Old debt

[vietnamvet]

What is the name of your state? Florida
back in 1995 i gave a car back to chrysler due to the problems i had with it. they put it in my credit as a involentary repo. about a year lateri had to go to court and i received a judgement against me.
i got married in 1997 and about a year ago my wife bought a house. the mortgage company said because of the repo in my credit, the house would have to be in her name. somehow the house is in both names now but the mortgage is in my wifes name only.
last week a police officer delivered a summons to me about appearing in court for the repo again. the next day i received a letter from a lawyer informing me of the court date again. the next day i got another letter from the same lawyer offering a deal to drop everything if i paid half of the 3400.00 that they said i owed to chrysler. he also said that he could freeze my bank account and lien our house if i didn't pay.
my questio is...can they really do all of that? there's nothing in my bank account but musocial security check as i am disabled.
thank you for any advice you can give.
vietnamvet

 

[ellencee]

You really need to post this in the right section; you have some interesting aspects to this situation.
I do not believe that Social Security checks can be garnished or otherwise seized (as in freezing your account).
There is the aspect of statute of limitations on judgments in your state and the aspect of the next court appearance about the repo. Is the next court date about the judgment not being paid or back to square one of the repo?

I think the most important aspect is the effect of your not paying this debt. The judgment is over 5 years old and close to 7 years old; if you start over with a new judgment that grants them a lien or such, then you start over in terms of how much longer this is going to affect your credit report.

If you and your wife pay this debt now, your wife possibly could use your income, together with hers, to obtain a newer mortgage at one of these low interest rates. She may have a great interest rate on the mortgage; I have no idea if she does or doesn't. The point is, with the unpaid debt, you are allowing it to affect the financial security of your marriage. With the debt paid, you become an asset to the financial security of your marriage. So, no matter what the law says about your rights and their rights, the only thing that will really improve your life and that of your wife is paying the debt. You've been offered a way out by paying half. Why not just do it and be better for having done it?