What to do if you're sued for an old credit card debt.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Costa Mesa, California, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) July 11, 2011 -- Have you been sued by a creditor or collection agency -

The first thing you need to do is take a deep breath, step back, and find out exactly where you are in the process. How were you informed of a potential lawsuit? Did you receive a certified letter from a law firm saying they are suing you for a specific debt? Or, did a bill collector tell you over the phone that you were "going to be sued?" Quite often bill collectors use scare tactics as a way to get you to make a payment for an uncollected debt. Indeed you want to take note of the bill collector's threat of a lawsuit, but that's usually where it ends. Unless you receive a certified letter from a law firm detailing the lawsuit you are not being sued.

If you've confirmed that you're actually being sued you need to ask yourself two questions. Is the debt valid, and is it still within the Statute of Limitations in your state? To find out if the debt is valid you need to ask yourself if you really charged that specific balance on your card. It may be that you're a victim of identity theft or just overall incompetence by the creditors. If the debt is valid you want to check the Statute of Limitations for your state. Keep in mind that Statute of Limitation time frames vary depending on your state. For example, in Delaware, you have three years, and in Indiana, you have ten years until the time expires! If the time in your respective state has lapsed the creditor cannot sue you. Creditors and bill collectors have a limited amount of time to sue debtors for nonpayment of credit card bills. At this point the most they can do is harass you by sending collection letters and making phone calls until you instruct them to stop.

If the debt is valid and the Statute of Limitations has not lapsed, you'll want to do all you can to prevent this from going to court. Contact your creditor and try to negotiate a settlement with them. Bill collectors will do all they can to avoid a costly and lengthy court procedure. They would rather have the money upfront than have to wait years even if they have the power of a judgment. Do all you can to settle this debt before your court date. If your case ultimately goes to court you will probably lose. To make matters worse you'll end up owing a lot more money than you do currently because court costs and legal fees will be added to the original amount owed. - www.Debt800.com.

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