Enhanced Recovery Settlement (via Equable Ascent)

Wow...you have made a bank levy easy for them.

You are not going to have it removed from your credit....the court does the reporting and it will report for 10 years.

Tread lightly....they have the upper hand with the judgment....there is no obligation for them to settle. Get the best settlement you can....do searches of this forum.

I wouldnt waste time DVing them...that would be seen as a stall.

SOAPLADY, thanks for your quick reply. And yes, I'm very new to dealing with these debt collectors, as you can tell.

Despite having changed my bank info, you think it's still really easy for them to place a levy on the account? Also, I'm currently self-employed as a contractor so there is no real paycheck they can garnish. The only option would be a bank levy as you stated, but wouldn't they be able to get that information easily anyways if it came to that since I already have the judgment and the bank name, etc. is stated on my CR?

Also, I live in Minnesota, but the judgment was served in Wisconsin and as per my CR, it states that the judgment can remain on there for up to 7 years. I understand that if they cannot get the money in that amount of time, the original creditor can go ahead with another lawsuit to extend the statue of limitations once more and reinstate the judgment. However, I'm willing to settle with them.

But you do not think there is anything I can do at this point to possibly get the judgment removed from my CR?

Were you residing in WI when you were served?? Or is this a WI judgement? You live in MN now?

If you are near the Twin Cities, well, Wisconsin is considered a bedroom community. Thus people live in WI and cross the border to work in MN. A lot of the banks are on both sides of the border. Consequently judgments go back in forth with ease.

I would recommend you get this settled as quickly as possible. Since you are self employed, they are more likely to pursue bank levy since the know they cannot garnish.

Yeah, I was living in WI when the judgment was served, but working in MN. Now, I live and work in MN.

As for settlement - when I speak with this rep again, how should I approach it? The consensus from what I've read is to ALWAYS get a settlement letter in writing with the terms before agreeing to pay any amount, and to always pay via a bank issued cashier's check or USPS money order. But my question is, what if they don't go for either of those conditions? What if they insist upon payment first and directly from my bank BEFORE providing a written settlement agreement? How do I navigate that turf w/out coming off as desperate?

Personally, I think you will get a better and quicker settlement if you wait until the last week of the month. I would simply tell them, I have xxx cash...if you want it, fax me a settlment letter to xxx phone number. Then overnight a money order.

Okay, cool. So you're saying don't contact them AT ALL until the last week of the month to present that offer?

Thank you for all of your advice, SOAPLADY! I will play the waiting game then and be sure to update you with what happens with this whole situation.

You've been very helpful!

Also regarding the judgment, and not to be redundant, but you stated, "You are not going to have [the judgment] removed from your credit....the court does the reporting and it will report for 10 years."

Based on my research, I've been told by others on other forums that the court does NOT report to the credit bureaus, but that the court only assigns the judgment, and it is in fact the creditor which holds the judgment along with the debt that reports regularly to the credit bureaus. Is this not correct?

And therefore, it IS somewhat possible to have a judgment removed at the time of settlement (possibly not in my case?), or perhaps later down the road once the judgment is satisfied and you attempt to dispute it with the credit bureaus EVEN if it is/was a valid judgment. Is this also not correct?

I suppose it varies from situation to situation as it's difficult to get a straight answer about these types of things, especially when there are so many different variables. Everyone seems to have a different take on the approach. But, I'm trying to utilize this time to better understand the system and how it works so that I am more prepared.

Anyone else on this forum have a take or opinion about my situation and/or what I've said?

UPDATE:

So yesterday evening I received a call again from ERC, and I decided to pick up as I didn't want to seem as if I was now dodging their calls. It was the same rep, Keith Scott, again. So he tells me they are still waiting on whether or not they can accept the 60% offer. He then asks me if there are going to be enough funds in my bank to cover it, and that is when I replied that I prefer to overnight them a money order once this deal is set. And you should have heard him! He goes, "Woah, woah!! Well, see now you're changing the terms! And I don't know if I can let that happen or we have no deal!" Which I didn't feel I was b/c all I said was that I preferred a specific method of payment - nothing else. But he flew off the handle almost..

So, I stop and tell him, "Actually no, I'm not changing any deal because we didn't have a "deal" yet to begin with. You stated that you were going to submit this 60% offer to your client, but we did NOT agree to a method of payment OR a date of payment. Is that correct?" He replies, "Well, yes that's true, HOWEVER, if that deal comes back tomorrow (May 8th) and it has the date, May 8, 2011 on it, well then we are going to REQUIRE payment on THAT date, and you are going to have to either pay by check over phone or head down to your local Western Union to remit payment to us on that date. If you decide to overnight a Cashier's Check or Money Order and it arrives the day after, well then you have breached the deal and we are back to square one again." He went on, "And if you cannot provide payment or if you keep asking us to push the date back to the 15th or end of the month, well you are also breaching the deal we had and we can go ahead with other means with which to come after you for this money, and our client will require the entire amount at that point." (Is that statement not a violation of the FDCPA section 808 Unfair Practices 1?)

Now, his entire rant and insinuation that I was attempting to "change the deal" were entirely unfounded and simply stemmed from me stating I preferred a particular method of payment. I also stated that I was going to need them to fax a copy of the settlement agreement before ANY money exchanged hands here.. and man, you should have heard him there. He goes, "Woah, woah! Agreement?! We don't have ANY agreement. What I am going to fax to you is a "letter." It is a letter that simply states the 60% settlement, but until we have money in our hands, we have no agreement. Once we DO have the money, either that same day or the next day, we can fax over our agreement that the money has been paid and the debt has been satisfied, and we will go ahead and report that back to our client, as we do not report to the credit bureaus - our client does."

Does any of what I've said sound strange to anyone?

Personally I would not deal with him again. Bottom line ...they can send you a settlement offer. He wants the cash, tell him to fax the offer. No letter, no settlement. stay off the phone until the end of the month.

Okay, so I did in fact receive a fax this morning stating the settlement offer. Only thing is, it says they require payment today.. How should I pay this? I've never used a Western Union before and he's telling me if I can't pay as per the date on the settlement (which is today), the settlement will be thrown out and we'll be back at square one.
Again, I've never handled anything like this before, so any advice would be appreciated!

Here is the settlement offer they faxed to me today:

If you have the funds, Western Union Quick Collect costs around $15 and is a instant transfer. They should give the business name to send it to and a code city (I think....it has been a longgg time since I have done one.) Never do it to a person....only quick collect. You will get a money transfer control number....attached that to your settlement offer...that is your proof of payment.

Okay, great! Thank you for the information, SOAPLADY. I called and spoke with the ERC rep and he informed me that Quick Collect was the option he was going to tell me. He also provided the company and code city, just as you had said.

Here is a little advise from somebody that has battled this problem many times. Filed chapt7 TWICE and have a 720 credit score within 24 months after both times.
1) Never agree to anything on the phone they record everything. As well you may say something that validates the debt.
2) Send a signature sign request letter offering them 30-50% of the actual debt. DO NOT validate the debt in the letter of offer.
3) NEVER give them your credit-debit card number or banking info at ANYTIME. Pay with a money order ONLY.
4) In the offer letter tell them do not call you by phone you are never home and the only good form of communication is by conventional postal mail.
5) A paid collection is the same on your credit report as an unpaid collection. Paying it does not affect your score even by 1 point. Saying this in your letter of offer make them agree to a DELETION of the debt.
All will say this is not possible however they can do anything they want and can delete the account.
BTW>>>>>the courts DO NOT EVER!!! file anything with any credit agency themselves. The 3 credit bureaus pay a 3rd party to go every month to your local court and sift through their files. Since they are public records they are allowed to do this.
Judgements can be removed after 7 years only a bankruptcy remains for 10.