A judgment is an official result of a lawsuit in court. In debt collection lawsuits, the judge may award the creditor or debt collector a judgment against you. You are likely to have a judgment entered against you for the amount claimed in the lawsuit if you: Don’t respond to the lawsuit in a timely manner.

What happens when a creditor files a lawsuit?

A debt collection lawsuit begins when a creditor files a complaint with a state civil court listing you as a defendant, along with your co-signer if you have one. The complaint will say why the creditor is suing you and what it wants. With a default judgment the creditor may be able to: Garnish your wages.

What happens when a credit card company goes to court?

A credit card company or collection agency must take you to court to get a judgment against you. If you lose the lawsuit and a judgment is issued, a creditor can collect the money you owe. Although it’s better to try to settle the debt before you actually get sued, in most cases, a creditor is still willing to settle after judgment.

Can a credit card company get a judgment against you?

If you are in default on a credit card account, the credit card company can try to get a credit card debt judgment against you by filing a lawsuit. If the credit card company gets a judgment, it can use all sorts of collection methods against you to get paid.

Why are there so many credit card lawsuits?

Many people think debt buyers prefer to avoid lawsuits to collect old credit card debts because it requires them to pay lawyers and incur costs of litigation. If this were true, however, credit card lawsuits would be far less common than is the case. In fact, there were nearly 200,000 credit card collection lawsuits filed in New York in 2011 alone.

Can a credit card company win a lawsuit by default?

No, it’s because debtors usually do nothing when faced with a lawsuit. It is a rare debtor that will file an answer to a complaint to dispute even a valid debt. This allows the credit card company to win the lawsuit by default. Why is this important? As mentioned above, the judgment is the court’s determination that the debt is due.