Refusing Payments - Wants More

[lnscott]

From: Indiana

My mother was recently taken to court over a debt that was written off. I guess they decided to try to collect on it anyway - which legally, I know they can do. They got the judgement, which was no surprise.

My mom sent the attorney, representing the company, a letter explaining that she needed some dental work done and with her other bills, etc. she could not afford more than $25/month at this time but would pay more when she could. With the letter she enclosed a check for $25. That was back in December. At that time, instead of cashing the check, he asked her about her budget, etc. We sat down and wrote him a letter back (Sent by email) explaining that the following information was only a simplified budget and did not reflect everything she owed or had to pay every month. At the end of the budget, it showed a surplus of around $50/month. This is technicially nonexistant considering what was left off. (She mailed her payment for January - also $25.00.)

The attorney replied to our letter and now wants to garnish her wages for $75/month and sounded happy to report that he could go for more. To her knowledge, he has not cashed either of the two checks.

What she wants to know is:

1. Will the judge grant the garnishment if she continues to send the $25/month - basically showing that she's making an effort to repay the debt?

2. Are there any alternatives to getting them to drop the garnishment? For example, if we sent the attorney a letter with a full budget and list of debts for him to view, an agreement to make payments by a certain date each month, and sending him revised budgets every 3-6 months.

Any ideas will be helpful. She really can't afford the $75/month - as you can see this puts her in the "red."

 

[BL]

Usually written off reports are because there is no way that the creditor could collect .

Has something changed since then ?

As I was told these debts are often sold over and over , and collection Agencies TRY to collect them . I was told under my circumstances there is NO way they could .

 

[Litigation!]

My mother was recently taken to court over a debt that was written off. I guess they decided to try to collect on it anyway - which legally, I know they can do. They got the judgement, which was no surprise.

My mom sent the attorney, representing the company, a letter explaining that she needed some dental work done and with her other bills, etc. she could not afford more than $25/month at this time but would pay more when she could. With the letter she enclosed a check for $25. That was back in December. At that time, instead of cashing the check, he asked her about her budget, etc. We sat down and wrote him a letter back (Sent by email) explaining that the following information was only a simplified budget and did not reflect everything she owed or had to pay every month. At the end of the budget, it showed a surplus of around $50/month. This is technicially nonexistant considering what was left off. (She mailed her payment for January - also $25.00.)

The attorney replied to our letter and now wants to garnish her wages for $75/month and sounded happy to report that he could go for more. To her knowledge, he has not cashed either of the two checks.

What she wants to know is:

1. Will the judge grant the garnishment if she continues to send the $25/month - basically showing that she's making an effort to repay the debt?

2. Are there any alternatives to getting them to drop the garnishment? For example, if we sent the attorney a letter with a full budget and list of debts for him to view, an agreement to make payments by a certain date each month, and sending him revised budgets every 3-6 months.

Any ideas will be helpful. She really can't afford the $75/month - as you can see this puts her in the "red."

My response:

You, and your mother, don't understand. The court is out of the picture, now. The Plaintiff has judgment. The Plaintiff is now free to execute that judgment by way of garnishment (if Mom works) or by Writ of Execution.

So, to answer your questions, No and No.

In short, the Plaintiff is free to do whatever is legally correct to obtain its money from Mom. No more notice, no more games.

The Plaintiff doesn't care about Mom, and Plaintiff doesn't have to care about Mom or her financial situation. As far as the Plaintiff is concerned, your Mom's teeth and her other financial problems are just that, "her problems."

IAAL

 

[lnscott]

Usually written off reports are because there is no way that the creditor could collect .

Has something changed since then ?

As I was told these debts are often sold over and over , and collection Agencies TRY to collect them . I was told under my circumstances there is NO way they could .

I don't think anything's changed. The loan was for a car from JD Byrider (her first mistake). GNAC (I hope I got that right) was the creditor. I don't know if they sold it or not. My understanding is that this is their attorney.

When they first came back on this, she spoke with a local attorney and he told her there was nothing she could do expect pay it. She (and I) just doesn't understand why they want to garnish her wages when she's trying to make an effort to repay this.

 

[Litigation!]

Usually written off reports are because there is no way that the creditor could collect .

Has something changed since then ?

As I was told these debts are often sold over and over , and collection Agencies TRY to collect them . I was told under my circumstances there is NO way they could .

My response:

Perhaps you're drunk again and didn't read. (Blonde gets drunk quite often). The Plaintiff has a judgment. It's out of the "collection" phase. Now, the Plaintiff is free to go after anything Mom owns.

IAAL

 

[Litigation!]

She (and I) just doesn't understand why they want to garnish her wages when she's trying to make an effort to repay this.

My response:

They want their judgment paid, and they want ALL the money NOW. Not tomorrow, and not in payments. They are entitled to ALL of it right now.

IAAL

 

[lnscott]

My response:

Perhaps you're drunk again and didn't read. (Blonde gets drunk quite often). The Plaintiff has a judgment. It's out of the "collection" phase. Now, the Plaintiff is free to go after anything Mom owns.

IAAL

I know your right and it sucks. I was just hoping that maybe there was something that she could try to persuede him from garnishing her wages. As for "anything she owns" - that's nothing so he doesn't have a house or anything like that he can go after. As we told him, she lives in a two room apartment and all the electronics in it are over 10 years old.

 

[lnscott]

My response:

They want their judgment paid, and they want ALL the money NOW. Not tomorrow, and not in payments. They are entitled to ALL of it right now.

IAAL

They can't have what she doesn't have.

 

[Kanchazi]

You can file a slow pay motion with the court which will give you opportunity to make payments

 

[BL]

My response:

Perhaps you're drunk again and didn't read. (Blonde gets drunk quite often). The Plaintiff has a judgment. It's out of the "collection" phase. Now, the Plaintiff is free to go after anything Mom owns.

IAAL

As I said usually when the debt has been written off , it's because it's noncollectable . I'm not drunk either ..

To the Poster , why do you think they can't collect ?

 

[Kanchazi]

Ladynred
Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Nashville,TN
Posts: 13,444


You probably have 20 days to appeal the execution of the judgment and that is typical. You can also file a motion with the court to pay the judgment in payments in lieu of wage garnishment, referred to as 'slow pay'.

.

 

[lnscott]

As I said usually when the debt has been written off , it's because it's noncollectable . I'm not drunk either ..

To the Poster , why do you think they can't collect ?

There are a lot of issues with this case. My sister wrecked the car and it was totaled. They had told her they'd give her another car - but apparently, the insurance check wasn't enough to cover the amount owed on the car. I don't know all the details, but she couldn't afford to continue paying on a car she didn't have plus they kept piling up the interest and late fees which only made things worse.

However, it doesn't matter anymore why it was uncollectable. They decided they wanted to bring it back and attempt to collect on it and they did just that. She tried to fight it by telling the judge her side of it, but in the end it was her word against theirs and they ended up with the judgement.

 

[lnscott]

Ladynred
Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Nashville,TN
Posts: 13,444


You probably have 20 days to appeal the execution of the judgment and that is typical. You can also file a motion with the court to pay the judgment in payments in lieu of wage garnishment, referred to as 'slow pay'.

.

The 20 days is already past, but I will suggest the "slow pay motion" to her. Perhaps that will work - thank you for the suggestion!

 

[Ladynred]

File the motion anyway, you can probably head off a wage garnishment of 25% of her wages. She will most likely have to provide a financial statement showing ALL income, assets, and her budget to a judge. Just be aware that if the slow pay is granted, then the payments go thru the court and if she is late or misses a single payment, she's back to square one.

Does your mother make at least 30x the miminum wage ??

 

[Litigation!]

Ladynred
Senior Member Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Nashville,TN
Posts: 13,444


You probably have 20 days to appeal the execution of the judgment and that is typical. You can also file a motion with the court to pay the judgment in payments in lieu of wage garnishment, referred to as 'slow pay'.

My response:

Perhaps Ladynred will be kind enough to tell all of us how she would file a "Slow Pay" Motion - - especially since the case is over and judgment has already been rendered. You see, a "Slow Pay" Motion is an oral Motion to be made at the time the judgment is rendered, and that has long ago been made.

So, tell us, how do you re-open a closed case to make such a Motion?

IAAL