A levy was placed on my bank account because of a 4 year old credit card debt. I still have the old credit card bills and when I compared them to the amount the debt collector got a judgment for I saw that he tacked on over $1000 to the amount that is reported in the old bills. Is he allowed to do that? Are there any laws to limit how much a debt collector is allowed to inflate the original debt. The other thing is that when the judgment was made I wasn't in the country, and not at the address they have, so I never received any notice. From what I've been reading, if you don't contest it they just rule in favor of the debt collector, true? Is that improper notice? I am not even in the country now, so what can I do? I am willing to pay any debt that I owe, but not some made up number by the debt collector. Do I still have a chance of negotiating a lower amount and payment arrangements? Any help?

By the time they go to get a judgement, if it is only 1000 more, that is cheap, normally it would be several 1000. You would have legal fees added, collection fees added, and court fees added. And they will be allowed interest normally. They can add all fees allowed in the agreement. They are ( depending on your state of residence) to serve you notice at the last known address on file. So you can't see it is improper service unless you see how they did the service for sure.
But that is most likely a way to at least slow it down, since they can just refile for a new court date.

If you get the judgement overturned the may settle for less, but with the judgememt and a freeze on the money, why would they want to settle for less.

A levy was placed on my bank account because of a 4 year old credit card debt. I still have the old credit card bills and when I compared them to the amount the debt collector got a judgment for I saw that he tacked on over $1000 to the amount that is reported in the old bills. Is he allowed to do that? Are there any laws to limit how much a debt collector is allowed to inflate the original debt. The other thing is that when the judgment was made I wasnt in the country, and not at the address they have, so I never received any notice. From what I've been reading, if you don't contest it they just rule in favor of the debt collector, true? Is that improper notice? I am not even in the country now, so what can I do? I am willing to pay any debt that I owe, but not some made up number by the debt collector. Do I still have a chance of negotiating a lower amount and payment arrangements? Any help?
Apparently, after speaking to the Debt Collector, in New York when a levy is placed on a bank account the amount that is "levied"(?) is double the amount of the debt. In my case I found out what the actual amount owed is from the debt collector and he explained that this was all I needed to pay (not double). My next question is does anyone know how this process works as far as communication between the debt collector and my bank? He said that he needs to receive a letter of confirmation from the bank which will let him know how much I have in the account so we can discuss payment and he can release the levy, is that true? What should I expect/look out for?