Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Florida

Re: Civil Suit for Credit Card Debt

The suit won't change your owing the money. You owed it before. After the suit is over, you will owe whatever the judgment says (which will be based on what you already owed + interest + costs incurred in collecting if that was laid out in your original agreement with the credit card company).

What will change is the statute of limitations for collection, or the amount of time the credit card company has to collect the money you owe. Without a judgment, the credit card company has a debt owed by contract, and so has 5 years to collect. With a judgment, the credit card company will have 20 years from the judgment to collect.

So, if your credit card bill was getting to be around 5 years old, then that's why they are suing you. (If your bill was older than 5 years, then they should not be able to collect on it and you should point this out in court immediately, and should hire a lawyer to make sure you raise this issue correctly. If you do not point it out, then you loose the ability to dispute this.)

With a judgment, there will also be the possibility of garnishing bank accounts. Certain types of income are exempt from garnishing. If the credit card company attempts to garnish your account, some types of income are exempt from garnishment: social security is exempt, wages earned by the head of the household may be exempt under Florida Statute 222.11 (you can find the Florida Statutes on the state's website "online sunshine"). If it appears your account will be garnished, check each source of money going into the account and check whether it can be garnished or not. When you get the notice that your account will be garnished, be ready to claim exemptions and request a hearing. At the hearing, show what income and money is exempt. Garnishment in Florida is governed by Florida Statutes Chapter 77. You can read that to try and get some understanding of the process. You can also try and find Florida specific explanatory material on the internet.

You should continue to try and work out a settlement or payment plan. The credit card company wants to get as much money as possible in whatever way it can, and monthly payments is something which is better than nothing from their perspective.