I was active on this forum many years ago. Cleaned up my credit, but when I went through separation and divorce the bottom fell out again. The year of my separation I skipped a court date for a credit card lawsuit. Dumb, I know. I was overwhelmed. And that's no excuse, just what happened. Default judgment, but this collection agency has been relentless. It has been five years. They've tried to serve me many times for I guess additional hearings and to garnish my wages, and without even trying somehow I've been just a few steps ahead of them. With finances and life falling apart, I have moved and changed jobs I honestly don't even know how many times. I have been the victim of landlord foreclosure maybe four or five times. And I guess the stress is playing out in my work performance. It has gotten worse. I was laid off and I scramble every month to keep rent paid and food on the table. I'm behind on everything. Then the other day, this same creditor put a levy on my only bank account. Well, the only thing I had going in there was child support money. I scrambled quickly to get a hold put on child support account, and no additional support has been deposited. I had only $47 in the account, and that was eaten by the bank's fee for the garnishment. So this creditor again gets nothing. I also very recently stopped all the automatic payments coming out of that account...not knowing this garnishment was coming, but I was worried that my insurance would trip an overdraft given my finances. So again without trying, I rendered this account useless just before the garnishment came. I'm not keen on the idea of living without a bank account, but I could if I had to. I know I need to file bankruptcy, that's a whole other story for another thread. But help me out here. What would you do if you had $1.43 to your name, half-month behind on your rent and low on food. I already have to save to file bankruptcy and I don't have anybody I can ask for help. What would you do about this account? Is it even worth it to respond to the papers the bank sent?
I'm sorry to hear about all the problems you've been dealing with lately. I'm sure it hasn't been easy, but I wouldn't be worrying too much about the account at this point. It sounds to me like your attention should be focused solely on improving your employment situation and increasing your income. Are you working now?
No I'm not working. Churning out resumes by the boatload. I hope for better circumstances soon. So I should simply ignore it?
Best of luck on the job hunt. Keep churning out those resumes. As far as the judgement goes, there's not much you can do to satisfy it without any means to do so. I would focus all my attention on securing a job and getting somewhat back on my feet first. Use prepaid debit cards if you want to avoid having a bank account that could be garnished. By the way, how much is the judgement for?
