Hello, This is longwinded please forgive me. I took out a secured loan at my mothers credit union some months ago. The loan was secured by a cd that my mother had with the bank. I was in a car accident that required back surgery and was unemployed for months. My mother agreed to cash out the cd, (she was in debt anyway) and pay off my loan as well. She cashed the cd and was told not once but twice by the teller that my loan was removed from the amount she was given. She recvd a call about two weeks later informing her my loan had not been paid because when the bank set it up the employee doing the paper work had made a mistake and not attached it to her cd. The money was gone. I made arrangement with the bank to take on payment after three months (hoping to find employment). When I recvd the papers from the bank they had doubled the interest rate. I am now 120 days delinquent and this is one of three delinq on my crdt report. I have seven positives with a score of 514. I just recvd a letter from a law firm offering me a free 30 min session with an attorney on how to avoid getting a judgement against me. I was never served yet I am informed I have only days until a default judgement is issued. Any ideas on how to avoid a judgement or maybe fight the judgement since I was not served or how to make the bank lower the interest rate since it was their mistake to begin with.....or.......any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I am in Dallas, Texas. I was told that a judgement could last for 10 years and be renewed and that I could not buy or sell property with a judgement...is this true???please help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sharyn
first of all. calm down. call the court clerk and see if they have a record of a filing against you. the best thing would be to go to the courthouse and get a copy, do this immediately. then you have to appear in court..... if it is only a few days... i am sure someone will check for you but you have to respond to the complaint... if not in writing then by appearance... you must do this to avoid default judgement... get all the paperwork from the bank regarding this loan also. whether you take care of it yourself or with an atty, they will need all the documents. many time creditor will work out agreement rather than judgement...even at the court house whatever, make sure you appear (writing or in person) to avoid default judgement
Sharyn, I am not sure of this but maybe others might be able to answer better, I was under the impression that if you found out the court date and appeared in court, you could use "not being served" or " not being served properly" as a defense against default judgement. At the very least you will be able to get more time to prepare for your defense. Since the original debt was secured and the bank failed to properly credit itself before cashing out your mother's CD, you might be able to pin the blame on the bank for sloppy business practices. I am sure there are a lot of people here who can give you better advice than this. Just my 0.02 Dan
