Received a complaint from a credit card company

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You're served a complaint by a credit card company to collect past due amounts. What are your options?

You can do nothing. In that case, a default judgment will be entered against you. The creditor can then garnish your wages or garnish your bank account. If they garnish your bank account, you will lose all the money in your account. They can send you questions (interrogatories) asking where your assets are. If you don't have any income or assets, they can't collect. Some income and assets are exempt (creditors can't get their hands on them). The judgment does last somewhat indefinitely. If you get a job or acquire assets at a later time, they can collect against these assets. You can file for bankruptcy or you can negotiate a payment plan.

You can answer. In your answer, you can deny any or all of the allegations they made in their complaint. If they can't prove the allegations, then their complaint will be dismissed and they will not be able to collect anything from you. The judge or jury could decide to give them a judgment for less than the full amount.
You can deny that you owe the amount claimed. You can deny that written agreement was accepted by you. You can defend by stating that the claim has expired because its too old (statute of limitations has run). You can say that you are not the person named on the credit card. This is not an exhaustive list of possible answers.

 By answering, you force them to prove their case at trial. This will at the very least buy you time. During that time you could file for bankruptcy or negotiate a payment plan. They don't want to spend the time needed to get ready for trial and travel to court (if they're out of town).

Many credit card agreements have an attorneys fee clause. This will allow them to add their attorneys fees to the judgment. If you answer and force them to go to court, it will increase their attorney fees. Delaying payment will also add to the interest that you owe them. If you don't have any reasonable basis to deny their claims, don't waste your time.

If you're not certain, talk it over with a lawyer. Many lawyers will be willing to meet with you and give you their opinion for a reasonable consult fee. Hiring a lawyer to represent you in court can be expensive. If the amount in dispute is large, this expense may be worthwhile.