Collection notice after attempted BK

[ifucan]

Hi.....I have posted on this site before when I was going through the BK process back in
2010. Unfortunately I got hit with an AP, had that dropped, but did not get the discharge.

Now fast forward to now. I had received a judgment against me for $5K to a financial
company,(the ones that make high interest loans). Well since I did not get the BK and
most of the credit cards are past the statute of limitations,3 years in my state, I have
not been hassled or bothered by any creditors. However this particular company had a
judgment against me and now I guess they are trying to collect. So my question is if I
already have this judgment against me from this company and it's already on my record
since 2009 do I have to pay these people? I'm trying to get back on my feet after a
rough few years and then not able to get my BK. I don't have $5K to pay them and if
they already have a judgment against that will stay on my credit report for a few more
years then why would they expect me to pay them??

Can anyone shed some light on this?

[tobee43]

i'm a bit confused. you filed for bk had an ap? at the ap did the creditor win or was your bk dismissed? if it was dismissed and you owe these people and they have a judgement and it's not sol then it would sound as though you owe them. if the bk was never followed through, what is stopping you from filing now?

[df04527]

Yup confused also. Judgements have their own SOL and I can assure you it is not 3 yrs. Does this judgement show up in public records on your credit report with the dismissed BK?

[ifucan]

i'm a bit confused. you filed for bk had an ap? at the ap did the creditor win or was your bk dismissed? if it was dismissed and you owe these people and they have a judgement and it's not sol then it would sound as though you owe them. if the bk was never followed through, what is stopping you from filing now?

Yes- I filed for BK, CH7,in 2010. My attorney,a total separate subject didn't do us any favors and we
received an AP. The AP was dropped if we agreed not to go further with the BK. The BK was dismissed but unfortunately
not my debts.

I may well owe them but as I said, if they have a judgment on me already why do I need to now pay them and still have a
judgment from them remaining on my record?? If I pay them will the judgment be removed?

[tobee43]

nope, it will be on there for 7 years and once it's paid it will come off but in time. that is unless you file bk and then go in and have an atty file a motion to vacate the judgement, then it will be removed, but you will have the bk on your credit. it's what you could call a lose lose situation. sorry.

[ifucan]

nope, it will be on there for 7 years and once it's paid it will come off but in time. that is unless you file bk and then go in and have an atty file a motion to vacate the judgement, then it will be removed, but you will have the bk on your credit. it's what you could call a lose lose situation. sorry.

So if I understand correctly, I have to pay them off this $5K and still have the judgment on my record???

I know the BK remains and will fall off in a few years but the judgment will fall off also in a few years. If I understand correctly
I should ask an attorney to file a motion to vacate the judgment if I pay it off???

I appreciate your help.

[tobee43]

i don't know what state you are in sol varies state to state, and i'm also not certain if in your state the judgement cannot be renewed. i know where i came from they could. so it will continue to follow you until you deal with it. i'm not saying i know how it works in your state, but i know that's how it worked where we lived.

you file a motion to vacate the a judgement, if you have/had one, after you file bk and after you have been discharged and the debt was included with the discharge. in your case i would check out the sol and see what applies. if you feel you can wait it out and they won't garnish you pay or attach your car, you can wait it out. but i would check your state laws and it would be good to get some advise how to handle the situation, just to be safe.

[Pjmax]

Depending on your state statutes, judgements can be also be renewed. Even if it falls off your credit report, it still exists on Public Record and steps to collect on it can happen at any time. In other words, it can follow you until you have assets, bank account, wages, etc. to be levied.

If you can pay it off, you can ask the filing attorneys if they will file an order for dismissal, which they amy or may not do. I think it's New York (I may be wrong on the state) where paying a judgement is grounds to file a Motion to Vacate, but they are not always granted.

If you can pay it, it may or may not be able to be dismissed or vacated, but at least you won't have to hide from it.

Tobee, posted at the same time!

[tobee43]

Depending on your state statutes, judgements can be also be renewed. Even if it falls off your credit report, it still exists on Public Record and steps to collect on it can happen at any time. In other words, it can follow you until you have assets, bank account, wages, etc. to be levied.

If you can pay it off, you can ask the filing attorneys if they will file an order for dismissal, which they amy or may not do. I think it's New York (I may be wrong on the state) where paying a judgement is grounds to file a Motion to Vacate, but they are not always granted.

If you can pay it, it may or may not be able to be dismissed or vacated, but at least you won't have to hide from it.

LOL we were typing at the same time!

[Pjmax]

And it looks like we re-typed that we typed at the same time!

[tobee43]

GMTA!! that's all i can say...to funny!

[AngelinaCat]

Back to the beginning: why did you allow the AP to have your BK dismissed, instead of just that particular debt? What were you trying to discharge in the BK? And what was the AP about?

Depending on the circumstances, you may still have a decent chance with filing BK. But get a different attorney.

[bcohen]

The best way to deal with a judgment is to make yourself collection-proof and either file for bankruptcy (which may not work in your case) or stash money in your home until you can settle for no more than 50%-60% of the balance. As the years go by, and the judgment creditor fails to collect anything, they will become more and more receptive to settling. In some states, judgments can only be renewed once, such as here in AZ, so after a while, the creditor would be stupid not to settle.

[ifucan]

Back to the beginning: why did you allow the AP to have your BK dismissed, instead of just that particular debt? What were you trying to discharge in the BK? And what was the AP about?

Depending on the circumstances, you may still have a decent chance with filing BK. But get a different attorney.

I had no choice in the matter really. I filed BK,first and only time I ever did and honestly put all my trust in our
attorney. The trustee claimed I had not listed everything,ie a couple of properties that were foreclosed upon.
One property in particular was foreclosed on and it still had a few items from a tenant I had in there. A "recovery"
company came in and took those items and disposed of them. Then at the original meeting w/trustee I come to
find out that this property had been quit-claimed deeded back to me! So now the trustee is thinking I was hiding
that from him. Just a comedy of errors! I believe my attorney was over matched and frankly intimidated by the
trustee. My case did not have to be complicated and honestly with a competent attorney in the first place it
would have been a simple matter and we would have received our discharge. The trustee then filed an AP on
us and then graciously (sarcasm) agreed to drop the AP if we did not any longer seek a discharge. I was
dumfounded and frankly exhausted with it all and did not know what to do. My attorney basically advised
us to throw in the towel. I did not have the money to start over and go to another attorney,so I was in a
quandry to say the least. I filed BK and couldn't even do that right!!!

So now a few old debts are coming back to haunt us. I am in NC and I know the SOL on credit cards
is 3 years. Most of those are gone, but there are a few remaining judgments to include this one.

I guess all I can do is ask for a payment arrangement with them and when paid off they can dismiss
the judgment?

My BK is the one that keeps on "giving"!