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What to do about a judgment

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kimfl
Member

Re: What to do about a judgment

I would not consider bankruptcy for this one thing, esp. when my credit is steadily improving. I'll figure out a way to take care of this one way or another.

Message 21 of 30
stormb28
New Contributor

Re: What to do about a judgment

Sure its one thing, but its a $30k thing, not $300. You said yourself, you dont make the judgement balance in a year. Sure, your credit scores are improving, but believe me, youll hit a wall. I didnt want to file BK, they rejected monthly payment proposal and wanted $15k upfront, I couldnt do that. I was close to having my bank account attached and that was not an option.

Good luck, I hope you figure something out other than BK.
Message 22 of 30
JM-AM
Valued Contributor

Re: What to do about a judgment

Its a long hard road sometimes.

Something you really need to look at.

Buying a home is not a cheap investment. You are complaining you dont make much money and work 2 jobs. How wil you afford a home? You have the mortgage, insurance, taxes, upkeep, things that break when you least need them too.

Buying a home isnt for everyone.
Good Luck
May all your dreams and wishes become a reality!
Message 23 of 30
Mike_B03
Valued Contributor

Re: What to do about a judgment

Unfortauntely there is no easy way to deal with a judgment, I've found out the hard way myself.

 

If you owe $32,000, there is no way way they would accept 10%, especially in $100 payments AND report that it's already settled now (which is what I understood from what you wrote, that you want them to report it's settled in full now, even though you'll be paying on it for almost 3 years).

 

What is the SOL in your state for colleccting on a judgment? If it's 7 years and it's been 6, get ready for them to take action. Here in AZ it's 5 years and I had a judgment that was 4 years old, completely forgot about it and figured it would go away, until one day $8000 was garnished from my bank account. No warning, nothing. Luckily I was able to get over half of it back because it was a  business account but I also had to enter into a payment plan with them to pay off the rest. 

 

Really your options are to contact them and setup a payment plan for the FULL amount, if you are on a payment plan, then you can still get a mortgage, but you have to show you're on a plan. The judgment creditor will most likely not accept anything less than the full amount. The other option is to file BK of course. Only other way to get rid of this is if they somehow don't renew it but I doubt that will happen.

Message 24 of 30
kimfl
Member

Re: What to do about a judgment

I could get a mortgage for less than I'm paying in rent right now. SOL in Florida is allegedly 20 years, so even though it will be off my report I guess it will still be hanging around. I DO NOT want to file bankruptcy, DO NOT. I'll take a 3rd or 4th job if I have to avoid that, get that taken care of, and buy a home ASAP. I am not young, and we had a hard time with the economy tanking a few years ago, and I feel like it will hang over my head until I die. Ugh, hate life right about now. The one thing in life I want more than anything else is to own a home (again)l, and I feel like unless I win the lottery it will never happen.

Message 25 of 30
Mike_B03
Valued Contributor

Re: What to do about a judgment

I can happen. Again, all you really need to do if you're really set on this is to contact the judgment creditor and setup a payment plan with them. Once you have a payment plan in place, you can apply for a mortgage and should be fine. FHA does not require a payment history, they just need a plan in place. Some lender have their own requirement where they require to see that youv'e made payments for 6 months or more, but that depends on the lender. 

Message 26 of 30
kimfl
Member

Re: What to do about a judgment

How in the hell would I find out who the judgment creditor is? I haven't heard one word on this since the judgment was filed. I hope that you are correct, Mike. It is so important to me to be able to buy a home. I don't have any debt other than this, at least nothing that isn't past the SOL. And even with my small income, I am able to save a little bit of money every week because I am so determined to buy a home, and there are some great DPA programs here. Perfect credit for 4 years, and this one thing is my only obstacle. And I do have an attorney working on this right now, but she is a friend and doing this for free, so I am not her top priority.

Message 27 of 30
Mike_B03
Valued Contributor

Re: What to do about a judgment

You should be able to find the information on the judgment in your local county court website, they all have a search option to view case information. Do a search on Google for something like "Broward County justice court" or "Broward County superior court" and poke around their website.  

Message 28 of 30
kimfl
Member

Re: What to do about a judgment

Pretty good news, I guess, from my attorney. The judgment was never properly filed wherever or however it needs to be filed, and therefore, is currently unenforcable and cannot be collected upon. However, that doesn't mean they can't file it properly until the SOL runs out, so she told me to do just that, wait until the SOL runs out (March 2014), and after that time, there is not a damn thing they can do. I hate to wait that long, but I will if I have to, and it gives me extra time to sock away some more money.

Message 29 of 30
stormb28
New Contributor

Re: What to do about a judgment

Report back in March.
Message 30 of 30
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