in a list. These are facts that weaken the plaintiff’s case against you. These are some common examples:

  • You’ve already paid the debt.
  • The debt is not yours (or is the result of identity theft).
  • The statute of limitations for the debt collector to sue you has run out.

Not sure what affirmative defenses apply? No problem. When you use SoloSuit to draft your Answer, we can help you come up with affirmative defenses that can help your case.

Use the right formatting and file

Your Answer letter should be neatly formatted using standard fonts and margins, with a header that names all the parties in your case and gives your case number. Under that header, you should have your responses to the plaintiff’s claims and your listing of affirmative defenses.

If you want, you can also include a section at the end called a “prayer for relief.” This is where you mention what you want the court to do — for most debt collection defendants, that’s probably to just drop the lawsuit!

Once you’ve written and formatted everything, it’s time to file your Answer. To file it, you need to send a copy to the court and a copy to the plaintiff’s attorney. Always make sure you can confirm receipt, and when the court receives your Answer, it doesn’t hurt to call the court and verify that it’s on file.

When you send copies of your Answer, double-check that you have the right addresses. For example, if you’re being sued by Firstpoint Coll Resources Inc, the address for Answer letters might be different than the debt validation address for Firstpoint Coll Resources Inc.

Draft and file an Answer to your Summons for credit card debt.

In the video below, a real SoloSuit customer explains how he responded to a Summons for credit card debt against Discover and won his case:

What comes next?

Once you’ve sent your Answer letter, you need to wait for the plaintiff to respond. There are generally two ways your case can go at this point: either the plaintiff decides to drop the case, or the lawsuit moves forward.

If the case continues, it moves into the discovery phase. That’s where both parties do research and put together their arguments. Often, it works best for both parties to settle before going to trial. Trials are long, expensive, and unpredictable.

To understand how this process works, let’s consider an example.

Example: Marco gets a Summons saying that Firstpoint Coll Resources Inc GMAC is suing him over a $1,500 unpaid debt. He uses SoloSuit to send an Answer letter. The plaintiff decides to keep going with the lawsuit. Marco realizes that if the lawsuit goes to the trial phase, he’ll probably need a lawyer. He looks up the Firstpoint Coll Resources Inc phone number and calls to ask whether the company would settle for $1,200 instead. To his relief, they accept, and he’s able to pay the debt without a lawsuit hanging over his head.


If you’d rather settle your lawsuit before it goes to trial, check out SoloSettle by SoloSuit.

Watch this video to learn more about how to settle your debt outside of court:

Let SoloSuit help you navigate your debt lawsuit

Unless you have legal experience, it’s easy to feel completely lost when you get the news that someone has filed a debt lawsuit against you. Fortunately, you don’t have to navigate this situation alone. When you work with SoloSuit, you can streamline the process and maximize your chances of a favorable outcome. Get started today!

Check out SoloSuit’s video for tips on drafting a great Answer!

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