Letter from Lawyer

I will be careful after knowing about the law firm. They are a legit company so they can take actions against you in the court. It will be right to call them and offer a realistic payment plan. The law office might not accept any arrangements, but it never hurts to try. They will have to spend on the court costs and attorney fees if a case is filed.

Don't fear if they aren't working with you. Let them take it to the court. The judge will hear your case and then order something. Your financial situation will be considered before judgment is put on you. They can' take the blood out of you. But, keep in mind, you will have to pay something because it is your debt. Either you can arrange something outside the court or through court orders. If you pay nothing, there is risk. They need to understand that you have every intention of paying the debt.

Call them as soon as possible, it sounds like they want to make arrangements with you at this point. You don't want to just ignore it and let it go to court, that would put a BIG ugly mark on your credit report.

I have called the lawyer and left a message, and will call again first thing monday morning. I fully intend to make arrangements with the attorney and fulfill my obligation. My question now is, how much time is realistic when working out arrangements with the attorney for an $ 8000 debt? Obviously, i dont have the $8k now so the more time, the better. And the same question if i were to receive a judgement which i hope it doesnt get this far, how much time could i expect to receive with a judgement. Thanks in advance for any advice.

I really can't say how much time is realistic in paying a debt that size..Hopefully the company is understanding and gives you a reasonable time frame.

If you do get sued, and arrangements are made in court, you would have to start paying right away, probably with your next pay period. If you end up being garnished, more time would be bought, because it would take about a week for the court to process and send paperwork to your employer, then your employer has to give you a copy of the writ, then your employer has up to 28 days to file it and begin deductions. So..If you find out you're going to be garnished, you'd have at least a month before the money starts coming out.

You need to sit down with your bills and budget everything out. Seriously think about the extra things you have but do not have to have, an extra cell phone, HBO/Max/Showtime on your cable. But becarefull not to budget out everything fun, make room for a movie or two a month or a nice dinner out.

After reviewing the necessary things you must have start spliting your budget up. On an 8000k dollar account I can sincerely say they likely won't think anything under 300 a month is a realistic offer but you will need to be able to back up what you can and can't do on a monthly basis. Because they can find out so many things about you with just the flick of a few keys on a computer it isn't funny.

If you are a homeowner they are going to want you to refinance your home, if you have any creditors who you can balance transfer to they are going to want you to do that.

Do not agree to anyhting you can not do. It will make everything else in the long run should you default on that agreement and you could endure some hostile collections.

I could go on and on about things they could do or things that you might be able to do but the plain and simple fact is that you need to find something that you can 100% commit to doing.

FYI, can they really force a person to refinance their home? I would think that with the interest rates not being as low, if it would cause the debtor to increase their interest rate that wouldn't be a very wise financial move, especially if they already have a low interest rate (and refinancing would cause it to go up) or they don't have much in equity. I'm just curious, I've never heard of them being able to court order somebody to refinance their home. I'm just curious is all . Thanks.

I think collector will possibly try to get the home refinanced. They want their money and you don't have any ways to pay them. They start evaluating your assets and find your home that can help in getting their money. They won't be concerned if you are spending money on high interest rates or how you pay the installments later, they want their money in the first place.

But can they legally force somebody to do this, especially if there isn't much equity in the home? I'm just curious. In OH they will put a lien on your property and when you sell it or refinance in the future then you have to payoff the lien, in case of a sale if there is any profit you would have to pay it with the profit. But they can't make you refinance.

It will be easier for them to sue in the court. Since they have more chances to win, they take whatever property isn't exempted. Also they can garnish wages and sometimes bank accounts.

No, they can not force you to refinance your home.

And yes, they do have a chance to win in court. However when a judge grants repayment they give you the opportunity to work it out first before they go twards more extreme measures. They will take all of your asets into cinsideration and what you financial situation is.


Personaly I don't see why someone wouldn't refinance if they could to begin to rebuild their credit by paying a creditor that would be in good standing.

You are right FYI. But I was just thinking about how interest rates have gone up, and if you had a good interest rate prior to financial difficulties and your new refinance rate would go up 3-5%, that would hurt. But I suppose that you could take a temporary hit and once your scores improve and hopefully the rates go down you could always refinance again at a lower rate.

Figure this, and you might be able to use it as leverage. If they sue you, get a judgment, and then garnish your wages, they will take at most 25% of your paycheck. So if you make $2000/month and they garnish 25%, they will get $500/month. If you can afford to pay them more than 25%, I'm sure they would rather take that deal.

The garnishment percentage depends on what state you live in.

True. Federal is 25%, but state can further restrict the percent. In Illinois we are 15%. But if you have other garnishments, then that factors in as well. Try telling the attorney you are already having $250/month taken out in child support, and it will put a thought in their head that they might not be successful with a garnishment.