Good morning all. I have been reading so many of the post and the wonderful information that everyong has received. I decided to add my situation to the long list of others who are trying to get back their feet. Anyway, I am thinking of setttling a judgment that I have with Triad Finanical, but I wanted to get some other opinions bankrupcy as well. I have read the good and bad about bankrucy but I wanted some folks that have had some first hand experience. Also I wanted to ask how will the settlement effect my credit since the judgement will still be on my report. And if I do choose to settle, will Triad still be able to garnish my check and take and future income tax checks???? Thanks all for your insight. KITKATT1972
If you settle a jugment and file a satisfaction (provided by the judgmentholder) with the court, it's dead, done and gone. And there will be no garnishment, etc. (unless by mistake, in which case you can hand them their ass in court). The judgment shows as "satisfied" on your CRA reports. It's far, far better than a bankruptcy. Now, for the extra credit stuff: Consider having a third party approach the judgmentholder, buy the judgment at a steep discount, and satisfy it for you for a small commission. Deals can go better when emotion is taken out of them. If the first idea isn't to your liking, consider asking the judgmentholder to vacate rather than satisfy the judgment. It's an extra step, and you might have to pay extra for it. And the CRAs might not be real cooperative about reflecting its effects on your reports (it should be as though the judgment never happened, but they prefer to show "satisfied" unless their arms are repeatedly twisted. Bankruptcy should only come into play if the judgmentholder is making your life miserable with post-judgment remedies like garnishment, etc. If they're just using it as wallpaper, stand pat for now.
Thanks for your response flacorps. I have one more question - was does it mean to vacate? I am not familiar with any of these legal terms but any help will be quite grateful!!!!
As someone who did a Ch7 BK, I say the same thing as you've read above - don't do it unless there's no other way. Certainly, for $6 or $12k, don't even think about it. Unless there's a slew of other debts and problems, it's not worth it. And a BK on your CR will sit for 10 years from filing while your judgement will drop off 7 years after it's satisfied. And a BK will not removed the judgement from your CR. If you can get it vacated, that's your best strategy. Once you've paid/settled and got the paperwork to show it, it's over. Nobody can try to collect on that debt.
A vacated judgment is simply thrown out, allowing the parties to relitigate the issues again. Vacated civil judgments are similar to a dismissal in a criminal case
