satisfaction of judgement

Who told you you'd have to wait thirty days?

The agency I work for won't send a zero balance or satisfied letter until 30 days has passed unless the account was paid by certified funds. They don't want to give you a satisfied or zero balance letter until they know your check won't come back.

what about the fact the check has cleared??? they dont need 30 days if it clears- i would think only like 10 days max

Regulation CC (the expedited availability of funds act) states that banks may place a hold on any check where the amount is considered large (generally in excess of 1k), it is a non local item (meaning the location of the issuing bank and the receiving bank is in different processing regions) or if the bank has any reason to question the availability funds they may place a hold on the check not longer than 14 business days (which would exclude holidays and weekends) after that point the funds must be made available, within 14 business days more than enough time is given for the check to clear unless it is clearing a international bank there are additional exceptions for that and can sometimes include international laws.

but its only 350 bucks!!!

and the law firm is in Naperville AND the town I live in!!!

In the case of a small amount and the a local item Reg CC gives them 2 business days to verify/transfer funds. Once transfered there is no way to place a stop payment on the item. The only thing that could be done to possibly defraud the entity receiving the check would be to file check fraud with your bank. They have you sign a affidavit and the police are contacted (which would lead the person to some serious legal charges)

Beg to differ on being unable to stop a transaction after it has been cleared already. I had a check come back once that had been clear for 2 months. The person went to their bank and said she didn't authorize the transaction, which she did. When she called me back to "fix it" she couldn't understand why I wouldn't take another check from her.

My suggestion as to the satisfied letter would be to get somehting from your bank stating that the item has already cleared or show them a copy of your statements. Policies usualy don't change just because you live locally.

Given that the other party is local, I think I might have just ridden over there and handed them a money order. In exchange for a PIF letter, on the spot.

These waiting periods have been put in place to protect all businesses from bad or fake checks. Next time use certified funds for quicker response time and get a copy of the check clearance from your bank to show proof of payment until your zero balance letter shows up.Make darn sure the law firm files the correct paperwork with the court to show satisfaction of the judgment.

That's why I like dealing in cash [in person] or certified funds. It takes all the guesswork out of the equation. Franklins don't bounce. And I just can't bring myself to trust most lawyers. I'd want that letter in hand now, not later.

Just perusing the forum here and had a question somewhat related to this topic:

Would the use of a legitimate escrow account be appropriate for a transaction such as this? In other words, let's say I owe a thousand dollars to a CA and they offer to settle for $500 PIF. I feel that to make certain they live up to their part, I would deposit the money into escrow and send them a letter stating that once I receive notice that my credit report has been amended, they get the funds disbursed. More complicated than unclewulf's "just give 'em cash" but might make the CA hop to it a bit faster, yes?

Anything's possible, I suppose. But one thing I've learned over the years. When Ben Franklin talks, everybody listens.

I had to deal with GMAC once back in the '80s. An elderly neighbor lady was behind on her payments, and asked me to speak to them about it. She had the money, but they were just bein' dicks about it, figuring to bend the old gal over for a bunch of BS penalties and fees. She didn't have / couldn't afford legal representation, so I guess she figured illegal representation was the next best thing. Long story short: I walked into the Dallas office and inquired, they didn't want to talk to me. I came up with four grand in cash, and they were suddenly my best friends. Ten minutes later, I walked out with fifty bucks or so in change and a notarized PIF on her note. Sans the $2k in penalties and other BS that they'd been screaming for.

Money talks. Bullsh*t walks.

Sorry, I should have clarified. I was mostly referring to out of state CA's -- ones that wouldn't be easy to drop on by and walk in and walk out.

I wasn't meaning to suggest that cash is the answer to everything. I was posting the anecdote in support of my 'anything's possible' statement.

In their place, I probably wouldn't aggree to escrow. I wouldn't want you having a PIF letter or an ammended CR until I had your money irrevocably in hand. I'd be concerned [if I were the CA] that you could tell the escrow agent not to release the money after I'd delivered. But that's probably because I have a nasty, suspicious mind. Good luck with it, though! And please post back if you try that approach, to let us know how it worked out.