Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Whether you need legal representation or not depends on a lot factors which you do not divulge. I am not a litigator and litigation attorneys have a different focus. However, you should pay an attorney to at least review the complaint and advise you of your options.

You should hire an attorney to represent you and file an answer to the lawsuit if you have legal defenses - either the statute of limitations has expired (i.e. it has been 4 or more years since you last paid if this is a PA debt); or you have some defense/objection - you don't owe the debt (either you paid or there was identity fraud/theft); you do not owe as much as they say (them adding interest and late fees does not count - it is where they actually failed to take into account payments) or if they did not attach proper documentation to the complaint to prove its your debt.

Otherwise, if this is your debt and you have no defenses, then the creditor is going to get a judgment against you regardless of whether you answer or not. In such case, if you are going to hire an attorney, it may make sense to hire a bankruptcy attorney, depending on how much you owe and your other debts.

If bankruptcy is not an option and if you have no assets other than disability, then maybe you do nothing at all. Allow a judgment to be entered. While it will be on your credit report, if all you get is disability income, then that cannot be seized.

Your other option would be to resolve the debt, either by paying in full or settling. If you want to do payments, many creditors will want between 2% and 4% of the debt on average per month. In return for your payments, you get a written promise that the creditor will not try and seize any of your assets or your bank account. If you have the funds, you can also save and try to settle when you have at least 50% of the judgment amount. The judgment will earn interest at a rate of 6% per year once its entered so it will get bigger.

However, you do need to sit down with an attorney and pay the attorney to review the complaint, advise you of your option and discuss asset protection strategies with you.