Rebuilding - Is there anything else I could be doing?

[tbonecopper]

Greetings all... I've posted here before and apologize, I never replied to that thread. It's over 2 years old at this point, so I'll re iterate to spare any confusion.

In my younger days I made some terrible mistakes. 

1. I took out student loans for amounts I can't even believe, then let them go to near default. 

2. Charged off an AMEX Platinum for about $34,000 for which a judgment has been placed on me. 

3. Voluntarily repo'ed a car....

4. Was evicted from an apartment. 

Most of those things were 6-7 years ago. For example: The AMEX judgement will disappear from my credit report in November 2016. The eviction fell off earlier this year. The car repo isn't on my credit report, not exaclty sure why. And the student loans are in rehabilitation ( private loans ) and federal are in consolidation > sleep.

However, I have a few questions, maybe some concerns. I've worked quite hard to acquire some credit lines... the following: 

1 - Applied Bank VISA, $1300 limit

2. Bank of America Visa (formerly Worldpoints), $500

3. A former Orchard Bank now CapitalOne Mastercard Rewards - $1500 limit (just upped from $500 this Feb)

4. Another CapitalOne MasterCard - $1500.00 limit (just upped from $500 this Feb)

5. Another CapitalOne MasterCard cashback $4250 limit (just upped from $2500 this Feb)

6. BestBuy, $1000 limit (store card, not the Visa) (Just upped in late March from $700)

7. Amazon/Synchrony - $700 limit (new as of 1 month)

8. Walmart/Synchrony - $500 (new as of 1 month)

9. Eddie Bauer/Comentiy - $500 (new as of today)

10. Arhaus/Comenty - $3500 (new as of today)

I'm also an authorized user on a Sam's Club card (not the Discover one), which has a $3500 limit. 

Additionally, about a month ago, my credit union gave me an unsecured $500 dollar loan w/ 6 month terms and an excellent interest rate. 

I've also done a few installment plans which report to the bureaus, namely through Okinus. Bought a mattress and financed it with them, it also showed up on my report. 

My score is from 595 to 630, depending on the bureau you pull. In all, it's not too bad. However, I'm left with some questions... 

Is it true American Express can infinitely renew their judgment? It's been almost 7 years (will leave report in November 2016) and they've let it be... but I'm concerned it will be renewed. I'm in Florida if it makes a difference. I keep reading conflicting information about it. They did serve me many years ago with the judgment, but I don't own property, they haven't tried to garnish wages, nor did I have to actually go to court. I'd like for it to just drop off, but I'm not sure that it will. And if it doesn't, I'm unsure how to actually deal with the situation. When I pulled my credit report a few weeks ago from 'the annual site', I noticed American Express and American Express 2 have been soft pulling my report 2-3 times per month. Which is very odd, in my opinion. 

Also, that Bank of America card is my 2nd oldest account, the first being the Best Buy card. They've never approved a credit line increase, always citing my previous history with loans and such as the reason. That said, they've never had a late payment from me on the life of the account (circa 2006). In fact, none of my cards have ever had a late payment. It just boggles my mind CapOne is willing to issue a $4250 line when Bank of America won't even budge from $500. The interest rate on my BofA card is definitely better (nearly half the rate of teh CapOne card). Does anyone have any suggestions on pursuading them on a CLI? Or are BofA that stingy? 

[Anonymous]

Judgements can be renewed should the plantiff do it.  They can last indefinitely if not paid.

BofA can be conservative, whereas Cap One isn't nearly as conservative - Cap One doesn't even really blacklist people even if they've burned them in the past (their blacklist is very temporary).  BofA DOES warm up to people but they'll probably not warm until your reports are clean, even though anecdotal evidence supports that they sometimes do.

It's really quite funny how, even though everything is done with an impartial computer, some banks seem to like some people and dislike others.  

[tbonecopper]

It is odd... I've also found it to be similar when applying for a job. Some systems do well, some, just don't like you. (Taelo.. cough cough)

As for the judgement, I'm really not sure what to do. I've had zero communication for over 6 years with Amex. They don't send letters or call, and I'm sure they have the ability to do that.

[Anonymous]

They are likely pulling your reports regularly to ascertain when you may become "collectible". Any mortgage pulls, signifigant score recovery, and/or large credit lines appearing will likely trigger "hard" collection activities.

They are not "doing anything" with the judgement, because they consider you "uncollectible" at the current time.

[tbonecopper]

Well, with a TU of 595, I'm not sure they have many options. 

I spoke with an attorney today, actually. I was curious about my options with the judgement. As I see it, I have three.

1. I can approach the creditor and ask for negotiation or if they will be open to payments on the account.

2. Chapter 7.

3. Ignore the judgement until they decide to wage garnish. 

We decided option 1 is pretty unlikely. I've let this go for nearly 7 years and the amount + interest (amount of which I am unaware) is probably too high for them to consider cutting that balance down by much and let me make payments. I couldn't send them much really, private student loans and medical take most of my checks. :-/ 

Chapter 7, it's not a favorite option for me. And anyone feel free to offer input here... but, I've worked my tuchas off for the last 6 years with on time payments, responsible use of cards, and such, in an effort to build a reliable payment history, despite the judgement. A chapter 7 will undo all of that. If I'm not mistaken, if I have zero balances on my cards, I don't have to notify them of my proceedings, but they'll likely find out anywy with their monitoring services and can cancel the card/cut the limits. Anyone have any experience with this? I hate to sound cocky, but I detest the idea of cancelling/losing my accounts at this point in the process. I've worked quite hard and managed the debt very well considering my one mistake (i.e. the judgement). If I knew they'd still be available to me after the final process of a Chapter 7, I'd be more open to the idea. 

And the final option, which is the one I'm leaning to - just allow them to garnish. I own no property, I don't own a car, there's not enough money in my bank account to seize (if they want the 5.00 they can have it). I ran my current pay grade through the wage garnishment formula and it came up just about 200 per check. Sure, it'll take nearly a decade of garnishment to erase the judgement, but it's easier to manage than me paying them $600-700/month now for 2-3 years. 

Am I crazy? I guess what I'm trying to say is - now, I don't have a major debt problem on current accounts. My only past due thing is that judgement. Since it was placed, everything else has been well managed. Credit lines have <$100 on them, just periodic use and pay off. Nothing that I can't manage. It's just the judgement that's killing me. 

[gdale6]

You would lose most if not all of your current cards with a BK filing.

[tbonecopper]

That's what I thought... so for now, just tet things be. If they  garnish, at lease I keep my cards. 

[Rebuilding69]

The judgement has already damaged you. Option 1 isnt an option if they think they can get their money in a reasonable amount of time, which is why they are pulling your reports so much.

Does wage garnishment reset the filing date of the judgement? Do they have to go before a judge to get it done? Or is it just admin paperwork at that point? I guess the filing date doesnt really matter too much at this point though, just kind of wondering for infos sake.

Would a company wage garnish for a decade+ on someone? And how does that affect your job? I'm assuming you are in the military or work for the government in some fashion.

If it doesnt affect your job & they would actually garnish for so long, I'd keep your credit cards & stay away from BK, personally. Establishing & Extending the positive side of your rebuilding is just as important as getting rid of old stuff on your reports.

[tbonecopper]

I''m not in the military, no. Just regular work.

As for how long they'd garnish before just letting go, I have no idea. 

I asked our HR guy at work today and he didn't care, apparently I'm not the only one going through this... someone else has the Dept of Education garnishing. They won't fire me for it and it doesn't look bad on my performance. Everyone makes mistakes, they said. 

[Rebuilding69]

Ah ok, I know my work hates garnishments.