Ask Me Help Desk - Judgements & debt

I recently received judgement on a credit card bill around 6 grand. I tried to settle before the suit was filed, but the collection agency wanted way too much too soon. I also owe many other creditors money, and was thinking about bankruptcy. But I've already seen a lawyer and I probably won't be able to have ALL my debt erased, so what's the point? Even when I WAS making the minimum payments on my credit cards, I couldn't get a loan or other lines of credit because of too many 'revolving credit lines' or just too much debt in ratio to what my income is.

So I decided to default and let the chips fall where they may. Now the lawyers for the credit card issuer is asking for answers under oath about my personal property, which cracks me up because I have NOTHING. A car worth 1600 blue book and a little money in the bank. No home (in my name) or property, or 'valuable maps'. Yeah, that was ACTUALLY one of the questions on the form... do I own any valuable MAPS!! Anyway, where should I go from here. Hire a lawyer to negotiate a better re-payment plan? Look into bankruptcy again (I owe anywhere from 20-25,000 in CC debt)? What are the chances some of these debts will go away over time? Could I face more judgements, even if I already face one creditor trying to take my money/property? Don't these people realize that you can't get blood from a stone?

My original mindset was that most of these balances would eventually be absorbed by the banks, who would prefer to sue those who owe much higher amounts. Stupid, huh? :( Anyway, I thought I read somewhere else on these boards that a person isn't obligated to answer discovery questions mailed from a lawyer... that some of these guys just fish for info. Is that true? What are the chances that they'll take my car or freeze my bank account? And how soon? Should I maybe close out all my accounts ASAP and drop my direct deposit at work? Should I try to settle again (or get a lawyer to do it for me)? Will they take less than I owe at this point, or is it too late for all that? What about wage garnishment? I live in Pennsylvania, and somebody told me that Pa. law only allows garnishment for taxes and child support. Is this correct?

Sorry for so many questions, but this is all starting to cause me to lose sleep. Thanks for ANY help/advice anybody can offer.

Without going too far into your situation, you should find a Consumer Credit Counselling service in your area. Look one up online or in the yellow pages. They can help you with two things:

1. Get on (and stay on) a budget
2. Help you with your creditors

Yes stop all direct deposit to any account.

They will most likely try to garnish your wages.

YOu can file Motion to Vacate judgment with the court that granted it.
May not work but will give you sometime to work things out with them.

Thanks to both of you for such prompt responses. I really should have seen a local credit counselor a long time ago, as it may have prevented my most recent dilemma. I'm also going to look into filing a motion to vacate judgement, though I have no clue how to go about doing that. A friend of the family is a lawyer, and although he's always very busy maybe he can help with that. I'm still wondering about whether I should respond to the letter regarding my personal finances from the lawyer who filed the suit, though. As far as wage garnishment, I found this yesterday:

39. Pennsylvania Wage Garnishment

No wage attachment in this state except for taxes and child support.

The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue is authorized to garnish wages without obtaining a court order for collection of unpaid state taxes. The Department will first notify taxpayers of its intent to contact their employers to begin withholding. If a taxpayer fails to resolve the tax liability, the taxpayer's employer will be ordered to begin garnishing wages and make payments to the Commonwealth. Employers may retain up to 2% of the amount collected to compensate for costs of additional bookkeeping.

I may be missing something, but it looks to me like that's not an option for creditors in Pa. I'll ask the Credit counselor about that for sure. Thanks again for the help. GREAT WEBSITE!!

If the discovery was from the atty, don't respond, if it was ordered by the court you have to respond.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

If the discovery was from the atty, don't respond, if it was ordered by the court you have to respond.

I'll have to look at it again because I'm not really sure. The return address was from the atty, NOT the court, but the document looks pretty official. :confused: Thanks for your help!!