Debt Collection Lawsuit Response Checklist: A Practical Checklist

Summary. This checklist turns a collection summons into a worklist. It starts with the answer deadline, because most of these cases end in default judgment for no reason other than silence. It works the pre-answer investigation that identifies the limitations and standing defenses, the answer and affirmative defenses that must be pleaded or waived, the discovery aimed at the documents debt buyers usually lack, the arbitration motion that often ends the case, the settlement terms to insist on, and the post-judgment exemption claims that determine what a creditor can actually take.

What this checklist is for. Responding to a consumer debt collection lawsuit. For the substantive law, see Debt Collection and the FDCPA. For the step-by-step defense, see Defending a Debt Collection Lawsuit.

Phase 0 — Today

Find and write down the answer deadline. It is on the summons. Everything else is secondary.
Identify the court and whether it is small claims, limited jurisdiction, or general jurisdiction.
Identify whether the response required is a written answer, an appearance on a date, or both.
Ask the clerk whether the court provides a fillable answer form or a self-help center for collection cases.
Ask about a fee waiver if the filing fee is a barrier. Nearly every court has one.
Do not call the plaintiff instead of answering. Settlement talks do not stop the default clock.

Phase 1 — Read the papers

Who is the plaintiff — the original creditor, or a debt buyer you do not recognize?
What is attached? Signed agreement? Statements? Bill of sale? Or only an affidavit and a number?
What is not attached? That is the plaintiff's weakness.
What causes of action are pled — breach of contract, account stated, open account, unjust enrichment? Each has different elements and often different limitations periods.
What amount is claimed, and does it include interest, fees, and attorney's fees? On what stated basis?
How were you served? Personal, substitute, mail, posting? Does the return of service describe a real person at a real address?

Phase 2 — Investigate before answering

Pull your own records: statements, agreement, payment history.
Pull all three credit reports (free at the federally authorized site).
Note the reported date of first delinquency and compare it to your actual last payment. A later reported date may be unlawful re-aging.
Determine the limitations period:
- Your state's period for this cause of action
- Any choice-of-law clause in the agreement selecting another state
- Your state's borrowing statute
- The accrual date — default, last payment, or last activity, per state law
Check whether you made any payment or written acknowledgment that may have revived a lapsed period.
Check for a prior bankruptcy in which the debt was scheduled and discharged — see 11 U.S.C. § 524.
Check whether the account is actually yours — similar names, family members, identity theft.
Check whether you were ever sent a validation notice complying with 15 U.S.C. § 1692g and 12 C.F.R. Part 1006.
Check venue against 15 U.S.C. § 1692i.

Phase 3 — The answer

Respond to every numbered paragraph: admit, deny, or state lack of knowledge.
Do not admit ownership, the amount, or the existence of an agreement unless verified.
Plead every applicable affirmative defense:
- Statute of limitations
- Lack of standing / failure to prove ownership
- Failure to state a claim
- Payment, accord and satisfaction, release
- Lack of consideration
- Improper venue
- Insufficient service of process
- Discharge in bankruptcy
- Identity theft
- Amounts not authorized by agreement or law; usury; unconscionability
- Arbitration (preserve it)
- UCC Article 9 notice and commercial reasonableness defects, in a deficiency case
Consider an FDCPA counterclaim under 15 U.S.C. § 1692k, and plead the concrete harm — see TransUnion LLC v. Ramirez, 594 U.S. 413 (2021).
Sign it, file it by the deadline, serve plaintiff's counsel, include a certificate of service, and keep a file-stamped copy.

Phase 4 — Discovery

Requests for production:

The signed credit agreement or account-opening record
All periodic statements from opening to charge-off
Every bill of sale and assignment in the chain, with the account-level schedule for each
Documentation of every interest charge, fee, payment, and credit comprising the balance
All correspondence with and payments by the defendant
The plaintiff's media request policy and its communications with the seller about documents for this account
Call recordings and dialer logs

Interrogatories:

Persons with knowledge of origination, servicing, charge-off, and transfer
Date and amount of each payment and charge
Contractual basis for each interest rate and fee
Date of first delinquency never cured
Every entity that has held the account and each transfer date

Requests for admission (unanswered requests are deemed admitted):

Plaintiff does not possess an agreement signed by defendant
Plaintiff's records were created by an entity other than plaintiff
No plaintiff employee has personal knowledge of the original creditor's recordkeeping
No compliant validation notice was sent
The last payment was made on or before [date]

Phase 5 — Motions

Motion to compel arbitration under 9 U.S.C. § 2 — raise early and act consistently to avoid waiver.
Oppose plaintiff's summary judgment by attacking the affidavit: personal knowledge, whose records, employment history, account-specific chain of title, completeness of attachments.
Move for summary judgment where the limitations period has run, the debt was discharged, or discovery has produced no admissible evidence of ownership or amount. See Summary Judgment Under Rule 56.
Motion to dismiss for improper venue where § 1692i was violated.

Phase 6 — Settlement terms

Before paying anything, get in writing:

Total amount and payment schedule
That payment resolves the account in full, with no remaining balance
Dismissal with prejudice within a stated number of days, and who files it
Credit reporting treatment — deletion or "paid in full"
No sale, assignment, or transfer of any remaining balance
Release scope, and whether any FDCPA claim is released
No bank account or debit authorization — pay by a method that cannot be repeated
Understand the Form 1099-C consequence of forgiven debt over $600

Phase 7 — If a default judgment was already entered

Determine the deadline to move to vacate — often one year for excusable neglect grounds.
Obtain the return of service and test it against where you lived and who was there.
A judgment entered without valid service is generally void and may be attacked at any time.
Prepare a meritorious defense showing — the motion requires it.
Model the motion on Fed. R. Civ. P. 55(c) and Rule 60 or the state analogue.
File the exemption claim in the meantime; do not wait for the motion to be decided.

Phase 8 — Protecting income and assets

Confirm the federal garnishment cap under 15 U.S.C. § 1673 and, more importantly, your state's limit.
Keep Social Security, SSI, VA, and federal retirement benefits in a separate account — commingling destroys the automatic protection. See 42 U.S.C. § 407.
File the exemption claim after any levy, within the short statutory window.
Identify state exemptions: homestead, vehicle, tools of trade, household goods, wildcard, insurance, retirement — see 11 U.S.C. § 522 for the federal schedule.
Appear for any debtor's examination. Ignoring a court order is the one path from consumer debt to a contempt finding.

Phase 9 — Is bankruptcy the better answer?

Total unsecured debt relative to income and non-exempt assets.
Means test eligibility for Chapter 7.
Whether a mortgage or vehicle arrearage needs curing — Chapter 13.
Whether a garnishment within the last ninety days may be recoverable as a preference.
Whether the automatic stay under 11 U.S.C. § 362 is needed immediately.

Phase 10 — Credit report cleanup

Dispute with the credit reporting agencies, not only the furnisher — that is what triggers the privately enforceable furnisher duty under 15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2(b).
Be specific and attach documents; generic disputes get automated responses.
Check for duplicate reporting by the original creditor and the buyer.
Check for re-aging of the delinquency date.
Keep the entire dispute record.