[alexa325]

Hello, I'm looking for a bit of advice.

I currently reside in Michigan. During the process of graduate school, I fell behind on a credit card and it was charged off. I was then sued over the debt. I appeared before the judge, and with the lawyer for the collection agency on the phone agreed to make payments. The lawyer told the judge and myself she'd send me the paperwork. The paperwork never came. I contacted them a few times by phone and got the run-around, eventually disconnected by their phone system after multiple transfers.

I called two weeks before the date of the hearing to try to talk to the lawyer for the collection agency who was supposed to send me paperwork, and even though I had to call back multiple times to get back into the phone system I finally got through to someone. That person told me they'd already won a judgment.

So I called the courthouse. The courthouse, likewise, said there was a default judgment entered against me. I was, however, never told that there was a hearing date (the hearing I was told to appear for was still two weeks away).

I never received a copy of the judgment, and I hadn't heard any more from the attorney in spite of my attempts to contact them to figure things out. I have, in fact, never received a single piece of mail from them.

Last week they placed a garnishment on my bank account. They only got a measly $50, the last of my financial aid (I have been unemployed/on fellowship for a year), but I wasn't aware such an action could be taken without anyone contacting me before hand and without the court or someone informing me.

I realize I owe the original credit card debt, and I am not opposed to making reasonable payments to cover that, or trying to settle for less if they'd be happier with one lump sum, but over the course of this entire process I have never been offered anything but to pay the full amount (an amount that keeps going up, even though the credit card itself was charged off a couple of years ago).

I'm fine with negotiating with the lawyers over repayment terms, but they've shown me that they cannot be trusted, so I'd like to try to get the judgment thrown out, since I wasn't informed of the hearing (which from my understanding is grounds-- I received no form of notice at all). I would have appeared and handled all of this before the judge had someone told me I had a court date.

I feel like it'd give me a better position to negotiate repayment if the judgment was vacated. I feel like I have proper grounds to make that request. Does anyone have advice on how to proceed/where to find the proper forms to file?

Thank you.

[Fr_Chuck]

You were told of the judgement, no you are not told about a garnishment, they may do that anytime they get a judgement. I hope you had no outstanding checks that had not cleared.

[alexa325]

I was only told of the judgment once I called. Shouldn't I have been sent a copy from the court?

And shouldn't I have been sent a summons for the hearing?

I think I'm okay on checks. Still shocks me that someone can just syphon a bank account.

Thanks for the response.

[ScottGem]

They didn't "just siphon" a bank account. They filed suit and obtained a judgment. As soon as you found out about the judgment you should have filed a motion to vacate on the grounds that you were not informed of the hearing.

You can still try that, but its only a delaying tactic. The plaintiff does not have to accept a payment plan.