what to do when being sued by collection agency

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/28/2009 - 17:05
Forums

i have two civil claim judgments against me on my credit report. One was filed on 6/05 and the other 8/06. does the (SOL) in my state apply to this? they were filed in NJ.

Any advice will be appreciated.

what should be my steps to clear this out?

If suit has already been filed and you've been officially served theres not much you can do. Try calling a non-profit credit counseling agency that provides free budget counseling. Have them admin a budget analysis outlining your debt to income ratio on a monthly basis. a judge may take this into consideration for payment options, evaluating how much (or little) disposable income you have to allot towards the debts. Any other questions feel free- hope this helps!

Wed, 10/28/2009 - 19:13 Permalink

CAn i call the collection agency and try to settle with them or do i have to pay the court?

Wed, 10/28/2009 - 20:12 Permalink

Freedom, Is that the SOL on judgment for NJ?
Need, you could call them and ask them to settle out the judgment. Some will do this. I have even seen where companies are said to have sold their judgments out to other collection companies. I do not know how true this is but I can believe it would happen. Try calling and getting the older judgment settled out first. Sometimes the older the debt the more willing they are to settle it out and settle for less. Just make sure if this does happen you get everything in writing before you pay it off.

Thu, 10/29/2009 - 02:17 Permalink

Hi Hneedshelp,

I don't think that after getting a judgment against you any of the creditors will want to settle debt. They can easily attach your assets and get the entire debt amount since they have a judgment against you. So why will they settle if they can get the entire amount? Once you have a judgment against you, it is difficult to clear it out. It remains on the report for 10 years.

I do not agree with Freedom about the SOL on judgment in New Jersey. It is 20 years and is also renewable. So, I believe you cannot do much except paying the debt amount and waiting for 10 years to get the judgment fall off from your credit report.

Thu, 10/29/2009 - 06:18 Permalink

That does make a good point. I guess there is less of a chance of a creditor agreeing for less than the judgment but I was thinking as a last effort it would be worth a try. If it doesn't you can always resort back to asking for reasonable payments. Judgments do stay on for 10 years. If they are renewable and they get it renewed after the ten year mark it may stay on for another ten. This is something I am not completely certian on but why take the chance and live under this judgment. Do your best to get it out of the way and you will have taken a load off your back. Good Luck.

Thu, 10/29/2009 - 12:52 Permalink