Trying to make payments on a judgement in credit report
Date: Sat, 09/15/2007 - 13:30
In 2002 my son was involved in a serious car accident which caused injury to himself and the passenger of car. It was a one-vehicle collision. He didn't have car insurance at the time (it had lapsed for non-payment) and he was cited, fined and charged with DUI. His friend's family was really understanding and NEVER sued us for the injuries, medical bills, etc. His friend's insurance company came after my son to collect over $500,000 that they said it was owed due to the accident, since he had no insurance.
In the meantime, my son was sent to jail for 8 months and that is when the insurance case was seen in court. My son sent them a letter from jail explaining the situation and that he could not be at the hearing. The insurance company got a judgement for $107,000 against my son and now it is in his credit report.
He has been out of jail for over 2 years, cleaned up his act, is going to school and has a fulltime job, but this judgement in his report is keeping his credit score low.
He has paid off all of his other debts, and when he called the insurance company to make some kind of payment arrangement to pay off his judgement, he was told that they wouldn't accept payment arrangements and that they wanted the amount in full.
He explained that when all of this happened, he was in jail and couldn't attend the hearing, not that he was trying to get out of not paying, but that he really couldn't attend. They didn't care, and told him that unless he was willing to pay the full amount, not to call them again.
Can they do that? Do you think that it is worth for him to retain an attorney and try to see if they can go back to court to re-visit the case?
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Any suggestions are welcomed.
Thanks.
In the meantime, my son was sent to jail for 8 months and that is when the insurance case was seen in court. My son sent them a letter from jail explaining the situation and that he could not be at the hearing. The insurance company got a judgement for $107,000 against my son and now it is in his credit report.
He has been out of jail for over 2 years, cleaned up his act, is going to school and has a fulltime job, but this judgement in his report is keeping his credit score low.
He has paid off all of his other debts, and when he called the insurance company to make some kind of payment arrangement to pay off his judgement, he was told that they wouldn't accept payment arrangements and that they wanted the amount in full.
He explained that when all of this happened, he was in jail and couldn't attend the hearing, not that he was trying to get out of not paying, but that he really couldn't attend. They didn't care, and told him that unless he was willing to pay the full amount, not to call them again.
Can they do that? Do you think that it is worth for him to retain an attorney and try to see if they can go back to court to re-visit the case?
Has anyone had a similar experience?
Any suggestions are welcomed.
Thanks.
Quote:and told him that unless he was willing to pay the full am
Quote:
and told him that unless he was willing to pay the full amount, not to call them again. Can they do that? |
Yes, but unless he has 100k in the bank, I can't help but think that they are a little (sarcastic) foolish.
I suggest he just make payments. I used to be a bill collector (
I suggest he just make payments. I used to be a bill collector (dodges rotten tomatoes) and we always said we wouldn't accept payments. But we always applied them when they came in. He could just start sending them, say, $100/mo if he can afford it and most likely they will apply them. If they do send them back (and they legally can) you can always put a consumer statement saying "attempted to pay, refused payments". Not sure how much a consumer statement helps though. Good luck to you and your son and good thoughts for him and the friend being ok. :)
