question re: charge-offs, binding arbitration, and judgements

[mothersvox]

Hi everyone, We are getting our paperwork in order to file before the new law goes into effect. We haven't paid our credit card minimums in many months and most of our creditors have, at this point, charged off our accounts as bad debt and/or sold them to collection agencies.

My questions:

Can the collection agencies get a judgement against us without us even knowing about it?

If the credit accounts had an arbitration clause (which most CC's do these days), can they send it to arbitration, get a determination, and then we wind up with a judgement we didn't know about?

Final question, would a judgement (whether rendered by a court or an arbitrator) be dischargeable in our BK?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can share.

Can't wait to file, do the hearing, and be done with this process!

[HHM]

1. Unless you move around a lot, you would probably know if someone got a judgment against you, they have to file a lawsuit against you in the county where you reside and server you with it.

2. They still have to give you notice of arbitration at your last known address.

3. Simply listing the judgment is not enough, you would have to file a Motion to avoid the judgment.

[mothersvox]

Thanks HHM. That's very helpful. We haven't moved and aren't planning on moving, so this is good news. We will be filing soon, but I have been stalling b/c I want to have a new job before we file if possible. (In my line of work having a BK could influence employment opportunities, despite the fact that this sort of discrimination is illegal. But at this point the BK is inevitable, so I'm just trying to land a new job before the BK is a public record.)

As I said, can't wait until this is over. Thanks again for your help.