Other Debt Have a judgement on a credit card i paid off.

[Creamoe]

Jurisdiction

Colorado

I received a judgement 10 yrs ago, the summons papers were given to my parents in-law who gave them to me after the court date. So as a young broke adult I ignored it. Eventually and without notice I was garnished for a year. Well recently the judgement was renewed and i was never told or summonsed to court. Just got the letter saying it happened. Then the judgement was sold to a new company which gave me the opportunity to dispute the debt. 6 months later they sent me the supposed proof of debt. Its for a credit card my dad paid off for my wedding gift! It was late but the cc company sent me a letter saying that the late fees were dropped and we were settled. The statement that the creditor sent me was for 8 months after I paid it off and as if I had never paid it off. I have the carbon copy of the check. I doubt I have any of the letters or statements thou because this was 10 yrs ago. The banks also don't have records from that long ago. First of all, what should I do now to get the judgement dropped? Secondly, what are the chances of getting my garnished wages back since I never owed any money to begin with?

 

[adjusterjack]

Its for a credit card my dad paid off for my wedding gift!

Your Dad may have paid what the credit card balance was but he may have failed to consider the additional costs of the judgment, resulting in no Satisfaction of Judgment being filed with the court so any unpaid amounts continued to accrue post judgment interest.

I'm just speculating about that. You'll have to get copies of the court case file from the court to see what happened.

what should I do now to get the judgement dropped?

Nothing. It's a done deal. You got a default judgment because you were properly served and nobody responded to the lawsuit.

what are the chances of getting my garnished wages back since I never owed any money to begin with?

None.

Because the judgment is valid, the wage garnishment is valid.

Since you have some documentation of payment I suggest you try to negotiate a settlement with the judgment creditor. Only this time pay attention and make sure you get a Satisfaction of Judgment filed with the court when you pay.

 

[mightymoose]

Quite a headache.
I can tell you this much for sure- you won't get a penny back from them, if it is in fact due, if you don't obtain legal assistance.
That person you hire will know how to obtain whatever is needed. In the mean time you can scrounge together anything you can find, including an old copy of a credit report that might show the status of the disputed account.

 

[Creamoe]

Sorry I was not clear on this, but he paid off the credit card before it was ever a judgement. It should have never been sold to a creditor because it was paid off.

 

[mightymoose]

Which is why you need legal help.
The judgment is valid because you failed to appear and defend against it. If you are due anything at all you are going to need someone who knows the system.
You won't get anything that was paid 10 years ago by garnishment. It's been too long. You might be able to do something about recent garnishment, if there was one, after the renewal.

 

[zddoodah]

Well recently the judgement was renewed and i was never told or summonsed to court. Just got the letter saying it happened.

That's how judgment renewal works. There's no hearing. The judgment creditor simply applies to the court and the court will issue a renewed judgment. There should be some mechanism to object to renewal, but it's unlikely you have grounds to do so.

Then the judgement was sold to a new company which gave me the opportunity to dispute the debt.

Dispute it on what basis?

what should I do now to get the judgement dropped?

Not gonna happen. You got sued and your creditor got a judgment (presumably a default judgment) against you -- 10 years ago. That the underlying claim might have been meritless is no longer relevant. It is unfortunate that your in-laws failed to give you the papers in time to defend against the claim, but you told us that, when you did get them (however long after "the court date"), you willingly ignored it. Had you not ignored it, it's possible that you could have sought to set aside the default judgment so that you could contest the claim. Now you are facing the consequences of your decision.

what are the chances of getting my garnished wages back since I never owed any money to begin with?

None.

 

[adjusterjack]

Sorry I was not clear on this, but he paid off the credit card before it was ever a judgement. It should have never been sold to a creditor because it was paid off.

Before the judgment or before the lawsuit?

The answer makes a big difference.

I suggest you get copies of everything in the case file just so you can understand what happened even though you might not be able to do anything about it.

 

[Creamoe]

Before the judgement and before the lawsuit. He paid it off with the original creditor.

 

[Creamoe]

By original creditor I mean the original credit card company. It was paid off before they sold it to a collections agency.

 

[mightymoose]

Again your problem is that you failed to respond at the appropriate time. The judgment is valid.
If there was a recent garnishment you might be able to reclaim that only, but you should be able to shut down any new collection attempts.

 

[Creamoe]

Would I still need a lawyer to shut it down?

 

[Creamoe]

I was garnished in 2012 but by a different collection agency.

 

[adjusterjack]

Before the judgement and before the lawsuit. He paid it off with the original creditor. By original creditor I mean the original credit card company. It was paid off before they sold it to a collections agency.

Well, somebody got something wrong because the lawsuit did get filed and it did go to default judgment.

Go get the case file. You'll just be running around in circles without it.

 

[mightymoose]

No, it seems time is working against you in all of this.
You first failed to respond and asset a defense, then discover an error 10 or so years later. No... It isn't fair, but too much time has passed.

 

[Creamoe]

Thank you for your insights.