My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: California
I became unemployed in October of 2008 and was unable to make payments on a Credit Card I had with a balance of 8800.00. In January of 2009 I received a call from a collection agency and I attempted to make payment arrangements. I put forth a monthly payment amount that I could make being unemployed and was turned down because the amount was less than they were seeking. I was contacted twice again with the same results. I heard nothing after these exchanges until I was served a summons in March of 2010 to appear in court for a limited civil case related to the amount owed. I wrote an answer to the complaint within 30 days and again heard nothing until April of 2011 when I received an order to show cause RE: monetary sanctions (against the suing party, Hunt and Henriques not me). By this time I was living in Northern CA because of work. I wrote to the court stating that I was unable to attend due to distance and my work schedule. I letter was rejected by the court due to a lack of supporting paperwork and a court date was set for this month. Since then I have spoken with them and again proposed a payment plan which was denied. I have no assets or savings and at this point my questions are:
-Should I state why I was unable to be at the order to show cause or does it not matter at this point?
- I have read that the suing firm is unethical and a number of complaints have been filed against them. Does this figure in?
-Does my repeated attempts to reach a mutually agreed upon payment schedule (show of good faith) help me in anyway?
- Does California’s SOL related to CC debt come into play at all here?
-What else should I be doing to prepare?
Thank you for your time and attention, they are both greatly appreciated.

