I've been served with a summons and I have a couple weeks to respond. I'd really like to settle this deal before that time anyway but the attorneys are being a real PITA about how much they'll take. Basically, their best offer so far has been 90% of the full balance. I really don't want a judgment going on my record if I can avoid it, so my questions are this: 1) Say they got a judgment against me and it was paid off some time after that. Does that judgment just get removed from my record as if it never happened or is there some lingering negative effect of having it put there in the first place. 2) How quickly can I expect them to move to enforce the judgment by seizing my possessions, etc. ? A week, a month, a year? 3) I don't really intend to dispute the debt but is there something procedural I should do before the court date--like respond that I lack sufficient information to know if the Complaint is accurate--that would delay things a few weeks and put more pressure on the attorneys to settle? I don't want to abuse the system and I definitely don't want to incur additional costs or problems for myself by driving up their attorney time. But everybody here seems pretty consistent that you shouldn't just accept the entry of a default judgment against yourself. Thanks for whatever help you can offer. I want to settle this and I can settle it for a smaller amount.
1.) Paid judgments will remain on your credit reports for a long time and hurt your credit scores as much as "unpaid" judgments 2.) It really depends on a lot of factors. Not a week or a month, but several months or even a year could be realistic depending upon how fast they jump on it. 3.) You definitely don't want to sit back and just let the default judgment occur. File your answer to the complaint by the due date, and you can always include an affirmative defense for why the complaint should be thrown out. Is this a CA you're dealing with? The dude abides...
Thanks Joshua.... It's a lawfirm that claims to represent the credit card company. I don't have any reason to think the debt was sold to a collection agency and I was sued in the name of the original creditor in the Complaint. So what kind of answer or "defense" should I give them if it's my debt and I can't really dispute it? They've got several different telephone calls recorded between me and their paralegals where I've attempted to settle the debt. It's really not going to be hard for them to prove at all and don't want to deny true facts anyway. I want to pay it but I can't afford to pay the full amount.
Paid judgments are much less "sticky" than unpaid judgments, and can often be removed with a round or two of disputes. In some places, judgments may get picked up by only one of the three CRAs due to spotty coverage. The one who picks it up is usually TransUnion. If you can get a free consultation with a consumer lawyer, do it. There may be lots to the story that we don't know, and a good consumer attorney will know the players and how to ask you the right questions to see if maybe, just maybe there are FDCPA violations on their part that will help you, or some other way to hammer down the value of the claim. It's worth a visit.
Hi Dude "1) Say they got a judgment against me and it was paid off some time after that. Does that judgment just get removed from my record as if it never happened or is there some lingering negative effect of having it put there in the first place." While others will tell you can dispute a paid judgment it might be removed, I find that hard to believe. Once a judgment is entered neither the OC nor the CA reports to the CRA; the court the judgment was entered reports to the CRA and unless they have a order from the court they will continue to report. "2) How quickly can I expect them to move to enforce the judgment by seizing my possessions, etc. ? A week, a month, a year?" How fastâ?¦ the million dollar question. In my state the plaintiff can file a writ of garnishment the day the judgment is entered, they (plaintiff) have 91 days to â??serveâ? the garnishee (bank, employer, state treasury (State of MI only) the writ of garnishment. Once the garnishee receives the writ they must respond in 7 days and within 14 days start garnishment but they must hold â??fundsâ? for 28 days before paying the plaintiff. Google â??writ of garnishment (insert name of your state)â? and you should see the form online and that will give you a true timeline. In my state a writ of garnishment does not have to be process served and can first class mailed â?? no â??I wasnâ??t servedâ? defense on a garnishment in my state. "3) I don't really intend to dispute the debt but is there something procedural I should do before the court date--like respond that I lack sufficient information to know if the Complaint is accurate--that would delay things a few weeks and put more pressure on the attorneys to settle? I don't want to abuse the system and I definitely don't want to incur additional costs or problems for myself by driving up their attorney time. But everybody here seems pretty consistent that you shouldn't just accept the entry of a default judgment against yourself." IMHO a VD will not delay the case, when submitting with the court the plaintiff would have supplied the court with sufficient information in order for the summons to be issued. They have the burden to prove they have a case to sue you so asking for a VD at this stage will not work; IMHO. I would answer with I am attempting to settle, mail to both the court and the plaintiff you might get court date a couple weeks out. Donâ??t accept any default; keep trying for a settlement with a motion to dismiss with prejudice. Of course you have to fulfill the settlement (pay them) in order for the lawsuit/judgment to go away, in turn you will have a paid C/O reporting to the CRA. Good luck and let us know what the outcome was.
Be very afraid. Definitely settle if you think you will lose. Paying the judgment does not remove it from report. Some people have had judgments removed, I have had no such luck. Some states can have a paid judgment VACATED (not my state). I would check your state courts. A judgment can hurt score 50-100 points. In my case, transunion has me with two judgments, equifax has me listed with a judgment in another city. They all have verified over and over. Judgments are NOT reported by the court. Some company buys the info from the court. After disputing 2 years, I have federal suits filed.
File an answer and do the best you can to say you are without knowledge. Do not skip any court dates. Judges want as few cases as they can to go to trial. Many have a mediation process built in. You may get the opportunity to do a settlement, with no judgment on your file. Negotiate for removal of bad credit reports. They will say they can't do it. Wrong -- it's all negotiable.
I read somewhere that the courthouses do not report judgments to the credit bureaus, but credit bureaus send representatives to the courthouses to search for records to add to individual's credit reports.
Other factors you may want to consider. The amount of the debt, is it small, medium, or large? How old is the alleged debt? Have you received validation for the alleged debt? The distance the 'law firm' is from you? (ie. is the amount of the debt large enough that the 'law firm' would be willing to drive an hour, two hours, three hours, to appear in court? - or are they default judgement shopping?) Does your state allow them to enforce the judgement by seizing your possessions in the first place? There are some states that they can get a judgement, but they can not attempt to seize possessions to enforce the judgement. Even better, if the 'law firm' is threatening to enforce the judgement by seizing your possessions, and you live in a state where that's not possible, that is a FDCPA violation for threatening an action that can not be legally followed.
That may have been true back in the day, but a system called PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) is used now as a source for new public information and a tool for verifying disputed accounts.