Summoned to Court Over Credit Card Debt

threecs · #1 10-09-2008, 11:00 PM

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Illinois

Today I received a Summons to appear in court on Oct 16 from a Capital One credit card. The letter attached was part of the statement that showed as of March 2007 I was 6 months behind.

The original amount owed is now almost doubled with fees added.

I am a stay at home mom of 2 little children and do not work because (may sound weird to those w/o kids) I do NOT trust leaving my kids with anyone so I will not put them into daycare, therefore I will not work til they are both in school. They are my priority.

At any rate, Ive never had any legal issues ever in my life and Im 30 yrs old. Is there anything I can do to avoid going to court and avoid all the extra fees? Can they garnish my husbands pay? We are barely able to keep the lights on now but want to fix this. I would be more than willing to settle and start getting this behind me.

Please advise.

Thanks in IL

Betty3 · #2 10-09-2008, 11:38 PM

If you don't show up in court, they will get a default judgment against you.

However, you can call the creditor before the court date & see if they are willing to take a reduced amt. and/or set up a payment plan.

threecs · #3 10-09-2008, 11:42 PM

Okay, so call the original creditor, Capital One and NOT the collection attorney then?

Also, I see you too are in IL. Do you know where I can read about garnishment of spousal wages in IL or if thats allowed? I tried to google but comes up with 6 million sites and I cannot seem to find it.

kist · #4 10-10-2008, 05:23 AM

Quoting threecs

Okay, so call the original creditor, Capital One and NOT the collection attorney then?

Also, I see you too are in IL. Do you know where I can read about garnishment of spousal wages in IL or if thats allowed? I tried to google but comes up with 6 million sites and I cannot seem to find it.

To pinpoint a search keep adding terms. Just like you can remove all commercial sites from your search with a good old fashioned curse word in quotes (quotes means the word must appear in the html page. so start with

garnishment of wages +"Illinois" + creditor +circuit court and on and on

If you go to court and show a willingness to cooperate and have something in the way of a payment I don't think they will garish your wages at this point. However don't even try that stay at home mom stuff. That will backfire on you.

threecs · #5 10-10-2008, 08:21 AM

Quoting kist

To pinpoint a search keep adding terms. Just like you can remove all commercial sites from your search with a good old fashioned curse word in quotes (quotes means the word must appear in the html page. so start with

garnishment of wages +"Illinois" + creditor +circuit court and on and on

If you go to court and show a willingness to cooperate and have something in the way of a payment I don't think they will garish your wages at this point. However don't even try that stay at home mom stuff. That will backfire on you.

Ive searched like that thanks. Yes Im willing to work it out. And Ive stated I dont work now so they cant garnish my wages, i was asking if they can touch my husbands.

What i dont get is what is this "stay at home mom stuff?" You say that like its a bad thing and Im sorry I dont agree with going to work to pay someone else to raise my kids. Im not 'trying' anything, its the truth and if they dont like it, well let it backfire. You say it like you are comparing it to a crack addict.

Mr. Knowitall · #6 10-10-2008, 09:19 AM

You can safely ignore kist, or any other similarly judgmental comments.

If you have joint bank accounts with your spouse (or anybody else), expect the creditor to go after those.

How did you get a credit card without having income - was this a credit card you obtained before you had kids? How did you think you were going to pay the bills?

threecs · #7 10-10-2008, 12:56 PM

Quoting Mr. Knowitall

You can safely ignore kist, or any other similarly judgmental comments.

If you have joint bank accounts with your spouse (or anybody else), expect the creditor to go after those.

How did you get a credit card without having income - was this a credit card you obtained before you had kids? How did you think you were going to pay the bills?

I got the cc after my children were born. However, my husband had to take a pay cut, lost pensions, health insurance increased, and overall it affected his monthly income by over 25%. We stuck with paying the basics to get by and the credit card was last on the priorities.

Im going to try to settle before court. Notice as I said TRY, because no one will answer or return my call.

ashman165 · #8 10-10-2008, 01:25 PM

Quoting threecs

Ive searched like that thanks. Yes Im willing to work it out. And Ive stated I dont work now so they cant garnish my wages, i was asking if they can touch my husbands.

What i dont get is what is this "stay at home mom stuff?" You say that like its a bad thing and Im sorry I dont agree with going to work to pay someone else to raise my kids. Im not 'trying' anything, its the truth and if they dont like it, well let it backfire. You say it like you are comparing it to a crack addict.

Though I can't speak for kist, I think what he's saying is that when you say you're a stay at home mom, the court will hear: I'm fully capable of getting a job to satisfy the financial obligations I signed a contract to meet. I just don't want to because I have children. They're my excuse for intentionally choosing not to meet the provisions of a contract that I as an adult said I would, and the CC company operating in good faith extended to me a line of credit I now choose not to pay. And even knowing that my husband's income has been severely decreased, I still choose to do nothing about it.

Anyway, I think that's what he's saying. If I were a judge, I'd hear something similar to that when the reason given for not paying your bills is because you don't want to work.

Also, he's not likening it to a crack addict. He's just saying that for whatever the reasons, you choose not to meet your financial obligations.

Oftentimes, the collection agency will offer you a reduced amount to pay to satisfy the debt. Be careful about that though because if the amount they cut off of it falls within a statutory amount, you'll have to pay taxes on the part they're forgiving because it counts as income.

threecs · #9 10-10-2008, 01:50 PM

Quoting ashman165

Though I can't speak for kist, I think what he's saying is that when you say you're a stay at home mom, the court will hear: I'm fully capable of getting a job to satisfy the financial obligations I signed a contract to meet. I just don't want to because I have children. They're my excuse for intentionally choosing not to meet the provisions of a contract that I as an adult said I would, and the CC company operating in good faith extended to me a line of credit I now choose not to pay. And even knowing that my husband's income has been severely decreased, I still choose to do nothing about it.

Anyway, I think that's what he's saying. If I were a judge, I'd hear something similar to that when the reason given for not paying your bills is because you don't want to work.

Also, he's not likening it to a crack addict. He's just saying that for whatever the reasons, you choose not to meet your financial obligations.

Oftentimes, the collection agency will offer you a reduced amount to pay to satisfy the debt. Be careful about that though because if the amount they cut off of it falls within a statutory amount, you'll have to pay taxes on the part they're forgiving because it counts as income.

Yes, children are my excuse. I had them just so i could get out of paying credit card bills or wanting to punch a clock because all Moms know that its just a breeze to do what we do and make lots of money in the process.

Anyways, back on point to the original question i asked, which was can they garnish Spouse wages in IL. If anyone has the answer to that, thats all Im looking for please.

ashman165 · #10 10-10-2008, 02:33 PM

Quoting threecs

Yes, children are my excuse. I had them just so i could get out of paying credit card bills or wanting to punch a clock because all Moms know that its just a breeze to do what we do and make lots of money in the process.

Anyways, back on point to the original question i asked, which was can they garnish Spouse wages in IL. If anyone has the answer to that, thats all Im looking for please.

The question was answered earlier about being garnished as a yes. But you can decide for yourself with this easier (slightly) to read than the actual statute's language information I found to determine that for yourself.

In short the statute, to me, says that they can garnish things over which you have control, except for wages.

If you were married when you got it (or even defaulted), then it's a community debt. He is a debtor for it as much as you are even if he doesn't know about it. So, they can indeed garnish his wages for your current credit card debt.