Business Debt, Collections 20 year old judgement has come back to life

Crystal Colon

New Member
Jurisdiction
Florida
Apparently a judgment was filed against me in 1998 by First Union Bank in Fl for a defaulted auto loan. I never received notice of the hearing and up until last week had no idea the judgement even existed.
The bank went out of business not long after and I just assumed the loan went with it as I never heard about it again, the judgment never appeared on my credit, to my recollection, and I never had any wage garnishments or anything to alert me that a judgment had been won.

I've since moved to TX in 2012 and 2 weeks ago suddenly start getting letter from an attorney in FL advising me they have submitted for a new judgment to be filed to collect on the old judment that I never paid and referred me to a case # in a Fl court. They mentioned possible seizure of assets as well as wage garnishment.
They also attempted to deliver a summons but I was not home at the time.
When I look at the court documents filed on the FL Clerk of Courts website I can see the original awarded judgment from 1998 case, but the new document appears just to be a request for a new hearing and not an actual an awarded judgment and is in a "pending" status; no hearing date assigned.
I am a single mom, I get absolutely no assistance at all public assistance or otherwise. I have no assets to speak other than a few hundred dollars in a Roth IRA, and my bank account is almost always in a negative status because my income covers my bills and not much else (food, gas, incidentals) and my credit cards are all maxed to cover what my income doesn't.

Is this even legal? Can they file a new petition for a 20 yo judgment? Is wage garnishment a possibility, and how can I be expected to appear in court when I no longer reside in the state?
I can not afford to retain an attorney, or even to pay to file for BK.
The entire situation has my anxiety at an all time high and I am hoping to get some answers here so that I know what my recourse might be.
Please, any insight you can offer is greatly
appreciated. .
 
Wages in Texas are protected from levy for these types of debts.

Enforcing a foreign judgment (from another state) in Texas is by design difficult.

Requiring a Texas resident to travel to Florida to defend a Florida judgment is practically impossible.

The judgment might be a fake to scam money out of you that is uncollectable.

It's wise to be suspicious.

Filing a chapter 7 bankruptcy will help you in many ways.

It might be time to consider bankruptcy.

More than likely the judgment has expired and you're dealing with an unscrupulous collection agency masquerading as a shyster lawyer.

Google the lawyer and see what you can learn on the Internet and on www.ripoffreport.com
 
This is not uncommon. Scare tactics get some people to pay. Others fail to respond to court actions and the creditor gets default judgments.
Don't be intimidated. The letter from the attorney/collection agency is meant to get you to pay them and avoid court.
If you do not pay them their only option is to get a judgment against you. So long as you do not ignore any legitimate court action and assert the statute of limitations you will likely prevail.
The agency attempting to collect from you will likely give up the attempt if they know you are going to cost them money in court when they already know they are unlikely to prevail.

Verify whether or not there is any pending court action against you in the Florida county you lived in or your current county. Talk to the court clerk and learn how you might be able to respond in writing without going to FL.

Also, you might write a BRIEF response to the creditor who sent you the letter. DO NOT discuss your finances, but simply state that you dispute the validity of the debt and the statute of limitations has expired anyway. Carefully word the letter so that it reads as if you have no knowledge whatsoever about their claim. Inform them you will countersue for legal costs if they take any action against you attempting to resurrect this "phantom debt".

To be clear, you still owe the debt regardless how much time passed, but due to the statute of limitations they can not initiate new legal attempts to compel you to pay. If they previously obtained a judgment they likely had to renew it periodically and did not, and if you never had knowledge of the previous judgment you may be able to argue lack of service.

Anyway... it is understandable why you would be stressed. No matter what happens, they can not take from you what you do not have. Do yourself a favor and be proactive with this. I assure you they would rather pursue debtors who do not assert themselves because it is far cheaper.
 
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