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All about judgment and credit card debt - The Bills.com Blog
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All about judgment and credit card debt
Question: I am 28. 5 years ago while in college I had a judgment against me filed by a credit card company. I never seen the judgment or the papers saying I had a case and where the case was filed because I was currently living at school where my permanant residence was. What can I do to settle the original amount with out paying all these extrafees. Again I was never given a copy of the proceedings.
Answer: Unfortunately, the situation you describe is far too common ? aggressive collection attorneys and process servers are frequently careless about properly serving defendants, leading to default judgments against people who do not even know they were sued.
Many are unaware of these judgments until their wages are garnished or their bank accounts levied. The first step to fighting the judgment against you is gathering evidence that you were not served with the summons as the creditor claims. Contact the court clerk for the county in which the lawsuit was filed; ask him or her how to obtain a copy of the ?Return of Service? filed by the creditor. You will probably need to go to the court house to retrieve a copy of the document.
You will then want to find some evidence that you were not living at the address shown on the Return of Service, and that you could not reasonably be expected to receive a summons served at that address (for example, show that your family did not live at the address). Since you were at school at the time, you could probably obtain documentation from the school showing your address at school and your permanent address. If you are able to show that the summons was not served at one of your listed addresses, nor at an address where you could be reasonable expected
to receive it, you may be able to file a ?motion to set aside default judgment.? However, given the length of time that has passed since the judgment was entered, you will probably be fighting an uphill battle.
If you plan to pursue the course of action described above, I recommend that you consult with an attorney in your area who can advise you on the strengths of your case and your state?s Code of Civil Procedure. If you are able to have the judgment set aside, it will not free you from your obligation to the creditor, however the amount that you owe will be up to the court?the creditor may be able to ask for the principal plus five years interest; however, if you can show that they committed a fraud on the court, the court may bar them from charging interest for the past five years. Again, these are issues that you should discuss with a qualified attorney.
Another option would be to contact the creditor?s attorney and try to settle the judgment. In my opinion, this would probably be the easiest way to resolve this debt. Though I do not know the balance of the judgment in question, if you can come to the table with cash in hand the creditor may be willing to settle this debt for much less than the actual balance, especially given the age of the judgment. You should probably plan on paying anywhere from 50% to 70% of the balance, though the creditor may
be willing to take less, or may ask for more. Usually, if a creditor is going to accept a settlement, it wants payment in a short time frame, so if you make an offer, make sure you have the cash available. Also, make sure that you get a letter from the creditor or the law firm outlining the terms of the agreement before you make any payment.
If you want a third party debt help firm to advise and represent you, there are several out there, here is a list:
www.debtok.com
www.freedomdebtrelief.com
www.newdebtrelief.com
www.debtresolutionpartners.com
Alternatively, Bills.com makes it easy for you to apply with our approved debt help providers, by following this link:
https://www.bills.com/debthelp/debt/
I hope that his helps you make the right decision for your particular situation. If you would like more information, please visit our Debt Help page at: http://www.bills.com/debthelp/
We hope that this helped you to Find, Learn, and Save!
Best,
Bill
www.bills.com
Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!
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