devlinder Posted February 7, 2009 Report Share Posted February 7, 2009 Hello...total newbie here! I'm hoping someone can help me out with this situation. *DISCLAIMER* I realize we made some BAD decisions, but we are finally ready and sort of able to face the music and move forward.Ok, so after years of struggling just to get by (rent, utilities, etc.), we are finally about to have our heads above water. Not enough to do much, mind you, but enough to at least pay the "regular" bills on time and be able to grocery shop with more than $20 at once.During this time of financial woe, we (stupidly) ignored all collection activity on our past due credit cards and just sort of wished it away. Dumb I know, but I believe we could not have survived emotionally or financially any other way.Anyway, I'm finally ready to assess the mess and have found several default judgements, some on our reports and oddly enough, some that weren't. I'm pretty sure we were only served on two of them, but it's possible I just don't remember the others.I'm having to take this one at a time; the most pressing issue being a default judgement from CapOne for $936 principal + $1000 in interest/fees/lawyer/etc. I was definitely served but like an idiot I ignored it. On 1/9/09 they received the default judgement and now I have been asked to complete this form with my financial info and include all these records like bank statements, tax returns, etc. Besides the fact that we have literally NOTHING they would want to take (we rent, the car we share is financed, we have hand me downs for basically everything inside our place, we have two kids and my husband is the only one who works), it makes me really uncomfortable to just hand them all of our records! Not to mention that I have no printer and would have to do some serious searching just to find most of these records and pay to have them printed and mailed out.My question is, do I HAVE to attach these documents or will I get in trouble if I don't? I don't mind filling out the form they sent but that just seems pointless. I would like to make some sort of settlement and payment arrangement with them, and if possible avoid a judgement. Is it too late? Can I appeal? I am lost here, and I have to do this in the next two weeks. Help? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
montanatim Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 If you know that you were served, and there were no irregularities with that service, you will have little ground to vacate judgment. If you do not answer their questions you can expect to receive summons for an asset hearing. If you blow that off you could be jailed for contempt. So my opinion is, this one you blew, oh well. Give them what they ask for and deal with it the best you can. Check your statutes and see what they could garnish. A certain amount should be exempt. I'm sorry I don't have more cheer to offer you. The other option is to hire an attorney however you can and see if they feel you have some other option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merrybucks Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 With all the judgments you have you may want to consider BK. I would at least talk to an attorney about options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlinder Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Thank you both for your replies. If you don't mind, could you offer any ideas about the rest of my situation?I was looking into bankruptcy but I have a few concerns: 1) I read that if we repay/have repaid a relative for personal loans they can be sued for the amount, and we are paying my in-laws $2500 out of our upcoming tax return for their help throughout the last year when we needed it. 2) We are getting a large tax return, every penny of which we need to catch up our regular bills, repay the inlaws, get our car repaired, and buy a few neccessities we have been doing without for a long time (mainly clothes for all of us and a washer and dryer-which I plan to buy used on craigslist).JUDGEMENTS:One of the judgements under his name is for almost $700 from a Monogram Credit Bank. We have never dealt with them or any of their affiliates that I could find. I have the paperwork (from the court website), and it just lists the bank's name, not any original creditor. How do I go about this one?One of the other judgements only lists Asset Acceptance on the paperwork, no original creditor (as it does on the other one they have against him). I have broken down all of our reports on a spreadsheet and can't find the corresponding debt for this judgement. So, just like the other one, it might not be ours. We don't recall him being served for either of these.One of the judgements under his name is definitely valid and he was served, as with the CapOne one under my name from my original question. For those two I would like to start a payment plan but can't afford much-should I bother? Will they come down on the total amount due at all? Will they be on our reports 10 years after the payoff date?The last judgement is the other one from Asset, but they did two judgements in one suit, for two totally different credit card accounts they bought. Is that even legal to combine them like that? We don't recall him being served and this judgement is not on any of his credit reports, I found them on the court's website while searching for the others. Do I have any recourse on this one?I appreciate your help, this is all new to me and I honestly want to move forward and put this all behind us. Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjtx Posted February 8, 2009 Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Go to court and get a copy of the suit's "affidavit of service". It will tell you who and where they allegedly served. With that information in hand, you may be able to vacate the judgment if you were not served properly... and you could even countersue for fraud/illegal debt collection/deceptive trade practices. At least you will have some leverage.I would not be surprised if Asset pulled a fast one and "served" whoever lives at one of your 20 year old addresses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlinder Posted February 8, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2009 Go to court and get a copy of the suit's "affidavit of service". It will tell you who and where they allegedly served. With that information in hand, you may be able to vacate the judgment if you were not served properly... and you could even countersue for fraud/illegal debt collection/deceptive trade practices. At least you will have some leverage.I would not be surprised if Asset pulled a fast one and "served" whoever lives at one of your 20 year old addresses.I will do that, thank you! Do you know if they will charge me for the info, and can I get it on all the judgements on record? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 You could fight it on the grounds that there was not enough evidence - what was in the court paperwork sent to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlinder Posted February 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 You could fight it on the grounds that there was not enough evidence - what was in the court paperwork sent to you.What do you mean? Can you elaborate? Are you talking about the current judgement or the ones I found that I have doubts on? Sorry, I just find this so overwhelming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 If you want to try to get the judgments overturned, pull them (they are public record) and see what was entered into evidence. If you think it's weak, you can file a motion to vacate based on lack of/improper evidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devlinder Posted February 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 If you want to try to get the judgments overturned, pull them (they are public record) and see what was entered into evidence. If you think it's weak, you can file a motion to vacate based on lack of/improper evidence.I found the judgements online, and two of them have a front page that says "Do not remove this page from document. This represents the validation required pursuant to Florida Statute 28.222 and 695.26 (1)(e) and/or Rule 2.055 © of the Rules of Judicial Administration for the recordation of thr following document in the Official records of (my county) Florida." Then the next page has the notice of default judgement, amount, etc., signed and dated. This is all there is on the other judgements. How do I get more information? Do I physically have to go down to the courthouse? I'd prefer to do as much as I can online as most of this is in my husband's name and he works 7 days a week.BTW these are mostly from 2005/2006, but I didn't know about them until now...is it way too late to try to vacate if I do find weak evidence?Thanks again to all of you for all of your help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
admin Posted February 9, 2009 Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 Yes, too late to vacate such old judgments, most states only have a 90-day to 1 year window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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