Ask Me Help Desk - Credit judgements

Hi I recently had a judgement against me from some backrent that I owed back in 2002, I had a roommate living with me and I had about 3 months left when I told my roommate I was moving, he had agreed that he would pay the remaining 3 months on the rent then move, now me bieng only 22 at the time I was young and stupid, long story short he never paid it. I never received any letters about it until now, about a month ago I got a letter stating that I had to appear in court about the 1,686 dollars that I owned in backrent, I never showed and now I guess my old landlord won the case by default, I'm 30 yrs old now and have a family and I was trying to fix my credit before me and my fiancé decided to buy a house, its really stressful and I don't know what to do, my landlord's lawyer sent me this pamphlet with about 50 questions about my personal life, how much I make, how many people I live with and so on... I have 30 days to respond. I do want to resolve this, I want to set up some kind of payment arrangement. My question to you is there a certain minimum they would refuse? All I can spare a month right now is about 25.00 to 50.00 a month, I just had a newborn baby, I have hospital bills, rent, car payment, insurance so on and so on... and on top of everything else I am employed but I am currently on family medical leave due to severe migraines. I heard you have 10 years to pay off a judgement and on the pace I'm offering it would take me anywhere from 6 to 8 years. Can they refuse that sort of payment? I haven't called them yet to make any arrangement, I received the letter about a week ago. I don't own anything as of right now, can they garnish my wages? if you can help me out I would greatly appreicate it. Thank you.

First, you should NEVER ignore a summons. The best time to negotiate is BEFORE they get a judgement.

I don''t know where you heard about the 10 years. A judgement can last for 10 years and can be renewed. But the creditor wants his money ASAP. They can garnish your wages, attach your bank accounts and maybe attach other assets. So you need to make them an offer they can live with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by L127boogie

hi i recently had a judgement against me from some backrent that i owed back in 2002, i had a roomate living with me and i had about 3 months left when i told my roomate i was moving, he had agreed that he would pay the remaining 3 months on the rent then move, now me bieng only 22 at the time i was young and stupid, long story short he never paid it. I never recieved any letters about it until now, about a month ago i got a letter stating that i had to appear in court about the 1,686 dollars that i owned in backrent, i never showed and now i guess my old landlord won the case by default, im 30 yrs old now and have a family and i was trying to fix my credit before me and my fiance decided to buy a house, its really stressful and i dont know what to do, my landlord's lawyer sent me this pamphlet with about 50 questions about my personal life, how much i make, how many people i live with and so on....i have 30 days to respond. i do wanna resolve this, i want to set up some kind of payment arrangement. my question to you is there a certain minimum they would refuse?? all i can spare a month right now is about 25.00 to 50.00 a month, i just had a newborn baby, i have hospital bills, rent, car payment, insurance so on and so on....and on top of everything else i am employed but i am currently on family medical leave due to severe migraines. i heard u have 10 years to pay off a judgement and on the pace im offering it would take me anywhere from 6 to 8 years. can they refuse that sort of payment?? i havent called them yet to make any arrangement, i recieved the letter about a week ago. i dont own anything as of right now, can they garnish my wages??if you can help me out i would greatly appreicate it. thank you.

There is no "pay off in 10 year rule."

The creditor does not have to accept any payment arrangements - the creditor has the ability to file garnishment papers (when you go back to work) or take any other legal means to collect the Judgment. That's what the interrogatories you received are for - the creditor will use that info to make a decision whether to go with payments or move against assets/wages. If you don't fill out the papers they will simply go against assets/wages.

Is the Judgment against you and your ex-roommate or just you? There is a possibility depending on your State that you have a cause of action against the roommate if this is the first time you've heard about this. Statute would run, I believe, from the time you became aware of the collection matter.

Anyone have another thought on this?

Saying you have a family and a fiancé makes me think you are a single parent. They cannot garnish wages of the head of household. I'd send in the paperwork and try to make payment arrangements. The info they are asking for helps them in working out those arrangements

Quote:

Originally Posted by DBmtgprocessor

Saying you have a family and a fiance makes me think you are a single parent. They cannot garnish wages of the head of household. I'd send in the paperwork and try to make payment arrangements. The info they are asking for helps them in working out those arrangements

As far as I know the head of household exists only in Florida and there is a partial exemption in Missouri. Full wages can be garnisheed in all other States.

If you have info to the contrary, please post it - this is a common question "here." You must run into this scenario in your line of work and hopefully have better info than I have been able to locate.