Hello,
My sister had a judgement against her for a fashio bug card. It went to court, she didn't show and they won by default. They placed a lien against her house. She lost her house in hurricane Ivan. Now she is getting letters wanting them to settle this. Is the lien still against her house if she rebuilt? The judgement was awarded in 2003. Should she go back to court in an attempt to get the judgement vacated? Or will they refile against her new house? OR, should we just leave it alone since they don't know her old house is gone?

Umm is this a valid debt? Then she should repay it.

As for placing the lien, the lien is against the property not the house. Does she no longer own the property? If so, why not? Its also unusual that a lien against a primary residence is allowed for unsecured debt. You need to check the laws in your state on that.

But the bottom line is, if she incurred the debt then she should pay it.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Umm is this a valid debt? Then she should repay it.

As for placing the lien, the lien is against the property not the house. Does she no longer own the property? If so, why not? Its also unusual that a lien against a primary residence is allowed for unsecured debt. You need to check the laws in your state on that.

But the bottom line is, if she incurred the debt then she should pay it.

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thank you for your quick reply. I believe the debt is valid, however, its 4x the amount she defaulted on. Her new house was rebuilt on 1/2 of the old property and 1/2 on a donated lot. We live in Ohio as far as I know, when the credit card was obtained it was unsecured. What should be her next step?
-Jen

What she should have done is not let a judgement be entered by default. Now that they have obtained a judgement they really have no need to negotiate.

Ivan reached up to Ohio? Its possible, in realigning the lots, the lien was not carried over.

So she has several steps to take. The first, is to check the title on the new and old properties to see if the lien is still recorded. Next she needs to check the laws for Ohio on whether a lien can be placed on a primary residence for unsecured debt.

If it can't or the lien no longer is recorded, I would approach the creditor (in writing only) proposing a settlement or payment plan.