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DOLLARSandSINCE · 07-05-2007, 01:50 PM

Quote:

I can not risk a judgment or garnishment.
They don't care about our income or budget,
just if you owe or not the debt..

For the judgment it is true that they will not look at your income or budget but once they go for garnishment or if they want to confiscate any assets they need court approval and at that time the court will examine all your documents. A judgment would be cut and dry. Either they prove you owe the money and a judgment is granted or they can not prove you owe the money. I think what will happen are they will get the judgment then once they go to garnish the court will limit the payments to something like $25 a month not the $200/month that the card wants if your monthly budget is already squeezed to the maximum. A judge is probably not going to grant a payment that forces you to be late or go delinquent on all your other debts. This might not matter though if you do not want garnishment no matter what the payment is. Another option is they might settle for something like 1000 if they think you are going to bankrupt. $1000 is better than nothing after all. You can settle at any point in the process too even after they get a judgment. The one item I am not sure about is what effect a judgment has if you want to bankrupt that debt. You need to check with your lawyer to make sure you can bankrupt the debt if they get a judgment but I am pretty sure you can. Also while you are putting that lawyer to work try to get him to settle the debt for what ever you can afford. He might be able to do it if you can not.

07-06-2007, 05:31 AM

I think I need to sit down this weekend and reconsider the bankruptcy verses doing this all on our own. Thanks for the information.

DOLLARSandSINCE · 07-06-2007, 08:56 AM

Just make sure to examine all your options carefully. Do not let some lawyer talk you into bankruptcy unless you think that is your only option. A bankruptcy hangs around for a long time leaving a big black mark on your credit. Also many applications for all sorts of different things ask if you have ever filed bankruptcy. The answer to that question would be yes even if 20 years lapsed between when you filed and when you are filling out that application. Hopefully the credit card company wonâ€™t be a pain in the butt and will work with you. I know the entire process is stressful but I would avoid the bankruptcy if possible.