<prompt> Human: Hi, rpersonalfinance. Im a little confused about this whole situation and was hoping some of you could shine some light on it for me.A few years ago, fresh out of high school, I took out a JCPenney credit card. While in college, that JCPenney card became a JCPenney MasterCard through Synchrony Bank, and I could use it anywhere. And boy, did I. I was incredibly stupid, and racked up about 3600 on that card.After college, I was freelancing and didnt have steady work, so between other bills, payments on that card fell by the wayside. About 8 months ago, I tried to log in to make a payment and was informed that a debt collector named Cac Financial was taking over my debt. Since that time, I have made two payments to Cac Financial bringing my current balance according to their website to 3, 546.35. Yesterday, I received a court summons from the original card holder Synchrony Bank, suing me for the original 3,596.35. Im confused why the debt would have been sold off, then the original card suing me? Im just not sure how to proceed. Other useful information: I live in Ohio, the debt is not past the statute of limitations, and I do have other credit card debt that I have been paying on, as well as student loans that are currently deferred.  <response>: Its worth it to pay a lawyer to negotiate a settlement for you, sometimes for pennies on the dollar. 