I have a judgment that I would like to pay off. I do not have the money, but have cc's. Should I: a. Let them garnish me b. Max out a couple cards to pay them Which is the less of two evils?
offer to make payments, how much is the judgment for? I don't see any reason to max out your cards, cause then you'll be paying interest on it. BK, personally I wouldn't do it unless my bills, exceed my income. KHM
Don't do it for one judgement! granted it may be painful to be garnished. But not nearly as harsh as a BK....definitely work it out. if they garnish you quit your job and get another one get a part time job just how much is this judgement for?
Can you afford $500 a month ($125 a week), it would take you 20 months to pay it off, I would try to negotiate a payment that is reasonable to you rather than wait for them to garnish your wages. Are you getting a tax refund? Apply that towards it. Any EXTRA income you get put it towards it, EX: Tax return, overtime, pt job etc. You will feel so much better once it is paid off rather than going thru the whole BK process.
I wouldn't let this thing get to the point where there is a wage garnishment. It is better to set up a payment schedule with the creditor. Try to negotiate reasonable terms preferably without interest being added as long as payments are made on time. If you do get served with a wage garnishment, you can ask the court to reduce the portion of the wages that they are entitled to collect based on financial hardship if you can make that showing. Many people qualify for this especially if they have kids. Use credit cards to pay off the judgment only if it makes sense financially. This depends on whether the APR your credit card company will charge is less than the legal interest rate on the judgment. Here, in California, the legal rate on a judgment is rather high at 10% but this varies from state to state. If you can find a deal for less with your CC company and the rate is locked in for a significant period of time or better yet until paid in full, it might make sense to go the credit card route. I wouldn't dismiss this option out of hand.
One more thing, you might want to negotiate for a stipulation to vacate the judgment to be effective when payment in full has been made. Then you can get this off your credit reports.
If you're thinking about bk, don't use those credit cards to pay a judgement. Trustee's will look back at your finances for a year and if they see a judgement paid with cc's they have the authority to reverese the transaction. They {and the cc company} will take the position that you have shown preferential treatment to one creditor at the expense of other creditors. You asked a question in another thread about a "do it yourself bk". This is why you pay lawyerss. To keep you from making this sort of mistake.
If I paid with a cc, I would not file BK. Another question: what are the chances of them making payment arrangements if they have already filed in court for a garnishment?
Why not get the it vacated as the first step.and not have to pay .? If there were any errors in filing it and or if you were not properly served it will be vacated. You do not have to pay it first to do this! You need to go to the court house and get copies of all the records on this.
