If you’re served with a summons for a court appearance in a debt collection matter, you must take it seriously, and I think that the first thing you should do is contact an attorney with experience in representing debtors. If you ignore the summons, the court will issue a default judgment against you, giving the creditor specific rights to collect the debt (plus court costs and attorney’s fees). With a court order in Colorado, creditors can garnish your wages and take up to 25% of your take-home pay. They can also garnish your bank account or even put a lien on any real property that you own. So if you are served with a summons, I would definitely recommend that you hire an attorney to help you with the case. If for some reason you don’t want to hire an attorney, I recommend that you at least contact the creditor’s law firm to try to work out a plan for getting the debt paid.