CONFESSION of JUDGEMENT????

Thanks for reading...

The CA is Mann Bracken, LLC. I was served a summons about a month and a half ago for a $2700 account. Within a week, I contacted Mann Bracken and "settled" for $2200. I agreed to a check-by-phone payment of $1,800 on that day and then another for $400 on Sept 30. I had them mail me a written confirmation of the settlement. I thought all was good until today. They sent me a "confession of judgement" form (with my county named, etc)- the form says that I've confessed, etc and agree to pay the 1800 and the 400. They're wanting me to sign this, get it notarized and mail it back to them.

Questions:
What is this?
Should I do it?
Even though I settled, will this report to my credit as a judgement?

As always, thank you for your advice.

I would be very leery of something that says CONFESSION. I have never heard of something like that. Have you asked them "why" it is worded as a confession?

I called them last night and they said that it's not a JUDGEMENT- but simply a way for them to file a judgement on me without going to court (to save money for them) IF I don't pay the remaining $400 at the end of the month- the guy said that since I've already setup a draft of the 400 for Sept 30, It will be marked as satisfied. He said a JUDGEMENT will not appear on my credit as long as I pay on Sept 30. I was reading the confession and it does have a contingency line about the $400 payment on Sept. 30. So I guess its me confessing to a judgement if I couldn't make the agreed upon final payment... thoughts?

FYI - check them out on budhibbs (dot) com website. Mann Bracken are JDB and are scum.

Look up the FTC credit practices rule. Confession of Judgments are not legal on consumer debts.

(Unless this is something different than I think it is). But a confession of judgment is something you would usually sign when you first take on the debt, and basically waives your right to a trial.

do not sign it. instead reply back with a letter simply confirming the agreed payments and your understanding as to the fact that those payments will close the matter

Mann Bracken, LLC are one of the worst and most untrustworthy CA's today! Do not believe anything they say, they're more crooked than a dogs hind leg!

To be certain on this you may wish to seek legal council. Or you could contact your state attorney generals office and speak with a deputy attorney who will be able to answer any questions you may have regarding consumer law.

I have a confession of judgement against a person.Â* There was no court case.Â* He lives in another state.Â* Do I record the confession in my state, then try to find out where he lives and record it again in that state?

I agree--do NOT sign that.Â* The process goes something like this...
Â*
1--you pay the settlement amount they agreed upon.
2--they file the confession of judgment against you anyways, which results in the court granting the judgment against you.Â* This then goes on your credit report(s) as a judgment.
3--they can then try to come after you for the remaining balance, plus any interest that has accrued over time.Â* Most people dont know their rights, thats how they get away with things like this!Â* Think about it--they settled the account, but then they will tack on the next few years' worth of interest and come after you for the full amount then.Â* Its a scam and isnt legal, but you'd be surprised how many people dont fight back because they dont know their rights under the law!
There is another member here right now that is going through something similar.....she was sued.Â* she paid the amount in full during the early stages of the lawsuit, and the CA promised her that they were going to withdraw their complaint.Â* But they didnt--they pushed for summary judgment when she didnt show up for court.Â* She was told that they were cancelling the whole thing, so they told her there was no need to go to court.Â* Then, they blind-sided her.Â* To this day, they still have not notified the court that it was paid off already.Â* Because of advice that several of us gave her, she was able to get the judgment set aside, and is now pursuing FDCPA and FCRA violations against the debt collector.

This is not the big deal everyone is making it out to be. An Offer to Confess Judgment is simply a form that a defendant fills out. What is states in a nutshell is that even on your best day in court, you will not collect more than $XX.XX from me. After this is filed, any attorney fees and costs that occur from this day forward will be the responsibility of the Plaintiff if they prevail for any amount lower than the Offer to Confess.

no, patti, youre missing the boat completely on this one.

for one thing, as already pointed out, confessions of judgment are NOT LEGAL for consumer debt cases. Period. Thats a federal issue. So, for you to say it isnt a big deal, well, you need to rethink that one.

Second, there is a difference between settling out of court and having a judgment. When you make them an offer out of court and they accept it, or when they make the offer out of court and you accept it, that is not a judgment of any kind. It is simply a settlement agreement. And since the confession of judgment isnt even legal in the first place, what they SHOULD be doing is putting their SETTLEMENT in writing and following the law.

in addition to the above, a confesion of judgment would mean that there would be a judgment wrongly placed on this person's credit history when there should be a paid collection account there instead. you really dont think thats a big deal, patti? I only can wonder which debt collector you work for if you cannot understand the big deal that this makes....

Patti is not really wrong, so let me add this:

I stated above that Confessions of Judgment are not legal on consumer debts. I should have expanded in my original post, that they are not legal to force a customer to sign at the inception of the loan/credit extension (ie making them sign it prior to default).

They are legal and common after the account defaults, and should usually be used by an attorney after the account is sent for litigation. It basically is the creditor/attorney attempt to avert service & trial. Why would anyone sign them? Here's why:

A customer might owe me $5K at default, and I send the file to my attorney for lawsuit. We have to go through service (summons), and if debtor is evading summons we might have to spend a couple hundred bucks to hire a PI to go serve the person. Then there's status calls, trial, motions, etc. By the time we get judgment, that $5K balance might be $6K just in all the court costs and attorney fees by having to spend time litigating.

Confession of Judgment will save the debtor unneccessary court costs. Plus we'll usually "settle" if the customer agrees to sign one. So my attorney might offer the debtor $4K, waive attorney fees and costs -- so long as the customer is agreeing to waive personal service and trial.

For a defendant who disputes the debt or doesn't think the creditor will win at trial -- certainly, don't sign one. If you know you owe the money, and the creditor can prove it at trial, signing one can save some money.

but at the same time cruncher, in this case, the OP's case hasnt even gone to pretrial yet. The summons came a week before the settlement was reached. So, at that point, it isnt a judgment, but a settlement that was reached even before the pretrial conference took place. There shouldnt be any further court costs or attorney fees to consider in this case, because all the plaintiff has left to do is to notify the court that they dismiss their case. The debt collector's claim that this wont go on the credit report as a judgment is pure crap--the judgment gets entered on credit report because of the court's public records--not because of the debt collector's reporting--and the debt collector doesnt have any control over that at all. So, in effect, they just lied to this guy in the course of trying to get him to agree to a settlement.

So, why should a settlement like this be turned into a judgment? I think its just another way that these debt collectors screw with people. Also, Mann Bracken has in the past secured a settlement like this, after the summons has been served, and then they have conveniently forgotten to tell the court about it, and secured a default judgment anyways because the debtor, thinking this was all taken care of, was told they wouldnt have to appear(by the debt collector no less).

These are shady people with a ridiculously bad history. Dont take your eyes off of anything they try to do.

First of all, a confession of judgement is attached to a contract that you will pay the creditor. The contract must come from a legitmate law office. This contract has the amount that you and the creditor agreed upon. The confession of judgement is used for the creditor to file with the county clerk of court where you preside in the event you fail to meet your contract. Once the entire agreed amount is paid, the confession of judgement as well as the contract are no longer binding. Anything outside the contract that the creditor does like attached more interest, etc. is a breach of the contract and you have a right to sue. More inportant, you will need to keep your copy of the contract and request the original contract and the judgement. Once a debt is paid, the ball is in your court. Good word to all, do not accept a confession of judgement from a debt collector. It must come from a legitmate law office near you home town.