Judgement

[Hubcapjw]

Ok folks i have gotten the best advice from the folks in these forums so I'm back to the rebuilding section with a question.

i have a judgement against me from 2008 for $1700. ( old cellphone bill for $600) never paid much attention to the judgement cause I didn't really care about credit and dealing with money responsibly. I am in New Jersey by the way.  Ok fast forward to today and I see that td bank has sent me a letter stating that a court ordered the to garnish my account for the full amount but td rejected it because I had $12 in there.  Also td charged me $125 processing fee for the transaction causing me to go into the negative thus giving me a NSF fee.  

The question I have is.....should I contact the lawyer office handling in and try to work out a monthly payment and use my td account to only process this transaction and open up another account to handle my credit card transactions and daily banking. $1700 seems a little crazy to me for $600. I wanna keep everything off the "grid" and not pay them a cent but I have a feeling that it will rear its head again down the line if I need a mortgage or loan. I don't have a lump sum offer to give or I would do that, also my mom said settle for half and put it on a credit card. I could affor $60 a month thru my td account but I'm not sure if that is good enough for these thieves.  Not sure what course of action I should take and any help from the folks here would greatly be appreciated.  Guidance in the right direction would be helpful. This is the only thing on my report. Other than this my scores are good and the cards I have are great so I'm not in full rebuild mode.

thank you in advance

jeff

[Anonymous]

I was recently in the same position.  The original creditor was the one who kept sending the garnishment to the bank, where I kept minimal funds, and I was chArged the $125 fee 3 separate times.  Ignoring that doesn't help. They will keep charging you the fee. 

I called the lawyers office and they were very helpful. Very matter of fact, and had less emotional involvement than the original creditor who was always less than pleasant in our negotiation process. In my case, the lawyers office was happy to set up payments, but only on the full amount. I was able to settle a near $9000 judgement for $1000 in a lump payment. 

I would say you are in a pretty good negotiating position. Call up the lawyers office and tell them you want to settle in exchange for full release and removal of the judgement. Tell them that obviously you have no money. ( They have seen your bank account) and that it is possible for you to by whatever means scrape together, I would offer $200, to get this taken care of. Make sure they know (nicely of course) that you aren't in any immediate need of seeking credit anywhere and that you are aware of how close this account t is to falling off your reports. 

Starting your settlement offer low gives them the chance to counter, but just don't agree to something you can't follow through with. 

Good luck.

[Hubcapjw]

Thank you for the reply

[StartingOver10]

Good advice from whitneybb.

Let me add one thing:  it doesn't matter if the judgment falls off your reports or not. Judgments are an entirely separate thing - they last for 20 years (or 10 years with a renewal for 10 yrs) in most jurisdictions. Some of them last longer. The 20 year judgments can be renewed too.  Plus the interest accrues daily. However, it is limited to the statutory rate in effect at the time.

The judgment is found in the public records of your county. So when you go in to negotiate, make sure you have all the info in front of you (the judgment itself) and the statutory rate. Make sure you get a satisfaction recorded when you have paid it off so it doesn't pop up again. It is recorded in the public records too.

I agree that paying a lump sum is best for negotiating it down substantially. If you make payments the reduction, if any, is not nearly as much. Do whatever you have to do to get your funds together to get it paid off.

[Hubcapjw]

Update: called the law firm handling the judgement and offered $500 and to have the judgment vacated. Original company was lnvn so I know by these forums they aren't the best of companies to deal with. Anyway the guy said he would present the offer but was 100% sure they would reject it. I told them that it didn't matter to me because I'm not going for a home loan or auto loan so I can let the debt sit.  Any thoughts on a next move?

jeff

[Anonymous]

Good work so far. I'd say if they came back with anything higher, tell them the $600 (original amount of debt) is as high as you are gonna go. They will fold eventually. It costs them money and time too every time they have to try to garish your bank or wages. 

[Hubcapjw]

That was the course of action I was gonna take! I have nothing for them to take nor do I have a job on the books so as far as I'm concerned I can close my checking account and I don't exist. Except for my couple of credit cards.

[Hubcapjw]

Also the judgement is being handled by fein, such, Kahn, Shepard p.c. In New Jersey if anybody has any experience dealing with them.