Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

You should have obtained legal help a long long time ago when you were sued. Before suit was brought, you had the right to ask for verification of the debt. Creditors may or may not provide it. However, once you are sued, you have the right to request this in discovery, which consists of interrogatories (written questions), depositions (where the attorney asks questions of you or you ask questions of a representative of the credit card company) or you ask the credit card company to produce documents.

The statute of limitations is 4 years in Pennsylvania, provided that the debt was created while you were in Pennsylvania. The 4 years begins to run when you first stopped paying on the card.

Did your husband file an answer and deny the debt was his? What is the hearing for? A motion for summary judgment? Motion for default? An arbitration or small claims matter? These are all different ways of the credit card company obtaining a judgment and my advice would vary based on what type of proceeding this is. If its a default judgment hearing, you would have to have an excuse for not filing an answer. Not being able to afford an attorney or not knowing what to do is not a legitimate excuse in the eyes of the court. If its a summary judgment hearing, then you have to prove to the court that there exists a disputed issue of fact for trial based on the complaint, answer and any relevant discovery. For example, the credit card company claims you owe $10,000 on the debt and you have documentation disputing this and showing that you only owe $4,000. If this is an arbitration or small claims matter, you might be able to ask questions of the witness - there will have to be one. However, I have not seen a credit card case get this far.

Litigation is generally a waste of time unless this is not your debt, the statute of limitations has expired or you have some other valid defense. If this is your debt, you are better off trying to settle the debt rather than fight in court as the credit card company will get a judgment against you whether you show up and fight or not.

If you are interested in resolving the debt outside of court, please contact my office.

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I think that the previous answer is way off base. For the attorney to say that you are going to lose whether you show up or not is dead wrong. There are many factors involved, such as whether the original creditor is the one who is suing you, or whether the debt has been sold. In addition, it really matters as to which attorney is representing that company. Some collection attorneys are downright horrible. I handle credit card cases, about 40 per month, and I offer a free review of your matter. Contact my office prior to the hearing for a free case review.