summons on complaint

[sackett2262]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio

I received a "Summons on Complaint" on 11/08/08, which is dated 09/29/08 from Midland Funding LLC regarding a 10 year old credit card debt of $610.82 These charges came about when I charged an item on my Capital One card 10 years ago, for about 75.00, paid it off (I thought), then they evidently attached a 50.00 fee and over the years it has now grown to 610.82!!! What is a Summons On Complaint? Am I being sued? They attached a generic credit card company typed contract, but nothing with my signature or name on it and then stated in the letter that "the account records are not attached hereto because, upon information and belief: a) Plaintiff is not the original creditor and does not have possession, custody or control of said records". Does this mean they do not have signed copies of the original contract from 10 years ago? I don't know what to do, it says I am to respond within 28 days to the complaint. What if I do not respond? What if I do respond? Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[Debt Guy]

Yes. You have been sued.

If you fail to respond, the court will grant a default judgment.

You may file a response. A "response" is a legal documents wherein you assert your defenses against the lawsuit. A defense is a reason why a judgment should not be granted against you. Typical defenses are (1) the debt is out of statute, (2) I'm not the right person who owes the debt, etc.

Ohio has a 15 year statute of limitation. So, no help there.

Your best shot might be a claim that you don't owe anything and that you want proof that you owe the debt.

This is a small debt. That means it is probably in small claims court. Call the court clerk and make sure you understand what you must do to "respond". Many times, small claims courts are pretty informal and a response could be as simple as a fill-in-the-blank form or merely appearing in court at the appointed time or day.