Fighting an old judgment

[Astroguy]

Back in 2004 I let ASSET ACCEPTANCE get a judgment against me for CC debt I had with Providian. I'm in Westchester County, they had a law firm in Glen Cove Long Island, Mullooly, Jeffrey, Rooney & Flynn LLP. I ignored it since I was overwhelmed by other debt, chronic disease and never being able to work again. My income is at best a thousand $ a year. I rely on my wife's job and her good medical insurance. She has even more debt than me.

The judgment is for 10K. I have no assets to worry about. They know about a checking account I have at my local Citibank. I've had it for 20 years and these days use it for small debit card transactions from the tiny amount of cash or checks I put in the account. They seized all of $2.36 three years ago. After a year Citibank reopened the account. I've been using the account making small deposits until 2 weeks ago when I put in $135. My largest deposit in months. They instantly froze the account again and now I have to wait another year.

In NYS it is real easy for these guys to seize accounts.

This pattern can go on for another 15 years if i let it. I refuse to give up my little account which works for me. I do not want to run to other states just to conceal a few dozen dollars. I need to get this judgment vacated. I'm aware I can probably get them to settle for a few hundred dollars since I am practically collection proof, but I'd like to know all my options. I have the time to go to court and do research. I'd like the idea of filing some kind of motion and tripping them up somehow. If I file a motion and it fails, would I be stuck paying their legal fees on top of the court filing fees? I'm looking for some creative ideas.

I have no income other than occasional fix-it type work.

My disease is long term and permanent. I have not worked in 10 years.

My wife and I rent and have nothing of attachable value.

My Citibank account is only for small cash/check deposit, i do not have SS or disability payments or other exempt deposits

I don't remember exactly how the suit was served on me, probably just a regular letter (I can't find any record of it, only the judgment)

Thanks for any tips

[will35010]

Back in 2004 I let ASSET ACCEPTANCE get a judgment against me for CC debt I had with Providian. I'm in Westchester County, they had a law firm in Glen Cove Long Island, Mullooly, Jeffrey, Rooney & Flynn LLP. I ignored it since I was overwhelmed by other debt, chronic disease and never being able to work again. My income is at best a thousand $ a year. I rely on my wife's job and her good medical insurance. She has even more debt than me.

The judgment is for 10K. I have no assets to worry about. They know about a checking account I have at my local Citibank. I've had it for 20 years and these days use it for small debit card transactions from the tiny amount of cash or checks I put in the account. They seized all of $2.36 three years ago. After a year Citibank reopened the account. I've been using the account making small deposits until 2 weeks ago when I put in $135. My largest deposit in months. They instantly froze the account again and now I have to wait another year.

In NYS it is real easy for these guys to seize accounts.

This pattern can go on for another 15 years if i let it. I refuse to give up my little account which works for me. I do not want to run to other states just to conceal a few dozen dollars. I need to get this judgment vacated. I'm aware I can probably get them to settle for a few hundred dollars since I am practically collection proof, but I'd like to know all my options. I have the time to go to court and do research. I'd like the idea of filing some kind of motion and tripping them up somehow. If I file a motion and it fails, would I be stuck paying their legal fees on top of the court filing fees? I'm looking for some creative ideas.

I have no income other than occasional fix-it type work.

My disease is long term and permanent. I have not worked in 10 years.

My wife and I rent and have nothing of attachable value.

My Citibank account is only for small cash/check deposit, i do not have SS or disability payments or other exempt deposits

I don't remember exactly how the suit was served on me, probably just a regular letter (I can't find any record of it, only the judgment)

Thanks for any tips

Did they file suit on you in the county where the contract was signed or where you were currently living at the time? If not, they violated FDCPA Section 811 (a) (2). That's an easy $1,000.00 against these guys.

In my experience, once I have a judgment on a company, no matter if the amount is less than I owe them, they will usually delete their TL & vacate their judgment in exchange for you vacating yours. Make sure to do an agreement with them though, so they can't backtrack.

[Recovering Attorney]

What's to fight? You have nothing to give them. Move your account from Citi to a local credit union. Or get signing privileges on your wife's account. Better, you both should go BK and move to a debtor friendly state like Florida

[Astroguy]

Did they file suit on you in the county where the contract was signed or where you were currently living at the time? If not, they violated FDCPA Section 811 (a) (2). That's an easy $1,000.00 against these guys.

In my experience, once I have a judgment on a company, no matter if the amount is less than I owe them, they will usually delete their TL & vacate their judgment in exchange for you vacating yours. Make sure to do an agreement with them though, so they can't backtrack.

The suit was filed in my county court, same place I was when I got the CC. So no violation there. The tip is useful to know however. It's helpful to know these guys can be leveraged. But I've have virtually no contact with them recently, so there's no recent voice/mail contact type violations to get them on.

Are there other rational causes to file suit on them, being four years into the judgment? Maybe I can file suit for some other cause and play the same game. I need a cause where they won't know the strength (or total weakness) of the case until they appear in court. It'd be equal to overcharging a criminal defendant. How about "alleged" violations prejudgment? Or something where the case would not have resulted in a judgment? I'd think a judge would say tough luck, you should have raised it years ago.