Do you invite criminal summons on failing to pay off a debt?

 Posted on August 21, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Millions of consumers in the US suffered job loss as well as wage deduction, especially after the recent economic meltdown. People fail to pay back their bills on time as they undergo financial crisis. When they default on credit card payment, the accruing high interest on the principal balance makes it unaffordable to pay off. Therefore, these debt stricken consumers usually negotiate settlement with the creditors or hire services of adebt managementcompany to get rid of debt.

Yes, you may have heard it right that many serious issues can emerge if you fail to pay off the debt. However, not paying off the debt may not invite criminal summon unless the debt is a result of criminal fraud. Basically, disputes regarding debts are treated as civil matter with the creditors in the civil court.

Complete information on summon as well as complaint:

When the creditors sue the debtor in the court, then the lawsuit for debt becomes official. You may receive summon from the court when the creditor files a lawsuit in the court. A summon is a legal notice of a lawsuit from the court and complaint is an actual lawsuit filed with the court. You may receive the paper document at home, places of employment or at other public location. The summons provides instruction related to the lawsuit, for instance, appearing before the court for hearing or filing a written reply.

Difference between civil summon and criminal summon:

The process of treating a lawsuit is the basic difference of civil summons and criminal summons. A person can be put behind bars temporarily in case of criminal summons. However, in a civil lawsuit a person is not taken to jail unless he is associated with some fraud. A credit card company generally does not file a lawsuit against the borrower in order to retrieve the owed amount. A lawsuit is a last resort for the debt collectors if they are unable to retrieve the owed amount.

An overview on default judgments:

If you receive a lawsuit and you fail to appear for court hearing, then the judgment may be in favor of the debt collectors. In this situation, the judge may involuntarily grant a default judgment to the debt collector.If your debt collectors got a default judgment, then you are required to pay a specific amount of money for the full balance of the debt and additional court costs as well as attorney’s fees.

A complete knowhow on wage garnishment:

If a court judgment is in favor of the debt collectors and it may allow them to move on to bank or wage garnishment. In case the debt collectors allowed for bank garnishment, the debt collector may get full access to the borrower’s checking account. Wage garnishment compels the employers to deduct money from your paycheck and send it to the debt collector.Therefore, hire a legal advisor to avoid further complication and for more information on criminal summons as well as civil summons.

In any case, if you are facing legal trouble, a qualified criminal defense lawyer near Chicago can make all the difference. Contact our criminal defense attorneys today.