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on a payment plan and revoking her license?

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J

JHamilton

Guest
What is the name of your state? OHIO

After being involved in an auto accident in '99 in her uncle's car, my daughter found that neither her insurance or her uncle's would cover the cost of the damage to the other vehicle. She didn't lose her license but a court case was filed to recover the expense of the other driver's damages. She signed an agreement to pay the expenses and did so for two years. Due to having to move, she missed two months payments and the law firm who is collecting is threatening her license to be revoked and to garnish her wages. In fact, her employer was called today. She has the ability to bring the account current, but they only will accept the balance in full now. Any advice? What can she do to keep from losing her license? A personal loan? Bankruptcy? She isn't clear of what her options are at this point. Also, neither of us were aware that just because she accepted responsiblity for paying the damage, that they could just automatically garnish her wages while on a payment plan. This is just plain wrong. Any advice would be appreciated if you've been through this. Thanks in advance.
 


stephenk

Senior Member
What your daughter did was sign an agreement for a stipulated judgment. As long as she was current with her payments, the judgment was not entered against her. Once she missed two months of payments (not a smart move on her part), the judgment could be entered and the entire amount becomes due immediately.

Plus, the other side can notify the DMV that a judgment has been entered against your daughter from an auto accident and the judgment is still owing. Your daughter's license would be suspended until the judgment is paid in full and she can provide proof of auto insurance.

Have your daughter look at the paperwork she signed regarding the agreement she entered into with the other side.
 
J

JHamilton

Guest
Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it. We both have looked at the paperwork she signed and it didn't stipulate all you just did. It mentioned her making the payments on time, but there was no information regarding what could happen if she fell behind.

She has never been in court regarding the issue, however I do know they filed with the courts at the time the arrangement was set.

I have been advised that any garnishment paperwork sent to her employer will include a piece of paperwork stating she has the right to a hearing regarding the garnishment. As for having her license revoked, it looks as if the only thing she can do at this point is attempt to get a personal loan to pay off the balance in full. It's possible because she has a clear title on her current vehicle.

What also strikes me is that there was one other time during the last two years that she fell behind and they worked with her. The gentleman who was handling her account is no longer with the law office so their new contact (a woman) called and was very abusive yesterday with both my daughter and I. I have contacted an attorney regarding the Fair Debt Collection practices act and may go in that direction. It seems to me that if they are going to allow any person they enter into an agreement with to work out arrangements with them on a past due balance, then it is discrimination to handle my daughter this way over a personality conflict with the new person handling her account. When my daughter spoke to their new representative yesterday, she advised my daughter that she had until Aug. 20th to bring the account current and that changed as of today. Something is really wrong with this picture.
 

stephenk

Senior Member
your daughter should go to the court and get a copy of whatever was filed on the lawsuit regarding payments and judgment.
 

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