Collection paperwork is written for lawyers, and that’s not an accident — a person who doesn’t understand a warrant in debt or a garnishment summons is a person who doesn’t fight back. Here are the terms Virginia consumers run into most, defined the way we’d explain them across the table. Jump to a letter, or read straight through.
A
Affidavit
A written statement someone swears to under oath, used in court like testimony. Debt buyers often try to prove a case with affidavits signed by employees who never saw your account — sometimes thousands a week. Those affidavits can be challenged, and making the collector prove its case with real evidence is a core part of defending a collection suit.
Answer / grounds of defense
Your formal written response to a lawsuit, telling the court why you dispute the claim. In Virginia’s General District Court it’s usually called grounds of defense, and the judge may order you to file one after the return date. Filing it — instead of ignoring the case — is what keeps a default judgment off your back.
Appeal bond
Money you post to appeal a General District Court judgment to Circuit Court. You note the appeal within 10 days of judgment, and if you’re the one appealing a money judgment you generally must post a bond — typically the judgment amount — within 30 days. The appeal gets you a brand-new trial, as if the first one never happened.
Authorized user
Someone allowed to use a credit card account without agreeing to pay the debt. An authorized user is not a co-signer — they generally don’t owe the balance, and a collector who pursues one anyway may be collecting from the wrong person. The account can still appear on the authorized user’s credit report, for better or worse.
B
Bill of particulars
A written statement the court can order the plaintiff to file, spelling out exactly who is suing you, on what account, and how the amount was calculated. In a warrant in debt case the original paperwork is often a single vague page — asking for a bill of particulars forces the collector to show its work before trial.
C
Capias
A civil arrest order. Virginia has no debtor’s prison — you cannot be jailed for owing money — but if you ignore a summons to answer interrogatories, the judge can issue a capias for contempt of court. The arrest is for disobeying the court, not for the debt. Showing up makes the problem go away.
Chain of title
The paper trail proving each sale of your debt, from the original creditor through every debt buyer down to the company suing you. Debts are sold in bulk spreadsheets, and the records are often incomplete. If the plaintiff can’t document an unbroken chain, it may not be able to prove it owns your debt at all — a real defense when you’re sued by a debt buyer.
Chapter 7 / Chapter 13
The two common forms of consumer bankruptcy. Chapter 7 wipes out most unsecured debts in a few months; Chapter 13 is a three-to-five-year repayment plan that can stop foreclosure or catch up a car loan. Bankruptcy is one tool among several — sometimes the right one, often not. We compare it honestly against the alternatives before anyone files anything.
Charge-off
An accounting step, not forgiveness. After roughly 180 days of missed payments, a creditor writes the account off its books as a loss — then usually sells it or sends it to collections. You still owe the money, the tradeline turns badly negative, and the date of first delinquency, not the charge-off date, controls how long it stays on your report.
Circuit court
Virginia’s higher trial court — the one with juries, formal rules of evidence, and written pleadings. Larger collection suits start here, and appeals from General District Court land here for a completely new trial. Judgments entered or docketed in circuit court become liens on real estate. Our court directory covers the circuit courts where Virginia debt cases are heard.
Collection agency vs. debt collector
Under the federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, “debt collector” covers more than collection agencies — it includes debt buyers and law firms that regularly collect debts. What it generally does not cover is the original creditor collecting its own accounts. Who is contacting you decides which laws protect you, so it’s the first thing we sort out in a harassment case.
Consumer report / consumer reporting agency
The legal names for your credit report and the companies that compile it. A consumer reporting agency isn’t just Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — specialty agencies track your checks, bank accounts, medical claims, and rental history. All of them are governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and all of them can be held accountable for errors they refuse to fix.
Contingency fee
A fee paid from the recovery if you win, rather than billed by the hour up front. Combined with fee-shifting under the FCRA and FDCPA — which can make the defendant pay your attorney’s fees — it’s why a consumer with a strong case can usually hire a lawyer without writing a check first.
Co-signer
Someone who signs onto a loan and becomes fully responsible for it — not a backup, an equal debtor. A creditor can sue the co-signer first, garnish the co-signer’s wages, and report the missed payments on the co-signer’s credit, all without ever collecting from the borrower. If you co-signed and the bill landed on you, you have rights worth knowing.
Credit freeze (security freeze)
A free lock on your credit file that blocks most new creditors from pulling your report, which stops identity thieves from opening accounts in your name. You place one separately at each bureau and lift it temporarily when you apply for credit. It doesn’t touch your existing accounts or score. A freeze is the free, legally protected version of what bureaus sell as a “lock” — the difference matters.
CROA (Credit Repair Organizations Act)
The federal law regulating credit-repair companies. It bans charging you before work is performed, requires a written contract, and gives you cancellation rights — rules many credit-repair outfits break daily. You never need to pay anyone to dispute an error: disputes are free, and when a bureau won’t fix a real error, a lawyer on a fee-shifted claim beats a subscription service.
D
Date of first delinquency (DOFD)
The date an account first went past due and never caught up. It’s the most important date on a collection tradeline, because most negative information must come off your credit report about seven years after the DOFD — no matter how many times the debt is sold. Collectors who shift this date forward are committing re-aging, a serious FCRA violation.
Debt buyer
A company that purchases defaulted debts in bulk — often for pennies on the dollar — and then collects or sues for the full face amount. Debt buyers frequently arrive in court with thin records: no signed contract, no chain of title, an affidavit from someone who knows nothing firsthand. That’s why a debt buyer suit is often more defensible than people assume.
Debt validation / validation notice
The written notice a debt collector must send within five days of first contacting you, stating the amount, the creditor, and your right to dispute. If you dispute in writing within 30 days, the collector must stop collecting until it verifies the debt. Disputing costs nothing and forces the collector to show its cards — and a collector that skips the notice or ignores your dispute is violating the FDCPA.
Default judgment
The judgment entered against you when you don’t show up or respond — the court accepts the collector’s claim as true, accurate or not. Most Virginia collection judgments happen exactly this way. A recent default can sometimes be reopened by a motion to rehear, and a judgment built on bad service can be attacked later. The options shrink fast with time.
Deficiency balance
What you still owe after a repossessed car (or foreclosed home) is sold for less than the loan balance, plus repo and sale costs. Lenders routinely sue for deficiencies years later. The sale must have been commercially reasonable and the required notices sent — and when they weren’t, the deficiency claim can fall apart.
Disposable earnings
Your pay after legally required deductions — taxes, Social Security, Medicare. Not after rent, not after the car payment. Garnishment math runs on this number: in Virginia a creditor generally takes the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount above 40 times the greater of the federal or Virginia minimum hourly wage. Our garnishment calculator does the arithmetic for your actual paycheck.
Docketing (a judgment)
Recording a judgment in a circuit court’s judgment lien book. A General District Court judgment by itself doesn’t touch your real estate — but once the creditor dockets it in the circuit court of a county or city where you own property, it becomes a judgment lien on that property and can extend how long the judgment stays enforceable.
E
Exempt income
Money the law puts off-limits to ordinary creditors: Social Security, SSI, veterans’ benefits, unemployment, child support, and most retirement income, among others. Banks must automatically protect two months of directly deposited federal benefits from a garnishment freeze. Exempt doesn’t mean automatic, though — creditors grab protected money all the time, and you may have to claim the exemption to get it back.
F
Fee-shifting
A statute making the losing defendant pay your reasonable attorney’s fees. The FCRA and FDCPA both shift fees, which changes the economics entirely: a bureau or collector that violated the law can end up paying for the lawyer who sued it. It’s the reason consumer cases worth a few thousand dollars in damages still get litigated — and why our case review is free.
Fieri facias (writ of)
The old Latin name — “fi. fa.” for short — for Virginia’s writ of execution on a judgment. It directs the sheriff to levy on your personal property, and its lien on intangibles is the legal hook that lets a creditor reach your wages and bank accounts through a garnishment summons. If you see “writ of fieri facias” on court papers, a judgment is being enforced against you.
Fraud alert
A free flag on your credit file telling lenders to verify your identity before opening new credit. An initial alert lasts one year; with a police or FTC identity-theft report you can extend it to seven. One call places it at all three bureaus. It’s lighter-weight than a credit freeze — and if someone has already opened accounts in your name, it’s step one of identity-theft recovery, not the whole fix.
Furnisher
Any company that sends information about you to the credit bureaus — your card issuer, your auto lender, a collection agency. When you dispute through a bureau, the furnisher has its own FCRA duty to investigate reasonably, and furnishers that rubber-stamp bad data are liable right alongside the bureaus. Naming the right furnisher is half of any credit-report-error case.
G
Garnishee
The third party who holds your money — usually your employer or your bank — and gets dragged into a garnishment case by name. The garnishee’s job is to obey the summons and pay the money into court; it is not going to argue your exemptions for you. Protecting the paycheck is your move, and it has to be made quickly.
Garnishment summons
The court paper that starts taking your wages or bank account after a judgment. It’s served on the garnishee and on you, and it lists a return date — the hearing where the money held back gets paid over. Everything you can do about a garnishment, from claiming exempt income to filing a homestead deed, runs on that date. Estimate the bite with our calculator.
General district court
The court where nearly every Virginia collection case starts. It handles civil claims up to $25,000, there’s no jury, the rules are simpler, and cases move fast — a warrant in debt can go from filing to judgment in weeks if you don’t appear. Either side can appeal to circuit court for a brand-new trial. Find your courthouse in our Virginia court directory.
H
Homestead deed
The document you record in circuit court to claim Virginia’s homestead exemption on specific money or property — the cash in a frozen bank account, for instance. It costs little to record but runs on strict deadlines tied to your garnishment hearing: file it late and the protection is gone. Our guide to the homestead exemption walks through how and when.
Homestead exemption
Virginia’s general shield for your property (Va. Code § 34-4): every householder can protect up to $5,000 in money or personal property — plus $500 per dependent, and more if you’re 65 or older — and up to $25,000 of equity in the home you live in. For garnished wages or a frozen account, you typically claim it by homestead deed before the deadline. Full details here.
I
Inquiry (hard vs. soft)
A record of someone pulling your credit. A hard inquiry comes from an application you made and can nick your score; a soft inquiry — pre-approvals, your own checks, account reviews — doesn’t affect it. Hard inquiries you never authorized are a warning sign: either a reporting error or someone applying for credit in your name.
Itemized bill / explanation of benefits
The two documents that tell you whether a medical debt is even real. The itemized bill lists every charge line by line; the explanation of benefits (EOB) from your insurer shows what was covered and what you actually owe. Never pay a medical collector a round number without comparing the two — billing errors and insurance misposts are rampant, and medical debt has special rules on credit reports.
J
Judgment lien
The claim a docketed judgment places on your real estate. It quietly attaches to any property you own — or later buy — in that county or city, and surfaces when you try to sell or refinance: the title company finds it and the lien gets paid from your equity at closing. Liens last as long as the judgment is enforceable, which in Virginia can be a decade or two.
Judgment-proof
Shorthand for a debtor whose income and assets are all legally protected — someone living on Social Security with no wages to garnish and nothing to levy. A creditor can still win a judgment against a judgment-proof person; it just can’t collect on it for now. It’s a status, not a permanent shield: start working again or inherit money, and the judgment is waiting. See exempt income.
L
Limited-content message
The tightly scripted voicemail Regulation F lets a collector leave without it counting as a “communication” about a debt: the caller’s name, a request to call back, a number — and nothing about money owed. A voicemail that mentions a debt where a roommate or coworker could hear it doesn’t qualify, and can be an unlawful third-party disclosure.
M
Mixed credit file
What happens when a bureau merges your file with a stranger’s — usually someone with a similar name or Social Security number — and their debts, collections, and bankruptcies show up as yours. Disputes often fail because the bureau’s matching software keeps re-mixing the files. This is one of the most damaging FCRA problems there is, and one we sue over regularly.
Motion to rehear
Your ask to a General District Court judge to reopen a case — including a default judgment — generally within 30 days of the judgment. It’s the cleanest way to undo a default you just learned about. Past 30 days the doors mostly close, leaving only narrow attacks like void judgments or bad service. If you just found a judgment, move now.
N
Nonsuit
Virginia’s version of a plaintiff hitting the pause button: the collector voluntarily dismisses its own case — once, as a matter of right — and may refile within six months even if the statute of limitations has since run. Collectors nonsuit when a defendant shows up ready to fight. It’s often a good sign for you, but it is not the end; calendar the six months.
O
Open account
A running account with a revolving balance — credit cards and store cards are the classic examples. The label matters because Virginia’s statute of limitations is three years for unwritten and open accounts but five for written contracts, and collectors argue for the longer period in nearly every card case. Two years of leverage can ride on that one classification.
Original creditor
The company you actually borrowed from or owed first — the card issuer, hospital, or lender — as opposed to the debt buyer or agency collecting later. Original creditors usually sit outside the FDCPA, but other laws still apply, and their records are usually better. Whether you’re facing the original creditor or a buyer changes the whole defense.
P
Pay-for-delete
A deal where a collector removes its tradeline from your credit report in exchange for payment. Bureaus officially discourage it, collectors quietly do it anyway — and many will promise it on the phone and never follow through. If you go this route, get the deletion promise in writing before any money moves. The fine print is covered in our pay-for-delete guide.
Pro se
Representing yourself in court, without a lawyer. Thousands of Virginians do it in General District Court every week, and judges are used to it — but you’re held to the same rules and deadlines as the collector’s attorney. Showing up pro se beats not showing up at all, every time. If your court date is tomorrow, start there.
R
Re-aging
Illegally moving the date of first delinquency forward so an old debt stays on your credit report past the roughly seven-year limit. Debt buyers sometimes report the date they bought the account — or a date they invented — instead of when you actually fell behind. Re-aging is an FCRA violation by the furnisher and the bureau that lets it stand, and it’s worth pursuing.
Regulation F
The CFPB’s debt-collection rule (12 C.F.R. Part 1006) that puts numbers on the FDCPA. Its best-known line: a collector who calls you more than seven times in seven days about one debt — or within seven days of actually speaking with you — is presumed to be harassing you. It also governs collection texts, emails, and the limited-content message. Count the calls; the count is evidence.
Reinvestigation (FCRA dispute)
What a credit bureau must do after you dispute: conduct a reasonable reinvestigation, generally within 30 days, and delete or correct what it can’t verify. In practice many “investigations” are a two-second electronic ping to the furnisher, who confirms its own mistake. That rubber stamp is the classic FCRA violation. Dispute by certified mail using the bureaus’ dispute addresses, and keep everything.
Repossession
A secured lender taking back collateral — usually your car — after default. Virginia allows self-help repossession without a court order, but only without a breach of the peace: no breaking into a locked garage, no shoving past you when you object. After the repo come required notices, a commercially reasonable sale, and often a deficiency balance claim. Each step has rules, and broken rules are defenses.
Return date
The first court date printed on a warrant in debt or garnishment summons. For a warrant in debt it’s usually not the trial — it’s where you tell the court you contest the case, and a trial date gets set. Miss it and the collector walks out with a default judgment. What actually happens that morning is covered in our step-by-step guide.
Revival (restarting the clock)
How an old debt comes back to life. A payment — even the small “good faith” payment a collector talks you into — a written acknowledgment, or a new written promise to pay can restart Virginia’s limitations clock and hand the collector a fresh, full-length window to sue. Before you pay a penny on an old debt, run the dates through our statute of limitations checker.
S
SCRA (Servicemembers Civil Relief Act)
Federal protections for active-duty servicemembers: interest on debts you took on before service is capped at 6%, courts must take extra steps before entering a default judgment against you, and proceedings can be stayed while you serve. Collectors and courts overlook SCRA rights constantly — if you or your spouse are active duty, say so early and in writing.
Service of process
How the court system officially notifies you that you’ve been sued. Virginia allows more than hand delivery: papers can be left with a family member at your home, or simply posted on your front door, with a mailing required before any default judgment. That’s how people get judgments they never knew about — and defective service is one of the few ways to attack an old judgment.
Settlement in full
Resolving a debt by paying an agreed lesser amount — with the creditor accepting it as final. The phrase matters: get a written agreement saying the payment settles the account in full before money moves, or a debt buyer may chase the “remaining” balance later. Forgiven debt can also generate a tax form. Settlement is one path among several — we weigh it against the others in debt relief alternatives.
Skip tracing
How collectors find you — databases, public records, and calls to people who know you. The law draws a hard line: a collector may contact a third party only to learn your location, generally only once, and may not mention the debt. Calls to your employer, family, or neighbors that reveal a debt cross from skip tracing into illegal disclosure.
Statute of limitations
The deadline for filing a lawsuit on a debt. In Virginia, generally five years for a written contract, three for oral agreements and open accounts, longer for promissory notes — and judgments run on entirely different, much longer rules. The debt doesn’t vanish when the period runs; you get a winning defense if you raise it. Check your dates with the free checker.
Statutory damages
Money the law awards for a violation itself, without proving you lost a dime. The FDCPA allows up to $1,000 per lawsuit on top of any actual damages; willful FCRA violations carry $100 to $1,000 per violation, and punitive damages are possible. Paired with fee-shifting, statutory damages are what make a harassment case worth bringing even when the harm is stress rather than dollars.
Subpoena duces tecum
A court order requiring someone to produce documents. In a collection case it cuts both ways: the collector can use one, and so can you — forcing the plaintiff to bring the signed contract, the account statements, and the chain of title to court instead of a bare affidavit. In General District Court it’s often the only discovery tool available, which makes it valuable.
Suggestion in garnishment
The sworn filing a judgment creditor makes stating its belief that a third party — your employer, your bank — owes you money or holds money for you. The suggestion is what gets the garnishment summons issued. Seeing this phrase on court papers means a garnishment has started, and the clock on your defenses and exemptions is already running.
Summons to answer interrogatories (debtor’s exam)
A court order to appear and answer questions under oath about your income, bank accounts, and property, so the judgment creditor can find something to take. Uncomfortable, but mandatory: ignoring it can bring a capias — a civil arrest order — for contempt. Go, answer truthfully, and know your exemptions before you walk in.
T
Time-barred debt
A debt whose statute of limitations has expired. Collectors may still ask you to pay — that’s legal — but a lawsuit on it can be defeated, and suing or threatening suit on a debt the collector knows is time-barred can itself violate the FDCPA. The trap is revival: one payment can bring the whole thing back. Our zombie debt guide covers the playbook.
Tradeline
One account’s entry on your credit report — the creditor, balance, status, payment history, and dates, all in one block. Every field in every tradeline must be accurate and belong to you. A single wrong tradeline — a paid debt showing open, a stranger’s collection, a re-aged date — can cost you a mortgage, and it’s the basic unit of every credit-report dispute.
U
Usury
Charging unlawfully high interest. Virginia’s baseline rules cap most ordinary contract interest at 12% (Va. Code § 6.2-303), with 6% applying when no rate was agreed — but the exceptions are broad: banks, credit cards, and licensed lenders mostly sit outside the caps. Where usury still bites is unlicensed online lenders and some tribal-model loans, where the rate itself can make the loan uncollectible.
W
Warrant in debt
Virginia’s most common collection lawsuit — and despite the name, purely civil. No one is being arrested. It’s the General District Court form used for money claims up to $25,000, often served by posting on your door. The single most important thing on it is the return date: appear and contest, or the collector takes a default judgment. We defend these cases every week.
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When a definition isn’t enough
A definition can tell you what a return date is. It can’t tell you what to do about yours. If any of these words showed up in your mail, on your paycheck, or on your credit report, bring the paperwork to a free case review — we’ll read it with you and tell you straight whether you have rights worth enforcing. Call 804.592.0792 or request your review online.
These definitions are general information about Virginia and federal consumer law, not legal advice about your situation. Deadlines and dollar amounts change — talk to a lawyer before you act on any of it.
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