[Tracy Prater]

My husband and might be sued by a credit card company. I would like to know what it means if they put an attachment on our house, or a lien. Do these mean the same thing. I worried they could force us out of our home. We are trying to pay everything back we owe. They seem to want it paid back in large amounts which we don't have.

[mr.yet]

You cannot be remove from your home because of a attachment or lien, it means, that when you sell your home the lien will be paid at that time.



Just a thought, not legal advice

[DrJ]

First of all, they cannot "force" you out of your house.

If they do sue you, they will be granted a judgment. A judgment is an order from the court stating that you do, in fact, owe them the money they say you do.

With that judgment, they can attempt to garnish your wages, put a lien on your home ("attach" your home), or levy your bank account.

If they put a lien on your home, you do NOT have to see your home and they CANNOT take it from you. It means that IF you ever DO sell your home, you will have to use the money from that to pay off the amount you owe them. This is, of course, AFTER you pay off any & all mortgages and taxes.

What state do you live in?

[Fr_Chuck]

The first thing they do is of course try to get you to start making some sort of payment to them.

If you don't, they will sue you in court for being in default of the credit card contract the entire balance, plus court fees, but legal fees will all be due at that time.

When you can't write a check at court to them for the balance, they can ask the court for many things.

1. attach any and all of your bank accounts, so if you have 1000 in checking, but there are checks out, they take the 1000 and all the checks bounce

2. they get any money in your savings account

3. next they will normally garnish your wages, getting about 25 percent of the check before you get it. ( this is normally what you will see done)

4. Putting an attachment ( which is a lien) on a home is normally about the last choice, since if they force the house to be sold, the 1st and even 2nd lender gets their money first, and since most times houses sold for judgments don't bring near what they are worth normally the lender like a credit card company seldom gets their money, but if left to no other choice they may try this also

[Fr_Chuck]

There are good and bad, but if the credit card company will not work with you direct, you may try contacting a credit counseling service, Not normally my first choice, but they have been known to help many people.

[DrJ]

At this point, it is likely too late for credit counseling. You are more likely able to get a settlement if you have cash upfront.