If you are sued, you may have defenses to the lawsuit and should talk to a lawyer right away. If you ignore the lawsuit, you could end up with a default judgment against you. Judgments also often include interest, collection fees, and court costs. Once a judgment is entered, depending on which state you live in, the lender or collection agency could get a lien against your house, seize money from your bank account, and garnish your wages to collect the judgment. Government benefits such as Social Security and VA benefits are usually exempt from collection and can’t be taken by a creditor even if a judgment has been entered.
If you are sued, you may have protections related to the statute of limitations (the time the school has to bring a lawsuit against you), in addition to other basic consumer protections that you can raise to stop the school from getting a judgment against you. Even if you think you owe the debt, you may still have defenses. Each state has different laws and rules for debt collection cases, so your rights may depend on where you live.
Where Can I Get Help with a Lawsuit or Judgment?
You should talk to a lawyer as soon as you get notice that you have been sued. You may even be eligible for free help from your local legal aid office depending on your situation.
Some courts also have free resources for people who have been sued or have judgments against them. You can contact the court clerk where you were sued to see if they can assist you.
Lawhelp.org also has free resources for people who have been sued for debts, including self-help guides, fillable court forms to respond to lawsuits, and help videos.
I Have a Default Judgment Against Me That I Didn’t Know About. Is There Anything I Can Do?
Maybe. If you are sued, you usually only have a short amount of time to respond to the lawsuit by filing an answer with the court. If you don’t file your answer on time, a default judgment may be entered against you. You usually can’t appeal the default judgment if you just ignored the lawsuit. Most of the time you have to be able to show the court that you had a good reason for not responding to the lawsuit on time, such as not having notice about the lawsuit or being in the hospital, but this will depend on your state’s laws.
A lot of default judgments are entered because people didn’t even know they had been sued. Unfortunately, this is very common. When you are sued, you are supposed to be served with a copy of the lawsuit. Lawsuits are usually served in person by a process server, law enforcement officer, or a third party not connected to the lawsuit. But lawsuits sometimes can be served on you in the mail or by leaving the court papers on your door. The collection agencies and lenders have to file proof with the court that they served you with the lawsuit, but most of the time this proof is just a sworn statement, called an affidavit, from the process server they served you.
There have been a lot of problems with debt collection agencies and process servers lying to the court about how and when they served the court papers. This is sometimes called “sewer service.” If a default judgment was entered against you because you weren’t served properly, you may be able to ask the court to vacate (undo) the judgment.
You should talk to a lawyer if you have a default judgment against you. A lawyer may be able to help you vacate the judgment and try to get back any money that the lender or creditor has taken from you.
Debt Collectors Can’t Harass You
You also have rights and protections when it comes to dealing with debt collectors, including debt collection lawyers. For example, debt collectors can’t harass, threaten, or lie to you when collecting on debts. For more information about dealing with debt collectors, see our page on collection agencies and the CFPB’s website. If you believe you have been harassed by a debt collector, talk to a lawyer or file a complaint with the CFPB or your State Attorney General’s Office.
