topic Advice on Repo w/judgement against me in Rebuilding Your Credit

Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:39:38 GMT

Been working on my credit quite seriously (see previous thread) for the past 4 months, but the only glaring hit on my profile is my reposession in which the OC also has a judgement against me. I've decided to put my focus on this since it's the biggest hit on my account that's left, with the closest being a VZW at less than $1000.

Back story for context: I financed a car for my ex and I back in 2016 (mistake 1). Shortly thereafter we broke up, and she agreed to take the car and make the payments (mistake 2). She didn't, and the car was repo'd. In late 2017 my mom passed away, and not knowing what I wanted to do with life, I decided to go live in the UK with a friend for most of 2018. While I was gone, the county I lived in before I left tried serving me with paperwork at the last address I had on file, a apartment I vacated when I left. Because I didn't respond, the OC got a default judgement against me.

I want to try and see if I can get a settlement with them, but I'm guessing since they have the judgement against me, that it probably won't happen. Has anyone dealt with this kind of scenario before? I want to work with them, because each month that goes by, there is around $100 that gets added on in interest.

They haven't reported any of the 5 payments I've mad to them this year, so what's on my TU shows a 9K balance with last payment made 12/2020.

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

gdale6 — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 15:54:44 GMT

You have to be served in order for them to get a judgment, I would check the file for "sewer" service and then if in fact you were not properly served move to have the judgment vacated. Once vacated then make a deal with them to settle. The fact you have made some payments already has most likely reset the SOL but that doesnt mean you cant get the judgment vacated.

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:16:28 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
You have to be served in order for them to get a judgment, I would check the file for "sewer" service and then if in fact you were not properly served move to have the judgment vacated. Once vacated then make a deal with them to settle. The fact you have made some payments already has most likely reset the SOL but that doesnt mean you cant get the judgment vacated.

I already checked with a consumer debt attorney when I came back and found out. They said everything was perfectly legal, and that I don't in fact need to be served to have a judgement against me.

If it matters, the payments I made I had to make in order to attempt to avoid a garnishment. Because I didn't pay enough to their expectation of what they wanted, they have garnished my wages twice. Once in 2020 and once this year for 60 days each at the maximum my state allows. Because of the pandemic and my work (essential fwiw) not operating at normal, we weren't getting bonus', which means what I could afford to pay wasn't in line with what they wanted from me each month.

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

Nikita2008 — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 02:26:38 GMT

I did have a situation like this at one time. It's a really long story. I lived in the same apartment for 7 years, before my significant other bought a house and we moved. I did leave a forwarding address when I moved ( I only moved 10 miles away). That said about 3-4 years later I found out there was a judgement against me that had recently been issued, and a Civil Capias had been issued as well. I had proof that I did not live at the address that they said they served at the time they said they served it. They made zero effort to actually locate me. A simple credit report, or even a simple public records check and they would have known. They want to get a default judgement against you, that's their end game- because it gives them leverage.

Anyhow, I ended up getting an attorney, she filed a motion in court to have the judgement vacated, and the case heard again. She also notified the court that I had fraud claims to make against the selling dealer, and something on the collection attorney for not doing their do diligence on service. She served the attorney for the agency, it never made it to court . They dropped the suit and all references to that account were removed from my reports ( CA and OC) that same month, and I never heard from them again.

In my case it was not a repo, it was an auto loan charge off. I totaled my car, and I was upside downm so the lender charged off 5 or 6k. Also the car had been a previous rental car, so the insurance company used that as a way to devalue the car. I had not known about it when I bought it. There is a box on the purchase and sale agreement, that has to be checked off if it was a rental, taxi, salvage etc. I found out when my insurance company showed me a Carfax or something similar to. You may be able to beat this, but I probably would not try without an attorney.

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

RobertEG — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 04:33:51 GMT

Since they have acquired a judgment and you have competent legal advice that the judgment is proper, they can continue to attempt to recoup the debt via garnishment as long as the judgement remains enforceable.

In most jurisdictions, a judgment has an initial period of enforceability of approx ten years, and is readily extendable, so there may likely be years to come for them to continue whatever your state provides for garnishment.

Your state apparently has some restrictive provisions that apply to your situation, as prior garnishements have been short and not continuus.

There thus appears to be some hassle and expense on their part in continuing the garnishement route to achieve full recovery, to they might bit on a settlement offer.

The only way to know is to make an offer.....

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

Anonymous — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 16:21:07 GMT

@RobertEG wrote:
Since they have acquired a judgment and you have competent legal advice that the judgment is proper, they can continue to attempt to recoup the debt via garnishment as long as the judgement remains enforceable.
In most jurisdictions, a judgment has an initial period of enforceability of approx ten years, and is readily extendable, so there may likely be years to come for them to continue whatever your state provides for garnishment.

Your state apparently has some restrictive provisions that apply to your situation, as prior garnishements have been short and not continuus.
There thus appears to be some hassle and expense on their part in continuing the garnishement route to achieve full recovery, to they might bit on a settlement offer.
The only way to know is to make an offer.....

Yes Washington is the same and the judgement is good for 10 years.

According to my person of contact at the OC (which is their legal department) they can enforce the garnishment whenever they want. The maximum my state allow is for each time to last month more than 60 days and no more than 25% of my disposable income, which they've taken each time.

I did talk to someone at their corporate office, who agreed to settle with me. I have 6 months to fulfill that settlement however I want. She said upon completion of the settlement, they will file a Satisfaction of Judgment, and report my account to the credit bureaus as a paid charge off.

Seeing as its by far my biggest debt, and it's set to fall off my credit report in 2023, this will help especially since it will remove the judgement is where my mind goes.

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

Raison — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 01:35:16 GMT

So this might help. It did me. Theres a law in most states that they cant technically do anything to you after 4 years from the purchase date of the vehicle. I had the same for a vehicle that was turned in. It was my Exs and I couldnt afford 2 car payments. They literally sold the account to multiple people and many years later like 10 years . The car was turned in May of 2008. They came after me illegally put judgements on me, garnished my wages twice in 2018 and did it again 6 months later. I found the letter online. Wrote the company a nice letter stating it was advised from my lawyer they are illegally trying to collect on a debt that they cant. If they would like further legal action against them then keep trying. I goggled the actual wording on if the law and the law number and have yet to hear from them. Hopefully that helps you too. Maybe they can get the judgement removed. Mine had been removed and if I had known this legal technicality prior I would have pursued it further with that collections agency who had no legal leg to stand on. Good Luck!!!

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

RobertEG — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 03:22:25 GMT

It is stated that "Theres a law in most states that they cant technically do anything to you after 4 years from the purchase date of the vehicle."

Do you have citation for any such statute for any state?

Are you referring to state SOL on commencing legal action? If so SOLs on bad debt dont run from date of first establishment of any debt, they usually run from date of delinquency.

Can you clarify the specific statutory provision you are referencing?

Re: Advice on Repo w/judgement against me

Nikita2008 — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 01:40:50 GMT

I think the bottom line is that if the OP retains an attorney, there may be a loophole out.