What are the consequences of having a credit card judgement against you in the amount of $20,000

What are the consequences of having a credit card judgement against you in the amount of $20,000


It will be on your credit report and other creditors will be reluctant to lend you money or will ask for security or a higher interest rate.

Is that your question?

And, of course, the creditor can at any time during the life of the judgment take whatever legal means are necessary to collect - seizure of property or bank account, garnishment of wages - and people who lend you money are aware that your financial picture could change (for these reasons) in a heartbeat.

Depending on where you live, they have a judgement, they seize your bank accounts, garnish your paycheck, ruin your credit report.

It will be on your credit report and other creditors will be reluctant to lend you money or will ask for security or a higher interest rate.

Is that your question?

And, of course, the creditor can at any time during the life of the judgment take whatever legal means are necessary to collect - seizure of property or bank account, garnishment of wages - and people who lend you money are aware that your financial picture could change (for these reasons) in a heartbeat.

Thank you for that thorough response. The debt is now being handled at a lawyer's office, but the next step is a lawsuit. AMEX is willing to deduct $8000 from the total amount of $22,000 if I will agree to settle. I have a visa card that has an available credit of $15,000 (I don't owe anything on that card). Would it be wise for me to accept the offer and place the amount on that card instead of allowing the judgement to be placed against me?
In that case, I would just make monthly payments to my visa and my credit report would show PAID IN FULL to AMEX.
Please advise

Thank you for that thorough response. The debt is now being handled at a lawyer's office, but the next step is a lawsuit. AMEX is willing to deduct $8000 from the total amount of $22,000 if I will agree to settle. I have a visa card that has an available credit of $15,000 (I don't owe anything on that card). Would it be wise for me to accept the offer and place the amount on that card instead of allowing the judgement to be placed against me?
In that case, i would just make monthly payments to my visa and my credit report would show PAID IN FULL to AMEX.
Please advise



Your credit report will show that it was an agreed upon amount, that you did not pay the balance due. Can you live with that?

Thank you for that thorough response. The debt is now being handled at a lawyer's office, but the next step is a lawsuit. AMEX is willing to deduct $8000 from the total amount of $22,000 if I will agree to settle. I have a visa card that has an available credit of $15,000 (I don't owe anything on that card). Would it be wise for me to accept the offer and place the amount on that card instead of allowing the judgement to be placed against me?
In that case, i would just make monthly payments to my visa and my credit report would show PAID IN FULL to AMEX.
Please advise

As far as credit goes... your credit report for the AMEX entry would read "legally settled for less than full amount" or something along those lines. It will not show paid in full, but will show a $0 balance.

Even with that, it is better than having a judgment.

Credit wise... yes it would be wise to settle before you get a judgment added. Your score will take a dip, (assuming you don't have a handful of other cards at that limit) due to your utilization on your CC.

Utilization = Total Balances divided Total Credit Lines

FICO likes seeing this number less than 9%.

Even if you max out the Visa paying off Amex, you can recover.(assuming, again, that you pay your payments on the Visa and get it paid off)