I need assistance in dealing with an old judgment from Discover that my husband has. Here is a brief history.
March 2006 – Discover sues my husband for credit card debt
May 2006 – default judgment is granted in the amount of $5,154.78 PLUS INTEREST, COSTS AND $1,430.00 ATTORNEY FEES
August 2006 – Garnishment affidavits served to old employers, not current
March 2007 (husband and I began dating)
November 2007 – husband moves out of state
2007 – 2008 – several court filings attempting to have an asset hearing and file him with contempt of court for not showing up
2009 – locate nationwide company husband works part time for. He is restaurant server so there isn’t enough of a paycheck to garnish
2010 – Continue to attempt to garnish restaurant server wages, unsuccessful. Attempts to locate bank account at BOA, they receive notice accounts are closed.
April of 2010 – husband is laid off from full time job (that they never knew about to begin with)
April 2010 – July 2012 – husband stays home, collects unemployment and works part time for as a restaurant server. They continue to attempt to garnish paychecks but are unsuccessful due to the extremely low amounts.
May 2012 – husband and I marry
July 2012 – Husband returns to full time employment
A little more history: the above is pulled off the court website for the state my husband lived in and the judgment was entered in. We now live in another state. Husband said he tried to negotiate with them prior to this judgment, but they wouldn’t take any less than the full amount.
We would like to try to negotiate a lower amount than owed before they find my husband’s new full time job and begin to garnish his wages there.
Information helpful: husband has around 10,000 in a small credit union in the state the judgment was entered in, not the state we live in. His attorney cousin said to keep his mom’s name on the bank account to prevent garnishment of these funds. This is our only savings. We would be willing to take a part of this to attempt to settle this debt, but probably not more than $4000 at the most.
My end goal is to not have his wages garnished, have this debt taken care of, his mother’s name off bank accounts and this all behind us with at least $6000 in the bank.
Any had a similar situation or could offer advice as to what to say / how to go about this / who to contact. I’m not sure what spin we should put on this to get a settlement and if we should start with the lawyer or discover. I’m also not sure how much information to give since at this time they don’t have his contact information nor know where he works. He tells me that Discover is especially difficult to work with. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. We are hoping to buy a house in the next year, and while this isn’t on his credit report, I’m afraid it’s only a matter of time before it sneaks up to haunt us, or the put a lean on our house when it’s bought.
