[bdean]

I had a judgement put against me in 8/2000. I do not remember if I even received a summons, my husband and I also were going through foreclosure and many other problems. I live in Florida. This judgement has been sold over to a fourth party from a law firm. They have upped the judgement amount from $2300.00 to $5300.00 dollars now. This happened in 12/2007. I know the sol is 20 years. But don't they have only 7 years to renew or try to garnish? I am not employed and have no assets except for a 1996 car. Now they are trying to get info from a credit card I was preapproved for from 06/07. Is there anything I can legally do about this? Please help.

[simoneaugie]

Where I live, the statute of limitations is 7 years following when you last paid on the account, I think. The reason the "balance" has gone up so much is that they do not expect to get that from you. The lawyer(s) who have taken the claim, do it for the money. I doubt very much that they will take your car, and there are no wages to garnish if the account is solely in your name.

If it makes you feel better, you could contact the law firm who is pursuing this claim and offer to make a settlement. The settlement may end up being even less than you originally owed. But if you do not have money to settle, you can wait for the lawyers who are "in it for the money" to make another move. In my experience, they do not want to work much, just collect.