What if I was paying on an Agreed Judgment for a creditor and then I later stopped making payments for 5 years and now I get a notice for a bank levy on my bank account but this Writ of Garnishment is from a different law office in another city for same creditor. Can they do this even though it is a different law firm? And I was never notified that my account went to another law office for collections. So what happens to the payments I did make to this other law office for the original Agreed Judgment. By the way, I live in Texas. I have talked to this new law firm regarding negotiations to release this hold on my bank account. Also, I am unemployed and they do know that.

Debts are bought and sold every day... the writ was already issued and valid for this specific debt.


They don't have to inform you.


Not paying like you agreed was a default on the agreement then they legally had the right to go after and seize anything they legally can to satisfy the remaineder of the debt.

You negotiated once and defaulted on the agreement... why would they want to negotiate with you again given that history.

What's in it for them... they already have a judgement.. and a writ.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by smoothy

Debts are bought and sold every day...the writ was already issued and valid for this specific debt.


They don't have to inform you.


Not paying like you agreed was a default on the agreement then they legally had the right to go after and sieze anything they legally can to satisfy the remaineder of the debt.

You negotiated once and defaulted on the agreement...why would they want to negotiate with you again given that history.

Whats in it for them...they already have a judgement..and a writ.

---

But what about the money I already paid to this other law firm at the beginning?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Savi2013

But what about the money I already paid to this other law firm at the beginning?

---

The money you already paid SHOULD be credited against the debt. The debt doesn't get reset when it gets sold... and previous payments aren't free money for them.

Example... Original Judgement is $5,000, you pay 3,000... it gets sold to someone else... that debt is now $2,000, not $5,000 again.


However... and this is important... this wasn't one of those debt settlement places on TV where they get you to pay them... and sometimes they pay the people holding the actual debt? And sometimes they just take the money and run leaving you owing the original debt because all they were was a middleman?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by smoothy

The money you already paid SHOULD be credited against the debt. The debt doesn't get reset when it gets sold....and previous payments aren't free money for them.

Example...Original Judgement is $5,000, you pay 3,000...it gets sold to someone else....that debt is now $2,000, not $5,000 again.


However.....and this is important.....this wasn't one of those debt settlement places on TV where they get you to pay them....and sometimes they pay the people holding the actual debt? And sometimes they just take the money and run leaving you owing the original debt because all they were was a middleman?

---

No, it was a law firm working on behalf of the collections company but apparently they went to a new law firm and I didn't know about it. Since I told them about me paying this other law firm, they are now going to contact the other law firm to get information about what I had already paid. They were not aware that I had paid another law firm for the same debt. And he also asked about making payments spread out over so many years and then asked about what I can pay as a settlement because he said they can negotiate anything but wanted to see what I can come up with in addition to what is already on hold in my joint bank account.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Savi2013

No, it was a law firm working on behalf of the collections company but apparently they went to a new law firm and I didn't know about it. Since I told them about me paying this other law firm, they are now going to contact the other law firm to get information about what I had already paid. They were not aware that I had paid another law firm for the same debt. And he also asked about making payments spread out over so many years and then asked about what I can pay as a settlement because he said they can negotiate anything but wanted to see what I can come up with in addition to what is already on hold in my joint bank account.

---

No harm in asking them... in fact if they are open to working out an agreement... definately take advantage of it... they legally could play hardball. Hope you have records of your previous payments... you night have to produce them.

Like I said... whats in it for them... they will do what's to their advantage, not necessarily what's advantageous to you... and it appears the new one might see an advantage to a payment plan.

If the old law firm failed to remit payments received to the client (or pay themselves out of their trust account), that is a matter between the old law firm and the client. It is not your concern.

All you have to do is show the new law firm what you paid. Do this with cancelled checks, receipts, or get a statement from the old law firm. If you do that, the new firm (on behalf of their client) should acknowledge the payment.

Well now I need to figure out how to negotiate an agreed amount to get my bank account unfrozen. I'm not sure how this works on a percentage basis. Do I negotiate 50% of the amount or less? The guy just keeps asking how much can you come up with. And I have to consider what is in my bank account right now they will already get. And since he is going to get with the other law firm about what I paid he will get back to me so in the meantime I need to figure out an amount when he calls me back.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Savi2013

Well now I need to figure out how to negotiate an agreed amount to get my bank account unfrozen. I'm not sure how this works on a percentage basis. Do I negotiate 50% of the amount or less? The guy just keeps asking how much can you come up with. And I have to consider what is in my bank account right now they will already get. And since he is going to get with the other law firm about what I paid he will get back to me so in the meantime I need to figure out an amount when he calls me back.

---

They already got a settlement for 100%... the time to negotiate for a lower percentage ended before it went to court...


What you are negotiating now is how much you pay them per month...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by smoothy

They already got a settlement for 100%.....the time to negotiate for a lower percentage ended before it went to court....


What you are negotiating now is how much you pay them per month....

---

Well that's the point I am making. He said I can make payments or they would take a settlement so at this point he was just asking how much I could come up with as a settlement.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Savi2013

Well that's the point I am making. He said I can make payments or they would take a settlement so at this point he was just asking how much I could come up with as a settlement.

---

Only you know how much you can pay them per month... Odd that they blocked but didn't simply take what you had in that account... they were within their rights to seize it and credit it against the remaining balance of the debt. In fact all they have to do is periodically renew the writ so theoretically someone could be hounding you 30 or 40 years from now. (assuming you don't die of old age before then and even then they can collect off your estate if there is one).

50% they are in all likelihood going to laugh at knowing they can eventually get 100%... if you could say scrape up 80 or 90% to pay in a lump sum... they night consider...


Its all a guess... they WILL take 100%... anything less than that they have to think its in their interest to take. At some point it obviously won't be.