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Settlement on Judgment

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Anonymous
Not applicable

Settlement on Judgment

Hello, Everybody

 

I am in a rock and a hard place and very lost.

 

My DH and I are in the process of buying a house. We got approved for a FHA loan and everything was going great. However, this whole process came to a screaching stop.

I knew I had not so great credit and that was fine for not having to include me in the FHA loan as a non-purchasing spouse.

We already put down $5000 as earnest money deposit and we have until July 15th to close.

 

While my husband's loan officer working on the loan, a firm (Weltman, Weinberg & Reis) contacted the loan officer (remind you, only my husband's name's on the loan doc. so there's a funky part there) and said that they had sued me previously on behalf of Discover bank and blah blah blah.I don't even know how they did that.

 

The loan officer took a look at my report, and he said he had missed that there's a judgment on my report and can't believe he missed it. (only on equifax  when I checked after talking to him).

 

I had really hard time from 2005-2007 from losing job and having to live off of credit cards and that leading to not being able to make any payments.

 

I had a discover card and that was one of the cards that I had trouble making payments.

 

1. I know I had negative items on my reports and currently, SOL has expired in all of the items. (all of which, the lender doesn't care) - I can and will take care this without rushing.

2. Discover card (OC) doesn't even report on my credit report and doesn't show on any of the three CRA's.

3. Under public: 1 Judgment shows - plaintiff Discover bank: Judgment filed: 1/2006

 

I recently started a new job and I am able to make payment arrangements now and with this judgment, I don't want my wage garnished or my bank acount freezed).

 

 

So Here's the dilema:

1. Could they still have garnished wages and freez my bank acount now?

 

1. Was it a violation for them to call the loan officer to talk about my debt and/or judgment? (in detail, how much I owed and How long, and all that)

 

2. What my lender wants to see is that we are making payments. (he said get it in writing that we will make weekly payments and get him the agreement and the payment history of 2 weeks of payment, then he can get the loan passed).I feel like I really want to take time to take things step by step and get it taken care of properly. But as I said before, I'm in a time crunch and get things taken care of as fast as I can.

 

3.I called the discover bank and they said I'll need to talk to this Weltman, Weinberg & Reis to discuss all the payment options and anything regards to this account.

 

4. I called the Weltman, Weinberg & Reis to see what the deal is. (since this judgment was a news to me) and they offered 47% off the original amount if I paid a lump sum amount. If not, installments of 24 months of the total amount. But they said, since this account's been so old, they have to get back to Discover bank and have them reopen the acount. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???? DID I JUST WAKE THE SLEEPING GIANT?

 

5. I wish I had more time to DV' and take procedures to get this judgment vacated or what not, obviously, timing is very very awful. - I don't mind paying if all comes down to that- since I know I owed the money and I'd like to get things paid off then I will worry about sending out GW letters and getting items removed from the CR later.

 

My BIGGEST Concern now is:

1. Since the OC (Discover) is not currently reporting to any CRA's, if I make this payment now, will they report it back as "PAID" and poke its ugly head back out on the report and stay till 7 years?

2. For this judgment: If I make the payment now, will it stay for 7-10 years from the date I PAID? or the date it was filed?

 

P.S.: I was never aware of this law suit/judgment, since I moved around a lot during this period when I didn't have any money. I moved from one friend to another and to another for a long time and never reported any of those temporary address to the CRA's. So Last known address was way back when, and I wasn't there at that address when they "served".

- Do I even have a case to file a motion to vacate per "not being served properly"? later????

 

CAN somebody help me with this? I will totally appreciate all your inputs and help regards to  this matter.

Message 1 of 9
8 REPLIES 8
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: Settlement on Judgment

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Hello, Everybody

 

I am in a rock and a hard place and very lost.

 

My DH and I are in the process of buying a house. We got approved for a FHA loan and everything was going great. However, this whole process came to a screaching stop.

I knew I had not so great credit and that was fine for not having to include me in the FHA loan as a non-purchasing spouse.

We already put down $5000 as earnest money deposit and we have until July 15th to close.

 

While my husband's loan officer working on the loan, a firm (Weltman, Weinberg & Reis) contacted the loan officer (remind you, only my husband's name's on the loan doc. so there's a funky part there) and said that they had sued me previously on behalf of Discover bank and blah blah blah.I don't even know how they did that.  This seems really odd to me.  Legally, they cannot call and tell the loan officer this.  Why would they?  If you are not included in the loan, why does it matter?

 

The loan officer took a look at my report, and he said he had missed that there's a judgment on my report and can't believe he missed it. (only on equifax  when I checked after talking to him).

 

I had really hard time from 2005-2007 from losing job and having to live off of credit cards and that leading to not being able to make any payments.

 

I had a discover card and that was one of the cards that I had trouble making payments.

 

1. I know I had negative items on my reports and currently, SOL has expired in all of the items. (all of which, the lender doesn't care) - I can and will take care this without rushing.

2. Discover card (OC) doesn't even report on my credit report and doesn't show on any of the three CRA's.

3. Under public: 1 Judgment shows - plaintiff Discover bank: Judgment filed: 1/2006

 

I recently started a new job and I am able to make payment arrangements now and with this judgment, I don't want my wage garnished or my bank acount freezed).

If there is a judgment, they would have to get a garnishment order for your wages and/or bank accounts. 

 

So Here's the dilema:

1. Could they still have garnished wages and freez my bank acount now?  Yes, they can.  As long as the SOL for collecting the judgment has not expired.  What state was the judgment filed?

 

1. Was it a violation for them to call the loan officer to talk about my debt and/or judgment? (in detail, how much I owed and How long, and all that) In my opinion, yes it was a violation for them to do this.  Especially if the attorney is also a CA.

 

2. What my lender wants to see is that we are making payments. (he said get it in writing that we will make weekly payments and get him the agreement and the payment history of 2 weeks of payment, then he can get the loan passed).I feel like I really want to take time to take things step by step and get it taken care of properly. But as I said before, I'm in a time crunch and get things taken care of as fast as I can.

 

3.I called the discover bank and they said I'll need to talk to this Weltman, Weinberg & Reis to discuss all the payment options and anything regards to this account.

 

4. I called the Weltman, Weinberg & Reis to see what the deal is. (since this judgment was a news to me) and they offered 47% off the original amount if I paid a lump sum amount. If not, installments of 24 months of the total amount. But they said, since this account's been so old, they have to get back to Discover bank and have them reopen the acount. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???? DID I JUST WAKE THE SLEEPING GIANT? Not sure what they are talking about here.  If the judgment was filed in 07 the reporting time has not expired and probably not the SOL for collecting.  You did not wake anyone, whoever called the LO did. 

 

5. I wish I had more time to DV' and take procedures to get this judgment vacated or what not, obviously, timing is very very awful. - I don't mind paying if all comes down to that- since I know I owed the money and I'd like to get things paid off then I will worry about sending out GW letters and getting items removed from the CR later.

 

My BIGGEST Concern now is:

1. Since the OC (Discover) is not currently reporting to any CRA's, if I make this payment now, will they report it back as "PAID" and poke its ugly head back out on the report and stay till 7 years? No, judgments stay on your CR for 7 years from date filed, paid or not.  If you live in NY paid judgments stay for 5 years.

2. For this judgment: If I make the payment now, will it stay for 7-10 years from the date I PAID? or the date it was filed? No, from date filed.

 

P.S.: I was never aware of this law suit/judgment, since I moved around a lot during this period when I didn't have any money. I moved from one friend to another and to another for a long time and never reported any of those temporary address to the CRA's. So Last known address was way back when, and I wasn't there at that address when they "served".

- Do I even have a case to file a motion to vacate per "not being served properly"? later???? It is possible.  You would need to find the laws concerning serving papers in the state it was filed.  Find out what the procedures are.

 

CAN somebody help me with this? I will totally appreciate all your inputs and help regards to  this matter.

 

 

 

 

Message 2 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Settlement on Judgment

 


@guiness56 wrote:

Hi and welcome to the forums.

Hello, Everybody

 

I am in a rock and a hard place and very lost.

 

My DH and I are in the process of buying a house. We got approved for a FHA loan and everything was going great. However, this whole process came to a screaching stop.

I knew I had not so great credit and that was fine for not having to include me in the FHA loan as a non-purchasing spouse.

We already put down $5000 as earnest money deposit and we have until July 15th to close.

 

While my husband's loan officer working on the loan, a firm (Weltman, Weinberg & Reis) contacted the loan officer (remind you, only my husband's name's on the loan doc. so there's a funky part there) and said that they had sued me previously on behalf of Discover bank and blah blah blah.I don't even know how they did that.  This seems really odd to me.  Legally, they cannot call and tell the loan officer this.  Why would they?  If you are not included in the loan, why does it matter?

I'm in California - a community property state. Any type of judgment on a spouse can look bad. Since the judgment plantiff can put a lien on the house on closing and FHA will not approve the loan - if we purchased a home while we are married, it's a community property, whether i'm on the loan or not. (That's what I was told by the Loan officer - right now, anything he says, it goes..Smiley Sad 


The loan officer took a look at my report, and he said he had missed that there's a judgment on my report and can't believe he missed it. (only on equifax  when I checked after talking to him).

 

I had really hard time from 2005-2007 from losing job and having to live off of credit cards and that leading to not being able to make any payments.

 

I had a discover card and that was one of the cards that I had trouble making payments.

 

1. I know I had negative items on my reports and currently, SOL has expired in all of the items. (all of which, the lender doesn't care) - I can and will take care this without rushing.

2. Discover card (OC) doesn't even report on my credit report and doesn't show on any of the three CRA's.

3. Under public: 1 Judgment shows - plaintiff Discover bank: Judgment filed: 1/2006

 

I recently started a new job and I am able to make payment arrangements now and with this judgment, I don't want my wage garnished or my bank acount freezed).

If there is a judgment, they would have to get a garnishment order for your wages and/or bank accounts. 

 

So Here's the dilema:

1. Could they still have garnished wages and freez my bank acount now?  Yes, they can.  As long as the SOL for collecting the judgment has not expired.  What state was the judgment filed?

 It was filed in California. (I lived in a different city/county and moved around in almost every county in southern california), and since it was filed in '06, the SOL for collecting still stands.

1. Was it a violation for them to call the loan officer to talk about my debt and/or judgment? (in detail, how much I owed and How long, and all that) In my opinion, yes it was a violation for them to do this.  Especially if the attorney is also a CA.

 

2. What my lender wants to see is that we are making payments. (he said get it in writing that we will make weekly payments and get him the agreement and the payment history of 2 weeks of payment, then he can get the loan passed).I feel like I really want to take time to take things step by step and get it taken care of properly. But as I said before, I'm in a time crunch and get things taken care of as fast as I can.

 

3.I called the discover bank and they said I'll need to talk to this Weltman, Weinberg & Reis to discuss all the payment options and anything regards to this account.

 

4. I called the Weltman, Weinberg & Reis to see what the deal is. (since this judgment was a news to me) and they offered 47% off the original amount if I paid a lump sum amount. If not, installments of 24 months of the total amount. But they said, since this account's been so old, they have to get back to Discover bank and have them reopen the acount. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN???? DID I JUST WAKE THE SLEEPING GIANT? Not sure what they are talking about here.  If the judgment was filed in 07 the reporting time has not expired and probably not the SOL for collecting.  You did not wake anyone, whoever called the LO did. 

 

5. I wish I had more time to DV' and take procedures to get this judgment vacated or what not, obviously, timing is very very awful. - I don't mind paying if all comes down to that- since I know I owed the money and I'd like to get things paid off then I will worry about sending out GW letters and getting items removed from the CR later.

 

My BIGGEST Concern now is:

1. Since the OC (Discover) is not currently reporting to any CRA's, if I make this payment now, will they report it back as "PAID" and poke its ugly head back out on the report and stay till 7 years? No, judgments stay on your CR for 7 years from date filed, paid or not.  If you live in NY paid judgments stay for 5 years.

2. For this judgment: If I make the payment now, will it stay for 7-10 years from the date I PAID? or the date it was filed? No, from date filed.

 

P.S.: I was never aware of this law suit/judgment, since I moved around a lot during this period when I didn't have any money. I moved from one friend to another and to another for a long time and never reported any of those temporary address to the CRA's. So Last known address was way back when, and I wasn't there at that address when they "served".

- Do I even have a case to file a motion to vacate per "not being served properly"? later???? It is possible.  You would need to find the laws concerning serving papers in the state it was filed.  Find out what the procedures are.

 

CAN somebody help me with this? I will totally appreciate all your inputs and help regards to  this matter.

 

 

 

 


 

Thanks Guiness56 for your quick response...Smiley Happy

 

 

Update: I just called them back to clarify some things as to who filed the suit - It was Discover who filed the suit and this lawfirm/CA is collecting for Discover. (I've never heard of this dynamic before. And they still own the account and they are the ones who called the LO saying they couldn't find me, they tried to locate me for a while and told him about the suit.- I still don't know how they did this, but if someone's desperate enough, they will do whatever it takes to collect.

 

However, now they can't even proceed any further than negotiating the payment terms until Discover re-opens this "case or account". I guess I'll just have to wait and see what comes out of this.

 

my answers to your questions are in red.

 

I'm somewhat, in a sick way, glad that this kick started my road to recovery - credit that is. I've been meaning to get the ball rolling now that I'm in a place where I can help myself. I will update on here as I'm finding out what's going on with this situation.

Message 3 of 9
guiness56
Epic Contributor

Re: Settlement on Judgment

Community property states - gotta love emSmiley Surprised  Your LO is correct.  What's yours is his and vice versa.

 

I still stand by what I said about the CA.  They are in complete violation by telling your LO anything about the judgment.  All they can ask for is location information.  I would be looking into filing a suit against them for this violation.

 

Even if the judgment was no longer on your CR, when you apply for a mortgage of $150,000 or more, the LO will get your entire credit file.  When things are removed from your CR, they do not actually disappear.  So, as you said, at least you know about it now and can take care of it.

Message 4 of 9
honeybunnygal
Regular Contributor

Re: Settlement on Judgment

Hello,

I thought I'd share my experiences on this post. I also had a judgement from Discover (back in 2004), which was showing on all three reports. I moved around a lot during that time so I never was served properly. Last fall I started getting my credit affairs in order & decided to deal with this head on. I went to the county court where the judgement was entered (IL) & pulled up the case file. I checked the "proof of service" & found that in each instance except for one the service was made to a neighbor (apartment). The final service shows that the service was made to my "brother"...a brother that I don't have! I decided to retain an attorney (which may not be necessary for you, your call). The judgement was vacated due to improper service & everyone had to start back at square one (judge allowed vacatur of judgement but not dismissal of the case). We eventually worked out a settlement to resolve the matter. Just as an FYI, during this time Discover had been reporting. The TL was due to fall off 12/2009, but it dropped a little early in October (hmmm...right around the time I started digging into the matter...interesting).

 

My county allows you to look up case info online. So, after the vacatur of judgement was entered & viewable online, I disputed the judgement with all 3 CRAs electronically. Within 2-3 days the judgement was removed from ALL reports.

 

I strongly suggest a trip to the courthouse to check your case file & lookup what constitutes proper service in your state. If that judgement can be vacated, that'll give you more breathing room to address & settle the matter. Settlement (including attorney fees) still came out cheaper than satisfying the full judgement would have (for me, at least).

 

Good luck!

Hard work & patience can go a long way!
8/2009 (myFICO): TU - 599, EQ - 656
7/23/2010 (LO pull): TU - 738, EQ - 801, EX - 785
4/12/2012 (myFICO): TU -778, EQ - 791
Message 5 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Settlement on Judgment

 


@honeybunnygal wrote:

Hello,

I thought I'd share my experiences on this post. I also had a judgement from Discover (back in 2004), which was showing on all three reports. I moved around a lot during that time so I never was served properly. Last fall I started getting my credit affairs in order & decided to deal with this head on. I went to the county court where the judgement was entered (IL) & pulled up the case file. I checked the "proof of service" & found that in each instance except for one the service was made to a neighbor (apartment). The final service shows that the service was made to my "brother"...a brother that I don't have! I decided to retain an attorney (which may not be necessary for you, your call). The judgement was vacated due to improper service & everyone had to start back at square one (judge allowed vacatur of judgement but not dismissal of the case). We eventually worked out a settlement to resolve the matter. Just as an FYI, during this time Discover had been reporting. The TL was due to fall off 12/2009, but it dropped a little early in October (hmmm...right around the time I started digging into the matter...interesting).

 

My county allows you to look up case info online. So, after the vacatur of judgement was entered & viewable online, I disputed the judgement with all 3 CRAs electronically. Within 2-3 days the judgement was removed from ALL reports.

 

I strongly suggest a trip to the courthouse to check your case file & lookup what constitutes proper service in your state. If that judgement can be vacated, that'll give you more breathing room to address & settle the matter. Settlement (including attorney fees) still came out cheaper than satisfying the full judgement would have (for me, at least).

 

Good luck!


 

Hi honeybunnygal~!!!

 

Thanks for sharing your experience. I've been lurking in this forum since I've been meaning to fix and repair my credit. I'm finally in a place where I really need to and CAN take care of this matter on my own without having to involve my husband. (Although he's such a good man and has no problem with helping me in this process, I rather take care of this on my own with his mental support). 

 

What I'm really interested to know is, how long did the whole process take for you? from the day you got your court papers to getting the lines removed? All I have right now is about 2 weeks to get this sorted out. If paying a settlement gets things done faster, I will have to go that route.

 

This WW&R firm has been pretty nice so far. They offered a settlement for a fraction of the full judgment amount and willing to take monthly installments of that amount. If it wasn't the time crunch, I would've love to take that vacating the judgment route. However, we don't have the luxury of time to take that action. I wish I did.

 

But I will prevail from this situation. A lot of this headaches are caused by nobody but myself. (Even if the CA/Law firms not doing things properly)

I will need all your experts help with getting things done properly once I put this fire out. I can't wait to get back in the 700 club. (i'm at 641 right now)

Message 6 of 9
honeybunnygal
Regular Contributor

Re: Settlement on Judgment

Yeah, two weeks is a very short amount of time. I just reviewed my records and it looks like it took about a month to get the default judgement vacated (court date had to be set). IL has a provision in its civil procedure to allow a judgement to be vacated based on satisfaction (payment). I don't THINK California has that provision, but it may be worthwhile to double-check.

 

From my (limited) knowledgebase of the wonderful world of mortgages, the lender will either want to see payments being made or see the judgement has been satisfied. A satisfied judgement will still remain on your reports (but looks better on a manual review). Getting a judgement vacated allows for it to be removed from your standard CR (and therefore not count in scoring), in addition to no longer having the threat of wage garnishment or account freezes.

 

If you move forward with the settlement, I'd advise that you include a provision in the settlement that states that a satisfaction of judgement will be filed with the courts once the settlement amount has been paid. That is the lender's main concern: that another entity can claim payment of a past debt by placing a lien on the home. 

 

Please keep in mind that I'm not a lawyer. Hopefully some of our "legally astute" forum members will chime in, especially if I've said something totally off-base.

 

Hope this helps!

Hard work & patience can go a long way!
8/2009 (myFICO): TU - 599, EQ - 656
7/23/2010 (LO pull): TU - 738, EQ - 801, EX - 785
4/12/2012 (myFICO): TU -778, EQ - 791
Message 7 of 9
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Settlement on Judgment

Hi Honneybunnygal,

 

i live in Il.  MY summons was served also to my brother.  Long story short it is my debt.  Did you have any luck with a PFD prior to the judgement?

Message 8 of 9
honeybunnygal
Regular Contributor

Re: Settlement on Judgment

Hi Shannonrosie,

 

The summons was never served properly to me. They served someone that doesn't exist. When I found out about it I had the judgement vacated due to improper service. Then a settlement agreement was reached (since the judge wouldn't dismiss the case).

 

Has the judgement already been entered for you? DO NOT MISS THE COURTDATE, regardless of what the attorney tells you. If you don't show, you could get a default judgement (which will tank your scores & open the door to wage garnishment & account freezes).

 

Also, how recent is the debt? The SOL for open accounts (think: CC debt) is 5 years in Illinois, 10 years for written contracts. Depending on the type of debt & when the account went bad (and if you have proof using account records), you may be able to say that the statute of limitations has expired & get the case dismissed.

 

But, either way, DO NOT MISS YOUR COURTDATE. If the SOL has expired, you may need to file an answer to the summons (I'm not a lawyer & each case is different). There may be some legal aid available at the courthouse (not for legal advice, but for an explanation of court procedure).

 

Not trying to hijack the thread, but avoid judgements like the plague!

 

Good luck!

 

 

Hard work & patience can go a long way!
8/2009 (myFICO): TU - 599, EQ - 656
7/23/2010 (LO pull): TU - 738, EQ - 801, EX - 785
4/12/2012 (myFICO): TU -778, EQ - 791
Message 9 of 9
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