If you are being sued by a debt collector, the one thing that matters right now is filing a written answer with the court before the deadline printed on your summons. More than 70 percent of debt collection cases end in default judgments because the person being sued never responded, which hands the collector an automatic win and the power to garnish wages and seize bank funds.1The Pew Charitable Trusts. How Debt Collectors Are Transforming the Business of State Courts Show up on paper, raise your defenses, and force the collector to prove its case.
Read the Summons and Mark the Deadline
You will have received two documents. The summons tells you which court is handling the case and how long you have to respond. The complaint lists who is suing you, how much they claim you owe, and why. The response window varies by jurisdiction but typically falls between 20 and 30 days from the date you were served. Miss it and the court can rule against you without ever hearing your side.
Write the deadline down and work backward from it. If you plan to hire an attorney, start looking today, not next week. Then call the clerk of the court listed on the summons and confirm the case number. Fake “lawsuits” designed to scare people into paying do exist, and a phone call to the clerk rules that out.
Check the Lawsuit for Problems Before You Answer
Debt collectors, especially debt buyers who purchased your account for pennies on the dollar, make procedural mistakes that can end a case entirely. Look at the complaint with a skeptical eye before you write anything.
Wrong Court
Under federal law, a debt collector can only sue you in the judicial district where you live or where you signed the original contract. Filing anywhere else violates the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1692i Raise improper venue in your answer and the case may be dismissed or transferred.
The Statute of Limitations Has Run
Every state sets a time limit on how long a creditor can wait before suing over an unpaid debt. For credit card and other written contract debts, the window runs from three years in some states to ten in others. Once it expires, the debt still exists but the collector loses the right to sue on it. Collectors file on expired debts more often than you would expect. Count from the date of your last payment or the date the account first became delinquent, and check your state’s specific limit.
The Collector Cannot Prove It Owns the Debt
If a debt buyer is suing rather than the original creditor, it must prove the “chain of title,” the paper trail showing each transfer of your account from the original creditor through every subsequent purchaser to the company now in court. Each transfer needs an assignment or bill of sale that specifically identifies your account. Many debt buyers do not have this. Challenging the chain of title forces them to produce it or lose.
Demand Validation of the Debt
Federal law gives you the right to demand proof that the debt is real, that the amount is correct, and that the company suing you actually has the right to collect it. Under the FDCPA, a debt collector must send a written validation notice within five days of first contacting you, listing the amount and the name of the creditor. If you dispute the debt in writing within 30 days of receiving that notice, the collector must stop collection activity until it sends verification or a copy of a judgment against you.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1692g
One important wrinkle: filing a lawsuit is not itself an “initial communication” under the validation rules, so you may have already received the notice by letter earlier. If you never got one, or you are still within 30 days of receiving it, send a written dispute by certified mail now. Even if the 30-day window has passed, you can still challenge the debt’s accuracy as a defense in your answer.
Write and File Your Answer
Your response to the complaint is called an answer. It is not a letter to the judge explaining your circumstances. It is a structured document that addresses each claim and raises your defenses.
Respond to Each Numbered Paragraph
The complaint contains numbered paragraphs, and your answer must address every one. For each paragraph you pick one of three responses: admit, deny, or state that you lack sufficient knowledge to admit or deny. Only admit something if you are certain it is true. If you do not know whether the debt buyer actually purchased your account, or whether the balance is correct, say you lack sufficient knowledge. That forces the collector to prove it.
List Your Affirmative Defenses
After responding to each allegation, list the affirmative defenses that apply. These are legal reasons the collector should lose even if the underlying debt is real. Common ones include:
- Expired statute of limitations: the collector waited too long to sue.
- Improper venue: the case was filed in the wrong court district.
- Lack of standing: the debt buyer cannot prove it owns the debt.
- Incorrect amount: the claimed balance includes unauthorized charges, fees, or interest.
- FDCPA violations: the collector broke federal debt collection rules while pursuing the debt. You have one year from the date of a violation to bring an FDCPA claim, and it can be raised as a counterclaim in the same lawsuit.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1692k
List every defense that could plausibly apply. Skip one now and try to raise it later, and the court may treat it as waived.
File and Serve It
File the completed answer with the court clerk before your deadline. Most courts accept filings in person, by mail, or through an electronic system. You will usually need the original plus at least one copy. Filing fees vary widely, from under $50 in some courts to several hundred dollars in others. If you cannot afford the fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver application. Courts routinely waive fees for low-income filers.
Then serve a copy on the collector’s attorney (or the collector directly if no attorney is listed). Regular first-class mail is enough in most jurisdictions, though certified mail gives you a cleaner paper trail. Keep your court-stamped copy and your proof of service. Those are your evidence that you responded on time.
If You Already Missed the Deadline
If a default judgment has already been entered against you, you may still be able to get it overturned by filing a motion to vacate.
Under federal court rules, a judge can set aside a default judgment for mistake, inadvertence, surprise, excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, or fraud by the opposing party. For the first three grounds, the motion must be filed within one year of the judgment. A catch-all provision allows relief for “any other reason justifying relief” within a reasonable time. State courts have similar rules, though deadlines and standards differ.
Courts generally look for three things: that your failure to respond was not deliberate, that reopening the case will not unfairly prejudice the collector, and that you have a real defense to present. If you were never properly served, that is an especially strong basis, because the judgment itself may be void. Even simply not understanding the papers or dealing with a medical crisis can qualify as excusable neglect. The longer a default sits, the harder it is to undo, so file the motion as soon as you learn about the judgment.
What a Judgment Can and Cannot Take
Even if a collector wins a judgment, federal and state law put real limits on what it can actually collect.
Wage Garnishment Caps
For ordinary consumer debts, federal law caps wage garnishment at the lesser of 25 percent of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour as of 2026, making the threshold $217.50 per week). If your disposable weekly income is $217.50 or less, your wages cannot be garnished at all.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 15 Section 1673 Disposable earnings means what is left after legally required deductions like taxes, Social Security, and Medicare.6U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #30: Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) Many states set lower limits, and a few prohibit wage garnishment for consumer debts entirely.
Social Security and Federal Benefits
Social Security payments cannot be subject to execution, levy, attachment, garnishment, or other legal process brought by a private creditor.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 42 Section 407 The same protection extends to Supplemental Security Income and Veterans Affairs payments. The main exceptions are federal tax debts and child support or alimony, not credit card bills or medical debt.
Bank Account Lookback
If you receive federal benefits by direct deposit, your bank must automatically protect two months’ worth of those deposits when it receives a garnishment order. The bank reviews your account for benefit deposits during the prior two-month lookback period and must keep that amount fully accessible to you without any paperwork or exemption claim from you.8eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments The bank also cannot charge a garnishment processing fee against the protected funds. Any money above the protected amount can still be frozen under the bank’s normal garnishment procedures.
Beyond federal protections, most states exempt additional assets from judgment collection, including a portion of home equity, basic household goods, and retirement accounts. Those exemptions vary significantly by state.
What Happens After You File
Filing your answer keeps you in the game. The case then moves into a phase where both sides prepare for a possible trial, and several things can happen along the way.
Through discovery, both parties can demand information and documents from each other. This is your chance to press the collector for proof. Written questions, called interrogatories, can ask the collector to identify the original creditor, produce the original signed agreement, and document every transfer of the account. Requests for account statements can force the collector to show how it arrived at the claimed balance. Debt buyers frequently cannot produce complete records, and discovery is often where their case collapses.
Settlement becomes more likely once you have answered. Collectors weigh the cost of litigating against what they can realistically recover, and offers on older debts or debts with documentation problems often come in well below the full claimed balance. If you settle, insist on a written agreement that specifies the exact amount, the payment terms, and a clear statement that the settlement resolves the debt in full. Do not pay on a verbal promise.
If your original credit agreement contains an arbitration clause, you may be able to move the case out of court by filing a motion to compel arbitration. Arbitration costs the collector money, and many debt buyers would rather drop a small account than pay the fees. Check the original credit card or loan agreement before deciding whether this makes sense.
Either side may also file a motion for summary judgment, asking the court to rule without a trial because the key facts are not disputed. If the collector cannot produce basic documentation like the original agreement or a clear chain of ownership, you can argue that summary judgment should go your way. If the case is not resolved through motions or settlement, it goes to trial, where a judge weighs the evidence and issues a final ruling.
Getting Help
You do not need an attorney to file an answer and raise defenses, but legal help improves your odds. Many legal aid organizations represent low-income consumers in debt collection cases at no cost. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau maintains a directory of state-based legal aid programs, and local bar associations often run pro bono referral services.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Do I Find a Lawyer To Help Me With a Creditor or Collector Trying To Collect a Debt From Me? Some consumer attorneys handle FDCPA cases on a contingency basis, collecting their fee from the collector if they win rather than from you. The Federal Trade Commission also publishes plain-language guidance on what to do when a collector sues.10Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if a Debt Collector Sues You
If you cannot get an attorney, your local court’s self-help center can often provide answer forms and basic guidance on filling them out. The critical thing is to file something before the deadline. An imperfect answer filed on time is far better than a perfect one that arrives a day late.