How can I stall Citibank suing me?

Did you get mailed a letter threatening to sue you, or were you served with a summons and complaint?

 

Why don't you call a different lawyer? If it was me, I'd have been calling lawyers all day til I found one that could see me asap.

So, they sent an intent to sue. That doesn't necessarily mean that they will sue on the 29th day. But they might. If this is the only lawyer you can see, then you'll have to take your chances. But, even if they did sue you, your SSD is ungarnishable, so you don't have to worry about that. I don't know your states laws, so there may be other things that you need to worry about.

As for stalling, the only thing I can suggest is to call them again a few days before the 28 days are up and tell them you are trying to work it out but need 1 more week. That will give you time to talk to the lawyer and decide what you will do.

 

Have you tried contacting your local legal aid office? They may be able to help you since you are on disability. Or maybe they could direct you to an attorney that does pro-bono work. At least, try to get a consultation. Many attorneys do it for free.

They can garnish your ssdi check but I've only seen it done for child support not civil matters such as outstanding debts.

 

You got a certified letter from City hall saying that Citi intended to sue you? Why did it come from City Hall? That is odd. Are you sure that this is not the actual lawsuit? If so, you do have to answer or a default will be entered and it will be too late.

Look at what you got. Is it Citi letterhead? Or, is it style like a lawsuit, with a court name and case number?

Some jurisdictions allow service of a complaint by certified mail.

I bet that you did get sued and the clock is ticking.

 

That doesn't make sense, coming from city hall.

 

Same thing happened to me a long time ago. I received a summons by mail from my local city hall. I was very worried and had no funds for an attorney. So I just showed up at the courthouse on the date/time on the summons! No lawyer, nothing.

When I got there, I felt like the courthouse was in the business of debt collections. There were pamphlets everywhere on credit and collections and credit law. Apparently, the courthouse was a *processor* if that makes any sense. They simply mailed out summons and gave a default judgement if the person didn't show up. By the way, NO creditors showed up that day. There were other people supposedly being *sued* besides me, but no creditors came, and the court clerk acted as if it was no big deal.

So, I was there but my creditor was not. The court clerk gave me a form to sign, letting me state my position on the unpaid account. I wrote down that I had tried to make payment arrangements with the creditor but had been ignored and threatened by them. Then I went home, no judgement either way, nothing. I never saw the judge.

Needless to say, I never heard another word from the creditor. End of story.

It was one of the strangest experiences I've ever had. It seemd to me as if the courthouse was in the debt collections business. I don't know if this information helps any, but your situation sounds similar to mine.

You could just show up at the courthouse but don't tell Citi that you plan to be there. Just show up and hope that they don't. This might be bad advice; I'm not sure. But that's what I did , and it worked like a charm. I never heard from those jerks again. Ever.


Calmest_LA

 

as far as i know if the plaintiff don't show up...the case is dropped.