I have a situation that I just do not know how to handle and would be grateful for any help I could get. In 2001 I purchased a car, a new Kia that was financed thru Ford Motor Credit. Made payments (For the life of me I do not recall how much the payment were. I'm thinking 300 odd dollars per month) for at least 2+ years when I experienced a sudden, severe medical problem that put me off work for years. With no resources the car was repossessed. 5-6 years ago, after returning to work, the loan suddenly caught up with me and my wages were garnished. They collected money from me for approximately 2 years-will have to dig out old records to find out how much. I do recall that I had not been notified of a court date seeking a judgment against me and the first I knew of it was when my wages were garnished. The garnishment went on for about 2 years, till I was laid off from the job. I also recall in the papers that they were garnishing me for the entire amount that I had originally financed. After being laid off I got a new job a couple months later and have worked it for 3 years with no word of this loan. Today, I received a letter from, what I believe is a different law firm, also demanding the original amount financed ($14,133.26) but are willing to settle for $7,109.80 and want the money by March 20th. My â??second optionâ? is to pay the full amount plus statutory interest of $329.59 per month. I do not have that kind of money and believe that with what I originally paid, and paid thru the garnishment the principal at least would be close, if not paid off already. Plus they got the car back. I really need advice on how to handle this. Thanks, sorry this is so long.
In studying some of the information here I have a question. Would the garnishment from 3 years back have restarted the statue of limination date?
If I was in your situation, I would research how to challenge the judgement that was the basis of the garnishment for ineffective service. The problem, is if I have a piece of paper that says you owe me $1,000,000.00, you pay $500,000, I sue you for $1,000,000 - no one shows, I get a judgement for $1,000,000, and as long as the judgement is on the books, that is the amount that is owed. I can garnish until I get the $1,000,000, I can get a collection agency to collect the $1,000,000, and they aren't misrepresenting the amount of the debt because the judgement is now the debt, as opposed to the original debt itself.
Thanks for responding. I'll take your suggestion and look into that. Right now it all seems overwhelming and I'm grateful for any advice or opinions I can get. Thank you again.
Thanks, Dancer, I occasionally have one or two... I especially love them when I can profit off of them... I prefer the CAs to cut me a check instead of the other way around when I can...
This debt seems to be on the rinse and repeat cycle. It's 14 years later and you're still be asked for the original amount financed. jam's suggestion is dead on. At this point, the combined 4 years of payments you've made = zero I understand it seems overwhelming, but this is a problem that won't go away.