Getting served a summons for credit card debt is definitely a stressful situation and often times; it leaves debtors in confusion as to what steps they need to take to resolve the problem. Unfortunately, many will try to contact the collection company or collection attorney and try to work out a deal to settle the debt out of court.

It's never a good idea to call your creditor or whoever is pressing charges against you as soon as you received the summons for credit card debt because that person represents the company that is filing the charges. Any or all communication should be restricted only through written correspondence.

Instead of contacting your creditor, you need to prepare an Answer for the summons for credit card debt and start building your defense for the case. At the point where you received the summons for credit card debt, it's too late to go and promise to pay a certain amount of money per month. You are at the point where you need to take action, face the music head on and defend yourself.

You cannot easily trust collection agents and junk debt buyers so you cannot expect them to say yes to any promises you make. It's true that you can negotiate a better deal and avoid facing the court but dealing with junk debt buyers and collection agents are very tricky because without your knowledge, they could be looking for your personal account or putting a lien on your property while you negotiate so better be safe than sorry.

Dealing with a possible credit card lawsuit can be quite intimidating but put your fears aside and check your local court rules. Learn if the lawsuit is brought on an out of statute debt and see if your account has been re-aged to make it fall within your state's statutes. Dig up old credit card and bank statements and compare them with the DOLA or the Date of Last Activity on your credit report.

Know that it is extremely rare for a debtor to be sued for the actual amount of cash they owe. With penalty charges, interest fees and all, the debt could easily exceed the actual debt amount so don't readily hand your cash to your creditor and let them get away with winning the credit card lawsuit. Make them prove their case! In most cases, junk debt buyers and collection agents cannot prove ownership of the debt in question because they do not have access to documents from old, charged off accounts.