credti judgement

My wife has a judgement on her credit from 1994 in TX. This happened before we were married. Will this judgement ever fall off her credit? If not should we hire a lawyer to help negotiate a settlement? How likely is the creditor to taking a small payoff. the original amount was $6000 but now its up to 13000. How likely are they to try to collect this now that it has been 7 years? can they take money out of our joint account. any help would be appreciated. thanks.

[Edited by dcrow1 on 02-17-2001 at 03:38 PM]

[JETX]

Good news and bad news...

Bad news:
Judgments in Texas are good for 10 years, and can be renewed each 10 years until paid. So, as long as the creditor refreshes the judgment, it can stay on your report virtually forever. And, they acrue interest (usually 10% annual) until paid.

Bad news:
Yes, if the creditor can find your assets and those assets are not exempt per Texas Statute (TX Prop Code), they can be seized.. including bank accounts. The fact that the debt preceeded your marriage would compound the issue, but YOU would have to prove what percentage of the accounts was not hers. Since you didn't follow the rules of this forum (See the RED text at the top of the screen), we don't know if your current state is community property or not.

Good news:
Most creditors are certainly amenable to a mutual negotiated settlement. Contact the creditor and see if you can work out some payment plan or a lump payment. If you do pay the debt, be sure to get a "Satisfaction of Judgment" document from the creditor and a release for the credit file.

Possible Good news:
A lot of creditors compound the interest. It is supposed to be simple interest. Without allowance for recoverable expenses of recovery, your $6000 debt in 1994 would accrue $600 per year interest (7 times $600 = $4200), making a total of about $10,200.

Thanks for your information. Looks like we need to get this thing paid off. I guess even if we took her name off our bank account, they could still garnish her wages. i dont know what you mean by i didnt follow the rules of the forum.? i did include that we are in the state of TX. I wonder why they have not contacted her in almost 6 years about this debt. Can they not find her?

[JETX]

Sorry, but your post said, "My wife has a judgement on her credit from 1994 in TX.". It implies that she no longer lives here, it doesn't say that you currently live in Texas.

In any case, maybe the creditor doesn't have a current address for you/her. Maybe they have decided to let the judgment build up interest before they come-a-knockin'. In any case, it is good for 10 years and can be renewed each 10 years until paid.
As for "can they not find her?", I don't know, could be any of the above, or more likely, that the creditor has no knowledge or experience in skip tracing.

Thanks for all of your knowledge. I do know that, after looking at your web signt, i would'nt want you tracking me down. Anyway, we will be getting a lawyer and try to reach a settlment with the creditor. thanks.