Judgements questions (HELP)

[glennh73]

What is the name of your state? PA

A collection agency has been bugging me for years now about 8000 on a car loan gone bad.

This Collection Agency told me yesterday that they are going to put this case in front of the judge shortly to put a judgement against me.

Collection Agency told me that once a Judgement is ruled against me that even if i declare bankruptcy, it wouldnt clear the judgement. Is that TRUE?

Collection Agency told me that i should file bankruptcy right now and has been really pushing me to do so.

Now i dont even really understand Judgements anyway.
Im really in the dark about all of this.
Im not sure about what comes next, if i should file right now or wait.

This collection Agency has told me before they are going to file a judgement against me and havent so far.
This Agency said they were Attorneys, so im pretty scared here.

Any help would be great....

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? PA

A collection agency has been bugging me for years now about 8000 on a car loan gone bad.

This Collection Agency told me yesterday that they are going to put this case in front of the judge shortly to put a judgement against me.

Collection Agency told me that once a Judgement is ruled against me that even if i declare bankruptcy, it wouldnt clear the judgement. Is that TRUE?

Collection Agency told me that i should file bankruptcy right now and has been really pushing me to do so.

Now i dont even really understand Judgements anyway.
Im really in the dark about all of this.
Im not sure about what comes next, if i should file right now or wait.

This collection Agency has told me before they are going to file a judgement against me and havent so far.
This Agency said they were Attorneys, so im pretty scared here.

Any help would be great....

**A: total BS. Call them up, ask to speak to the supervisor and tell them that the HomeGuru said that they are full of crap.
And if they really are attorney's ask for their name and state registration #.

 

[willingtocope]

There's a lot more questions you need to answer.

Was car repo'd? Was it resold? How much did they get for it? How many years exactly has this been going on? What is the Statue of Limitations for such things in PA?

It does sound like the CA is just trying to panic you into something. Its entirely possible that the debt is uncollectable and they know it. It seems unlikely that they'd be trying to talk you into bankruptcy if they thought you would actually do it...because, this kind of "judgement" is indeed dischargable in BK.

 

[glennh73]

To answer your questions. What happended was i bought a used Alero in the end of Jan 2001. And a month later i got laid off from work.

Since i didnt get a bill yet i didnt know who to contact so i contacted the dealer i got the car from and explained my sitution to him. Well he said bring the car back and since i only had the car for 3 weeks they will write it off as a lease.

So i took the car back, signed a paper stateing i was giving it back.

A few months later i starting getting these letters from Toyota Finanical (whom finance the car) and told me it was sold but i owe them 7100.
Only 3500 was left from what was still owed but then they added bunch of charges that brought the total to 7100.

So i guess they claim it as a repo that i brought back.

Anyway about a year later and many letters later Toyota gave this to Patenaude & Felix APC out of California.

And they are the ones that been bugging me since Auguest 2002.

They have said many times they are going to be putting it in front of the judge many times.
Ive asked the person whom calls me why they havent done the judgement against me yet and she says cause many people of handled my account and she was the next in line.

What hurts the most though, i didnt know what i was doing when i got this car, i was so screwed on the contract. I asked for a car for 300 a month for 3yrs to maybe 4 years.

Well before i could realize what i did, i was contracted to a 66 month payment with 11 percent interest.

Worse yet dealership calls me back a few days later and threatings me to come back and redo the contract cause the bank didnt accept my orginal contract and forced me to do another one which was so worse.



Can someone tell me if i should worry now? I dont understand anything about Judgements or what they can do next.



It was for 72 months with 12.01 percent interest.
And instead of $300 a month it was now $320 a month.

Remember this was for a used 1999 Alero with 34k miles that was orginaly only $13k and i would of spent $6500 just in interest.

So i would of payed $22k for a $13k car.

EDIT# with more fine and interest i owe them $8000k now.


Sad thing is i had really great credit too and boy did they stick it to me.

 

[julbug66]

in order for a CA company to sue you, they have to do it in PA. send them a cease and desist letter. they've been bothering you for two frickin years now, it's time they leave you alone.

have you gone back to the dealer and asked for a copy of the letter you signed stating you were giving the car back? if they wrote it off as a lease, i don't see how they could sell the car and then ask you for $7000.

my advice: get a copy of your credit report and see what they have listed as the amount you owe and dispute it with the credit bureaus. send the letter to the collectors telling them to leave you alone. threatening you with a lawsuit/judgement and not backing it up is illegal.

 

[Ladynred]

Patenaude & Feilx are lawyers, but their primary function is a collection agency - so don't let the 'lawyer' tag scare you, they are nothing more than a collection agency and one with a reputation of violating the FDCPA and your rights.

Threatening to sue if they cannnot do so or do not intend to is a violation, and these slimebuckets have threatened you with it more than once.

You're not out of the woods yet on the SOL in PA and likely won't be until the end of NEXT year. I would not send a total cease and desist, but you CAN tell them to stop CALLING you, only contact you by MAIL.

They cannot garnish wages in PA, so don't let them try that threat - they cannot do it. However, IF they get someone in PA to sue you, and they win a judgment, they can empty your bank account and sieze any non-exempt assets that you may have. If you haven't any non-exempt assets, well, they're outta luck. Judgments stick around a LONG time, so even if you don't have anything now, you might later on. They can also keep hitting your bank account and they can drag you into court periodically.

I'd be willing to bet that the car dealership NEVER wrote anything off as a lease, but you should find out anyway.

Stop talking to these cretins on the phone, its pointless, all they'll do is badger you. Let them talk to an answering machine.

 

[glennh73]

PA

Patenaude & Feilx do have an office in Pa. Atleast according to there letter head from 2002.

And according to my most recent credit report of about 2 months ago the total was $7065. But the Pat & Felix say i owe them about $8000.

And its marked dwn as a repo on my credit report.

And i dont think the dealership wrote it off either. I think they just lied to me to get the car. Though if i knew or if they would of told me other options i had, i would of sold the car or did soemthing like that.

So should if file for chapter 7? Cause i have another car that was charged off from my ex wife and we had a dual account. And that is like $1700 and that is the one that keeps hurting my credit report.

Its from National City and the history date on my credit report for that car keeps getting updated each month.
So it looks like i just charged it off.


So how will i know if i do get a judgement ? Will i know in advance that a judge is going to look at this account. Im in the dark with the whole process.

Will there be time before they freeze my accounts that i can file chapter 7?

3 days ago when the collection agency called me she said she isnt giving me anymore time so im guessing the process is going to begin.
Just not sure what the process is?

So anyone, what is my options.