I’ve Been Sued for Credit Card Debt in Ohio – Now What?

(Front end note: I’ve been getting a ton of emails from readers lately about credit related topics. I’m honored to be able to help (or at least empathize), but I think it might be better for everyone if I started answering questions here instead of providing individual responses through email. Let me know what you think.)

Okay, with that out of the way, here’s a question I received early this morning:

Mike, I just got a certified letter from the Cuyahoga County Municipal Court telling me that Citibank is suing me for about $6,000 in credit card debt. What am I in for, and is there anything I can do? I saw an ebook being sold on (site obscured) showing me how to challenge the lawsuit – is that for real? – Allen R.

Well, first I have to do the whole disclaimer thing – I’m not a lawyer and can’t give legal advice; my response does not create an attorney/client relationship; do your own research, as statements here may be outdated/inaccurate; I’m not liable for a single damned thing you do after reading this. Got all that? Good. Moving on…

You didn’t say what state you’re in, but the only Cuyahoga County I could find is in Ohio, so I’m running with that.

According to my research, you have 28 days after the date on the letter to respond and challenge the lawsuit; otherwise, Citibank (or more accurately, the attorney it hired to file the suit) can file a motion for default judgment, which means Citibank wins.

Every book, legal article, etc. I can find says not to ignore the letter. But I’d say the conundrum is, “Well, what do I respond with?” I mean, unless you can prove you already paid the debt, or never had the credit card to begin with, I’m not sure it’s going to help much. Even if someone else fraudulently racked up the bills, the court is going to ask why you didn’t report it to Citibank long before now.

I’ve seen the sites you mentioned that sell ebooks and “kits” supposedly showing people how to challenge a judgment. The premise seems to be claiming that the suit is invalid because the creditor delivered it incorrectly, didn’t fill out the right form or whatever. I dunno – I’ve never bought from any of those sites – but I suspect shelling out $39 for an ebook AND pissing off a judge in the same week is probably not a good combination. Plus, an attorney friend told me that even if you get the case dismissed on a technicality, the creditor can just refile the judgment suit with the proper documentation/method/whatever – so it sounds like that tactic would, at best, just delay the inevitable.

I’ve heard of people responding with a letter that basically says, “Yeah, I owe the money. But I can hardly keep food on the table, let alone pay my credit card bills. I’m really sorry.” Those who have caught a sympathetic judge on a good day might get the lawsuit tossed out. But I’d talk to an attorney before doing that.

Okay, so let’s say shenanigans or appeals for sympathy don’t work out, or you just don’t respond. As I noted, Citibank’s attorney will likely file a motion for default judgment after the 28 days are up.

From there, it’s basically a matter of damage control, which I’ll get into in the next post.