I have two credit card judgments against me (judgment include attorney fees and original amounts of the credit plus interest). The creditors did their part, it was me who went into a panic attack, fell into a deep depression, and avoided their calls and attempts to resolve the issues.. I now have every intention of repaying the debt I owed. I don't want to file bankruptcy because that's a cop out. It's just another way to show creditors that I once again am being irresponsible.

My questions are:

1. If I called the creditors' attorney's office, will they likely settle with me on a payment (not a plan but a lump sum payment of what I originally owed to the credit card company minus attorney fees)?

2. Do I deal with the creditors' attorney myself or hire an attorney to represent me? I really don't want to shell out money that I don't need to. I'm already deeply in debt.

I'm scared because these two judgments have really affected my credit score. There has to be a way.

Thank you for taking your time to read. Any help or word of advice is appreciated.

I would contact the creditor thierself direct, but don't accept any offer over the phone ( collections are know to lie over the phone all the time)
Get an agreement to offer in writing before paying.

The worst they can do is refuse if you try it yourself.

But remember they already have a judgement, so if they beleve you have money in the bank somewhere, they will try and find it and just take it.

Also they know with a judgement they can garnish your paycheck also,

You said to contact the creditor themselves direct, do you mean I should contact the collection agency or the attorney's office? How these judgments went against me was because I failed to show up in court so they won by default. The judgments (one is about three years old and the other is two) and I looked up the statue of limitation on open-account judgments in the state they were entered and it is about six years.

Supposed that I was to successfully (keeping my fingers crossed) negotiate perhaps a 50% payoff knowing that if they don't accept this offer from me they will never get anything out of me once the statue of limitation expires, will they also agree to write the credit bureaus and reinstate my poor credit to good standing?

I understand that any correspondences or exchanges need to be in writing before payment is transferred.

Thank you.

Also, although these are unsecured loans, once a judgment is entered, can a lien be hold against a home that I'm 50% owner but it is not my primary residence?

At this point you should deal with the entity that obtained the judgement. This may be the attorney or the collection agency. Second, I'm not sure you are reading the statue of limitations correctly. I believe the SOL refers to how long they have to file for a judgement. Once they get a judgement, it can be renewed indefinitely. Third, that cannot reinstate your credit. All they can do is note that the account has been settled or paid in full and closed. You will have to wait for the judgements to slip off your report.

Ok, somewhere I missed the word judgement in your original post, my error completely, that changes everything. Please look at scottgem answer, he caught what I missed, sorry about that