Ask Me Help Desk - Judgement for CC of 1998!

Hello everyone. I came here in hopes finding an answer for my problem. In 1994 I opened an account with Sears. In 1998 it was in collection. I was young and stupid didn't pay it off. I moved to a different coast of the county for school and never heard about this CC again.
My mom supposedly paid it off and she has been telling me all these years that she paid it of. To make a long story short - couple of weeks ago, I got a letter from a law firm that they have obtained a judgment against me. I went to my county's civil court but they couldn't provide me with more information. The original debt was $1,400, and the amount of the judgmenet is $2,700... I called the law office but they just laughed in my face and told me that "actions were already taken against me". It turns out that they came to my bank and took $1000 out of my account. All the money I had for the next couple of weeks. I just lost a job (massive layoffs) and the last paycheck with severance is due to arrive on 2/29.

The letter that I got 2 weeks ago was the FIRST one I have ever gotten. The only reason I didn't worry about this credit card for all the years was because my mom was convinced that she paid it off.

The statue of limitation in my state for credit cards is 6 years. My Credit History DOESN'T show any debt to Sears. It has already expired. My credit is in good standing, score is above 700. Is there anything I can do to fight them? Does it makes sense to hire an attorney or can I do it myself?

First I would call the count court and ask what was shown as proof that you were served the notice of the suit.

If they can't prove service, you may be able to get the judgment dismissed. It is not likely as most judges will verify proof of service before they will award any judgment. It could even be that they published the notice in a local newspaper as that is a valid option if they did not have a current address for you.

Secondly, is the statute of limitations you mention for a judgment, or an outstanding debt?

If the statute ran out on the outstanding debt, prior to the judgment, you may be able to get it dismissed that way as well.

Does your check auto deposit? If so, I would make every possible effort to get that stopped and request a real check to be mailed or picked up by you. If that fails, I would try to find another account (family member, open a new account, etc) that you check could be deposited into instead of the one they have access to.

Call your bank, see if there is any type of freeze on the account, if there is not anything in place, and you can't stop your check from being deposited into that account, try to get there when it opens and withdraw all your funds before they levy the account again.

Best advice here, yeah, you should talk to an attorney, there are a lot of options and ground to cover here, you could use some legal help.

Good Luck

At this point they got your money, so you are going to have to prove you were not properly served,

1. what court issued the judgement and garnishment
2. when was it issues,

Many credit card companies "lie" I know hard to believe, but they will claim you made a payment on a certain date ( changing SOL) they will have papers served to some address you lived 10 years ago, or just not serve you and claim they did.

But you are going to have to take them to court to pvoe they violated one of your rights.

Quote:

Originally Posted by progunr

First I would call the count court and ask what was shown as proof that you were served the notice of the suit.

I did go to the court yesterday, they didn't give me any other information than I already have. The judgment is outstanding, I can either settle with the m directly or take it to court. How do I ask for a proof?

Quote:

Originally Posted by progunr

Secondly, is the statute of limitations you mention for a judgment, or an outstanding debt?

Statue of limitation on the outstanding debt has ran out. I have been very responsible for my credit history since 2001, checking the history every 6m to a year. I never once saw this debt on my credit report. A year ago I purchased a home, with no problems, leased a new car, etc. I mean if I had something wrong with my credit, I wouldn't be able to get all those, right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by progunr

If the statute ran out on the outstanding debt, prior to the judgment, you may be able to get it dismissed that way as well.

Do I have to prove it to the judge myself? Or you think it's better to go with an attorney? Our family lawyer is on vacation and won't be back until wednesday :( I lost sleep over this. Not that it's a great amount of money, but just the fact that someone can come and clean out my account makes me very uneasy :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by progunr

Does your check auto deposit? If so, I would make every possible effort to get that stopped and request a real check to be mailed or picked up by you. If that fails, I would try to find another account (family member, open a new account, etc) that you check could be deposited into instead of the one they have access to.

Yes it does. I will call the payroll service on Tuesday to make sure they send me a check directly, not to my bank account.

Quote:

Originally Posted by progunr

Good Luck

Thank you, I will keep you posted on what happens...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fr_Chuck

At this point they got your money, so you are going to have to prove you were not properly served,

1. what court issued the judgment and garnishment
2. when was it issues,
.

Civil court of my county.
It was issued on January 2nd. The letter that Law office sent me dated January 28th!! And then 2 weeks later they wipe clean my checking account. Do you think I have a right to dispute it based on the dates?

Hi guys, just wanted to give you an update on my case. I went to the court and the judge signed "vacate the judgment" based on the statue of limitation (6 years in my state) and the fact that the idiots send me the letters to the wrong address! I never received any notice of judgment prior to February. The court date was set to March 5th. As soon as I got the judge sign that, I send the law office the copy. They opened up my checking account and returned the money in couple of days. And on March 5th I went to the court. The judge called my name and an attorney from that law firm came up to the stand. He said that they are discontinuing the actions against me!! So everything is fine now, I'm very happy that I went to the court and vacated the judgment! Thank you for everyone's help! :)