What to Do After Being Served a Debt Collection Summons

Attorney Answer

File a written answer with the court by the deadline printed on your summons. If you do not, the collector can take a default judgment for everything it asked for without ever proving the debt is yours.

There is no single statewide answer deadline in New Mexico, and anyone who quotes you one number is guessing. The period is set by the rules of the court named on your summons, and it differs by court: district court under Rule 1-012(A) NMRA, magistrate court under Rule 2-107 NMRA, and metropolitan court under Rule 3-107 NMRA each set their own. The figure that controls your case is printed on the summons itself. Read it before you do anything else.

Separately, the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et seq., regulates how a debt collector may pursue a consumer debt, including in litigation, and gives you independent rights and your own claim if the collector used prohibited practices. That is a supplement to filing an answer, never a substitute for it.

What you can do

1. Read the top of the summons: which court, the case number, and the number of days you have to respond. Write that deadline on a calendar today, counted from the day you were served. 2. Write an answer that responds to each numbered paragraph of the complaint — admit it, deny it, or state that you lack the knowledge to admit or deny. 3. Raise your defenses in that answer. Common ones: the debt is not yours, the amount is wrong, the plaintiff has not shown it owns the debt, payments were not credited, or the claim is too old. 4. File the answer with the court clerk, mail a copy to the collector's attorney, and keep a file-stamped copy for yourself. 5. Ask the collector in writing for the account documents — the original agreement, the statements, and the chain of assignment showing how this company came to own the debt. 6. Keep every letter, envelope, and voicemail from the collector. If they misrepresented the debt or the lawsuit, that supports an FDCPA claim. 7. Do not rely on a phone conversation with the collector. Only a filing with the court stops a default.

⏱ Time limits apply. Your deadline to answer is set by the rules of the court named on your summons — Rule 1-012(A), Rule 2-107, or Rule 3-107 NMRA depending on the court — and the controlling period is stated on the summons you were served with. It depends on your specific court and the date you were served, so read your own papers rather than relying on any general figure.