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Garnishment was how I discovered a Judgement against me. Need some advice.

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Sxott
Established Member

Garnishment was how I discovered a Judgement against me. Need some advice.

Dynamic Collectors, Inc Sent a writ if garnishment (certified letter)  to a house I have not lived in for the past 5 years. A "Helpful" friend living there signed it and gave it to me. (Mid Nov) I checked the my credit report and there was a judgement for 650 dollars awarded to Dynamic Collectors on 6/12.

Now the writ shows a 1440 dollar judgement plus misc fees adding up to 1675 dollars.

This does not make any sense to me because:

1. I never received a summons to go defend myself or was even aware of them wanting money

2. The judgment amount on my reports don't match the garnishment amount.

 

They started taking 25% of my paycheck. This Friday will be the last 100 dollars to be taken.

I have been tempted to Call Dy C to see what this is all about but I have a medical bill from them  with a SOL up on 1/13 and dont want to wake that up.

 

I was thinking about waiting until the 2/13 (in 2 weeks) and going to county clerk and asking for proof that I was served and starting a Vacate procedure.

Anybody of you credit gurus have any solid advice on this? The judgement is keeping from getting a VA home loan.

 

I have 3 collections with this company. 2 Are weird because they list the same hospital. Different balances. All the same dates except The Date of first delinquency is 8 months apart. .And none of these match or added together for amount from the judgement either.

 

Thank you


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Message 1 of 6
5 REPLIES 5
Give_Me_Credit_Please
Regular Contributor

Re: Garnishment was how I discovered a Judgement against me. Need some advice.

I have the same situation, I have a garnishment coming out of my personal checking account. I didn't realize they can garnish my account until I opened my account. Anyways they tried taking the while amount but fortunitely I didn't have much money in my account. I called them and immediately made payment arrangements base on your budget. I don't have much knowledge about judgements but still learning.

 

      From what I know, you could call your County where is was filed and request for a motion to vacate judgement. Fill it out and most likely if they don't vacate it then they'll schedule a new court date and them you can plea your case. Since you've been paying them, I don;t think you can dispute because by paying them you claim the judgement is valid. Unless you have proof that the judgement isn't yours. My situation, I originally owe them $400, now with interest and other fees, it's upto $700. From my understanding, I can negotiate a one time payment in full for for no more than 50% of total due. Most likely they'll work with you just to close out the account. I hope this helps. Good Luck!!!

Message 2 of 6
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Garnishment was how I discovered a Judgement against me. Need some advice.

They have apparently been to court twice.... once to obtain the judgement, and once to obtain a writ of execution based on failure to have satisfied the judgment.

In any court proceeding, their must have been a showing to the court that proper notice was served upon the defendant, thus permitting them to appear in court.

 

So their is some record in the file of both proceedings asserting that proper notice was given.  Depending upon your situation and the relevant statutes/procedures in your jurisdiction, that may have been accomplished by notice by publication, such as in a newspaper.  You need to identity how they asserted that notice was given, and determine whether it complied with the procedure in your jurisdiction.  Go to the office of the clerk of the judgment court and review the entire record of the proceeding.

 

If there was some inaccuracy in proper service of notice of either proceeding, you can motion the court to vacate on that basis.

That will require a factual showing on your part of the inaccuracy.

Message 3 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Garnishment was how I discovered a Judgement against me. Need some advice.

As pointed out, depending on your jurisdiction they can "serve" you in several ways.  The most likely they typically claim is personal service, meaning they gave you the summons or gave someon over 18 living with you the summons.  You can find this out by asking the clerk for a copy of the "Return of Service."  The return of service will likely say they left it with you and give a breif description of what you look like, or of the person they left it with that was living with you at the time.  If you are sure they did not leave it with you or the information is vague you can file the Motion to Vacate.

 

In filing the motion to vacate you need to prove the reason you did not answer the original lawsuit was due to mistake, inadvertance, excusable neglect, suprise, or fraud.  Obviously if you were never served suprise would be the one to go with.  You would point out the factual circumstances around why you do not think the process server actually served you papers.  You would file that with the court and send it to the plaintiff's attorney (which is another thing your post raised, Dynamic Collectors must have an attorney working for them they likely cannot file garnishment paperwork on their own being a company).  After filing and sending to the Plaintiff, set the motion for hearing with the judicial assitant (get the number from the clerk).

 

Go to the hearing make the argument.  Typically, the judge will ask you why it took so long to file the motion if you have been paying the garnishment for so long.  This is going to be your biggest problem.  You need to file the motion to vacate as soon as you discover the case, not after the sol of another.  But, if you can explain something about being confused as to which debt this would have been for or something else you might get by.  Once the case is vacated you then need to defend the original case.

 

Either way, I would dispute all the debts with them.  Further, I don't think they should be able to list the hospitals.  I haven't dabled much in HIPPA and FCRA yet, but would assume that naming the hospital would be a violation.

Message 4 of 6
Sxott
Established Member

Re: Garnishment was how I discovered a Judgement against me. Need some advice.

Thanks for your input guys. Thought I would give you an update. Called County clerks and it turns out this was some old court cost I forgot to pay from 2008. There was a Summary Judgement and I dont even have to be present for that. (Thats why I was never served papers) She said a Vacate was not an option because I have already been to court in 2008. I wondering if this can be reported on my Credit report as a recent judgement like it is? It would take 7 more years to fall off. The original debt was in 2008. If it has to stay on, it would be nice to see it as 2008 and Satisfied instead.

Another thing is the debt is not matching the judgement. (Docket number is correct minus one letter) Im not sure where the 650 figure that all 3 of my reports have on them come from? It not the original debt before the 12% apr and other fees either. Im guessing my best plan of action now is to dispute this with the CRAs.

Anymore advice?

Thanks, Scott


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Message 5 of 6
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Garnishment was how I discovered a Judgement against me. Need some advice.

Well, for the case to get to summary judgment they still claimed they served you.  You need to ask the clerk what the return of service says.  Summary judgment is a process in the case to have it disposed of before trial.  Basically, means that no genuine issue of material fact (i.e. liability, amount of damages, etc.) exists and the Plaintiff/creditor is entitled to judgment in their favor.  They do this so they do not have to go to trial to prove their case.

 

In most jurisdictions for them to get a summary judgment that means you answered in some way.  You either sent a letter to the court saying why you couldn't pay (which is what every person thinks is the right thing to do, the court doesn't care why you can't pay) or you actually answered the complaint.  Either way for you to make it to summary judgment stage you appeared in the case, otherwise the case would have been decided by default.  The judgment should only appear on your credit report unitl it is paid.  They then have to report it as being satisfied.

Message 6 of 6
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