mixed up when I was in the hospital. 3 yrs later when I'm pretty much "back to normal" all of a sudden a garnishment shows up on my account. No warning, no letters, no nothing. True I've lived in different places when I was released from my 3month hospital stay (mainy my parents) so maybe the warnings got lost in the mail but, can they do this? Take legal action without a response from me noting that I've recieved their warnings? Anyway, moving from here on out: How long will it be on my credit report, can I get it expunged? can i pay bills off like no other to try and off set the damage? Will I ever be able to get that house, car, boat, whatever? Please help....WHAT CAN I DO!!!?!?!?!?
2006-09-23 06:27:20 · 7 answers · asked by CantBClever 2 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
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2006-09-26 06:16:10 · answer #1 · answered by ken_voss12345 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If they make a 'good faith effort' to contact you an can't, it is possible to get a judgment against you and a garnishment order. You admit you have moved and may have been difficult to find. State laws vary regarding what constitutes a 'good faith effort' at contact.
I do wonder how the were able to find where your account to garnish if they couldn't find you to send notice of that suit. If they found an account to garnish, whoever holds the account should have known how to contact you. Its possible they received the garnishment order before the found you.
2006-09-23 17:44:40 · answer #2 · answered by STEVEN F 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In order to garnish your wages they must first win a lawsuit.
How they managed to get this through the court without you knowing about it will depend on the state you live in.
Some states are very "debtor unfriendly" in that they give creditors a lot of room in serving processes.
In states like Michigan, they MUST serve you with a court summons, or make a "dilligent" effort to locate you. The very first thing a judge will do before issuing a default judgement is look at the proof of service to make sure an attempt was made to locate you.
But other states "like Washington" make it very easy to simple post a notice, and not make much of an effort to locate you.
So what state do you live in?
In order to fight the garnishment you will have to get the judgement overturned. Doing that, you need to 1) show the judge that you were improperly served, and didn't know about the lawsuit, 2) be able to show you have a good defense and have a good chance of overturning the judgement.
Simply going to the judge and saying you didn't know you were being served may nut cut it on many courts.
The judgement will stay on your credit for several years, even if you pay it off.
2006-09-23 16:26:01 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
Filing bankruptcy will stop the garnishment. From my understanding, they first have to take you to court and win a judegment against you before they can garnish. They would have had to sue to start with. You should consult an attorney, though and ask them.
2006-09-23 13:37:23 · answer #4 · answered by First Lady 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, they can do THAT. Do you feel you dont owe the money? Did you think it would not catch up to you. Contact the attorney and see if you can work out a payment plan. If not be prepared to give up a part of your paycheck until it is paid.
2006-09-23 13:32:27 · answer #5 · answered by hirebookkeeper 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If its from the tax department your sort of out of luck However, if you go to a credit counselling service they will likley negotiate payments on your behalf, without interest.
2006-09-23 13:36:10 · answer #6 · answered by K M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would call a lawyer and seek legal advice from a professional before doing ANYTHING
2006-09-23 13:32:53 · answer #7 · answered by GD-Fan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋