Will a Collection agency put a judgement against me even when I'm paying them monthly?

Question

A collection agency has threaten to file judgement against me and garnish my wage for the $534 i owe them even when I started paying them monthly. They are forcing me to pay biweekly for $52 but that's too much for me to handle so I started paying them monthly for the last 2 months. Atleast, I'm giving paying them whatever I can pay. Are they really going to take this court even when I started paying them or are they just harrasing me?

I have other obligations and being a single dad, yes I can only afford to pay $52 a month instead of biweekly. I've made mistakes in the past and this is one of them but on the other hand, I've done a good job paying off most of my debt. No I would not file Chapter 13 as I only owe about $1,300 in debt. It would be ridiculous!

Im not sure what the revise statue is here in Oregon

Answer 1

They won't take you to court for such a small amount of money. The attorneys' fees and court costs would be more than the cost of your debt. The collection agency is just leaning on you to try to get you to pay the full amount so that they can get your account off of their books.

Answer 2

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RE Will a Collection agency put a judgement against me even when I'm paying them monthly?

A collection agency has threaten to file judgement against me and garnish my wage for the $534 i owe them even when I started paying them monthly. They are forcing me to pay biweekly for $52 but that's too much for me to handle so I started paying them monthly for the last 2 months. Atleast, I'm giving paying them whatever I can pay. Are they really going to take this court even when I started paying them or are they just harrasing me?

Answer 3

A collection agency cannot put a judgement against you as long as you are making payment to them.

A collection agency cannot garnish your wages no matter what happens. In the USA their is only a couple ways your pay can be garnished and thats if you owe Federal Taxes and Child Support.

They will not take a bill of $500 to court as it would cost too much in lawyer fee's and they know the courts would toss it out due to your already making payments.

The next time they call tell them if the continue calling you will stop making payments and they can sue you in court for the balance. They will stop because its better to get alittle money slowley then no money at all

Answer 4

Court actions and garnishments depend on where you live. For example, I work for a collections law firm in Louisiana. We file suit for the creditor, regardless of how small or large the amount, depending on debtors contract we are usually awarded all interest after judgment, attorney fees and court costs assessed against the debtor. In Louisiana your wages can be garnished, I know for a fact off hand that in ca, tx and about 9 or 10 other states you can not be garnished other than child support and tax liens.

Also, if you have a payment agreement and you are not abiding by that exact payment agreement (at least after suit is filed against you and they have gotten judgment) they can garnish you and you would end up paying 3-4 times the amount of the original debt due to atty fees and court costs. Better to scrap by and pay now. Good luck

Answer 5

This is just a scare tactic often used by junk debt collection agencies.
Without knowing more regarding the debt (original date, was it a charge off, etc) it is hard to give proper advice.
As to garnishment of pay, it would take a court order to do so and that's usually reserved for IRS debt, child support, or large debts.

Here are some free services that can help explain your rights.

http://www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title15/chapter41_subchapteriii_.html
US CODE TITLE 15 CHPT 41 CONSUMER CREDIT PROTECTION
http://www.ftc.gov/gettingcredit/
What you need to know about your credit.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/crdright.shtm
Credit and your consumer rights.

Hope this is of help to you

Answer 6

You are protected by law against the harassment that you are getting. You are also showing good faith by paying against your debt.

If your debt has been turned over to a collection AGENCY (not the collection DEPARTMENT with the creditor) you have the legal right to tell them to leave you alone. Since you mentioned a garnishment threat, it sounds like an agency, not your creditor. The next time they call, simply tell them to never call you again. They are legally required to stop all calls from that point forward. If you feel that they might not stop calling, make sure you get the conversation on tape, and tell them you are taping the call to use as evidence that you have told them to leave you alone. They are required to send you a letter notifying you that you have informed them to leave you alone. No biggie, it's just legal protocol to protect them, not you.

They will stop calling you and turn the account back over to the original creditor. Make sure you continue to make payments of some amount. If they threaten to take you to court, so be it. You need to keep your receipts to show the court that you are making regular payments in the amount that you are able to.

The court will rule in your favor, possibly dismissing the case and forgiving you of any further debt on the account. Hopefully, anyway. But it will be in your favor to continue making payments whatever happens.


(This is USA statute. I don't know your location.)

Answer 7

Yes, they CAN take you to court if they so desire. Any event which violates the original term of the debt payment agreement is subject to court action. That being said, they probably WON'T take you to court if you are still making payments. However, you are advised to discuss this with them in an attempt to get agreement from them concerning your payment schedule.

If you ignore something to which you earlier agreed, of course they will threaten legal action. Get on the phone and start talking to them.

In relation to crazijimsmith's post above, I'm not sure where he lives, but that isn't the situation in most places. A judgment will allow garnishment to the extent allowed under law, and that's about 25% of each paycheck, depending on location.

Answer 8

Im confused, they garnished your wages? We owed a hospital bill for a lil over 500 dollars and they started garnishing my husbands check. It was really awful. So.. I would do whatever you can to get them off your back, but I would also look at the bigger picture, maybe you should think of bankruptcy because someone fulling with your money over bills that you can't pay is messed up and they will do it. I mean not all of us are millionare's and you are having some trouble making it with 52 every two weeks so weigh your options carefully. A bankruptcy would stop all garnsihments.

Answer 9

When your debt was in good standing your credit report reflected your monthly payments. When the payments stopped being made then the ENTIRE outstanding balance becomes due and payable EVERY day it is not paid off.

Making periodic payments now does not change the fact that the ENTIRE unpaid balance is still due and payable EVERY day it is not paid off. The collection agency is being curteous when allowing a payment plan. Miss 1 payment and a judgement could be filed.

Answer 10

They can go to court and if they win you pay for it. If you are having trouble paying talk to them. Do not let it go in silence and bad things will happen.

They want money not court cases. Talk to someone, lay out your income and obligations. Show what you can pay. If you make an agreement to pay on a certain schedule then stick to it. Do not fool around. You have let things go to far because you did not make an attempt to resolve the issue with the primary creditor. Now you have added to the debt by incurring collection fees. Don't get court costs tacked on.

Communications will salve the problem. Silence will just make matters worse.