Oregon Wage Garnishment Help Please!

[tiggersmama]

I know Oregon's statute of limitation is 6 years. I also know I made a few payments after it had gone to collections which was sometime in 2000, but it was a few years after that. I hate to say it, but I honestly don't know when my last payment was made nor how to find out since it's no longer on my credit. Would you recommend I contact them and ask them to prove it's within the legal time limit?



I do have the case number. So far, the wage garnishment is all that has happened. Thanks so much for your reply!!

[tiggersmama]

I know Oregon's statute of limitation is 6 years. I also know I made a few payments after it had gone to collections which was sometime in 2000, but it was a few years after that. I hate to say it, but I honestly don't know when my last payment was made nor how to find out since it's no longer on my credit. Would you recommend I contact them and ask them to prove it's within the legal time limit?


I do have the case number. So far, the wage garnishment is all that has happened. Thanks so much for your reply!!

[epiphany]

I know Oregon's statute of limitation is 6 years. I also know I made a few payments after it had gone to collections which was sometime in 2000, but it was a few years after that. I hate to say it, but I honestly don't know when my last payment was made nor how to find out since it's no longer on my credit. Would you recommend I contact them and ask them to prove it's within the legal time limit?


I do have the case number. So far, the wage garnishment is all that has happened. Thanks so much for your reply!!

I think you need to find out exactly what is going on before you do anything. By ignoring this, you have let it get to a point of panic. (not admonishing you, a lot of us here are guilty of the same thing in some form or another).

If you have the case number, you should be able to look it up on your court's website or at the court itself to find out exactly where you stand, what type of writ has been filed, etc.

Unfortunately, if you made payments a couple years after it went to collections, you restarted the clock. In otherwords, the clock restarted to 6 years from the date of your last payment.

I don't think anyone here would advise you to file BK over what..like 5K? Do you have other debts you are struggling to pay or is this it?

ep

[tiggersmama]

Ok, well, I have the case number but can't locate it on the county courthouse's site. I just don't know what they will do when they find out I'm not working and they have no wages to actually garnish.

Yeah, I think I made my last payment in either 2002 or 2003. It must be right within the time limit.

I'm not interested in filing bankruptcy at this point.

[epiphany]

Ok, well, I have the case number but can't locate it on the county courthouse's site. I just don't know what they will do when they find out I'm not working and they have no wages to actually garnish.

Yeah, I think I made my last payment in either 2002 or 2003. It must be right within the time limit.

I'm not interested in filing bankruptcy at this point.

If there is no income and there are no assets, there is nothing they can do at the present time. There is no debtors prison in the USA. However, judgements are good for 10 years, I think, so they could feasibly come after future income and assets. Interest can be tacked onto that so the longer you let it go, the more you could end up paying.

If you are nowhere near bankruptcy, you might be better off contacting them (but I still think you need to go down to the local courthouse and find out more details first), and working out some sort of slow payment plan. They may even forgive part of the debt. Were I you, I wouldn't let it fester.

Oh, and BTW, I don't know how you checked your credit report, but if you only checked one (Transunion for example) and not all three, that could be why you didn't see it on there. Creditors don't always report to all three agencies and often they only report to one.


Good luck to you,
ep

[tiggersmama]

Ok, I was thinking they could get into my bank account or freeze my fund (though limited). If I live in another state when I return to the US, does the lawsuit still count?

I think I will contact them and let them know my current situation.

I just realize that I had the account deleted because it was so old (went through the dispute process). At least according to experian. I'm wondering if that changes things...

[WhatMoney]

You first need to check your lawsuit file at the county courthouse where it was issued. All cases are on file for at least the last 20 years. You need to see how they served you and when.

If the summons service was invalid you can file a petition to have your judgment vacated for illegal service. But if you just ignored it when it arrived in the mail, then you are out of luck.

You need proof of your last payment date. If it is within the 6 year SOL, then you are SOL, so to speak. If they sued you out of the SOL, you can get the judgment vacated by using the SOL as affirmitive defense. It appears you cannot prove this or they sued you within the 6 year limit.

Any bank accounts you may have are vulnerable at this point. There is nothing they can or will do when they find out you are not employed. You just won a point, as they have wasted their time and money garnishing your old employer and will get nothing from you.

If you move overseas, keep all your assets in a foreign bank account. They will not be able to touch it in most cases (but it depends on the country). If you move to another state upon returning, they will need to find you first. Then they will need to domesticate the Oregon judgment in the new state, and pay for any further wage garnishment or bank levy actions in that state. They may not feel this is worth the time or expense.

The problem is that this judgment will not go away. It can be sold to another junk debt collector in another state, and if your credit report shows you now have a job and assets in the United States, they can still go after your assets. So if the judgment was valid, your only recourse would be to work out a payment offer with them in the future, try to hide from them, or declare bankruptcy to discharge the debt.

[PoorGrammyinBK7]

If you contact them, they will know where you are for sure. I would say find out all you can without contacting "them". Don't have money in your bank account. Use cash. Don't tell them you are going out of the country. Just do it. Who knows - maybe you will find love (and a good job) there and decide to stay!

[tiggersmama]

Thank you everyone for the useful advice. I believe I got a warning in the mail that they may sue me, but my lawyer friend (out of state) assured me it was just a scare tactic. The dollar amount was so insignificant it wouldn't be worth pursuing. Well, he was wrong. They call me at least 6 times a day, but I have been ignoring all contact from them. I got the writ in the mail that I was being garnished. I'll heed your advice and pay cash until I leave. Then if they find me when I return I'll attempt to negotiate, since by then I'll have some money. Good luck to the rest of you.