Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

It\'s not clear if you\'re talking about a summons on a lawsuit that the credit card company filed against you. Probably that is what you\'re talking about since you have 30 days to file a written answer in court. Anyway, the answer to your question is that the plaintiff (the credit card co. in this case) has the right to move for default as soon as the 30 days has passed, although as a practical matter, it is going to take a little bit more time than that. It may take a couple more weeks, at least, before the request for entry of default is filed with the court. And then after that, a few weeks before an actual default judgment is entered by the court where the creditor can start levying on your properties. However, since you are planning to file bankruptcy anyway, you should know that even if they got a default judgment and are attaching your checking account, the bankruptcy filing will stop that immediately.