Bank suing me for collection

I live in Florida and back in 1997 I took out a loan for $4000. In 1999 I had some financial problems and have been struggling with my bills ever since. I joined a credit counseling service to help me lower my payments and consolidate my bills.....well the bank refused to work with the credit service by lowering my payments and such. Well needless to say I have fallin pretty behind and am now being sued by the bank for the remaining $745 due on the loan. I can not afford an attorney. Can I request a public defender in this situation? I do not deny that I owe this money, however right now I can barely afford food and housing. Can I make a request to the judge for additional time to pay this debt and is he likely to grant it? I didn't place any collateral up for the loan, can they liguify anything of mine to make money to pay the debt?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Jeremy

[JETX]

Sorry, but there really isn't such a 'thing' as public defender for a civil matter, only for criminal.

And based on your post, you really have no viable defense against their actions. You admit you owe the loan, just that you apparently can't pay it.

My suggestion would be to contact the debtors attorney and try to negotiate a settlement and payment plan. They are under no obligation to accept it, but they might in order to prevent having to spend time in the court to get a judgment and then to have to enforce that judgment against you.

If a settlement is not reached, a court will very probably grant the judgment to them and they will then be able to use the laws of Florida to enforce the judgment. Some actions could be garnishment or seizure of assets as allowed.