judgment, settlement, account sold and options

[thenewbeetrader]

My question involves judgment, settlement, account sold and options related to a case in the State of: Michigan.

I currently live in Arizona, since last 5 years. I have had a Judgment in Michigan for a credit card (was never served the docs). I then went ahead and settled the account with the bank for 4 payments about 3 years ago. I have since lost the documentation of payments due to the move. The bank has apparently sold the account to another Debt collector, as they popped in my credit report last month. Upon questioning the bank on the account and the sale to Debt Collector, their lawyer came back and mentioned that the bank had only received 3 payments and because they never received the 4th payment, they sold it.

I do have the documents received from the credit card bank's lawyer for the settlement and receipt of the payments.

I need to resolve this issue and looking at possible options?
1) Can I send the final payment to the bank, they mention not receiving, and force them with settlement?
2) How do I resolve the Judgment issue as the bank no longer would entertain this account due to sales of the account? (the judgment was supposed to be settled upon the payments)
Any other options to settle this?

[Trish]

Originally Posted by thenewbeetrader

My question involves judgment, settlement, account sold and options related to a case in the State of: Michigan.

I currently live in Arizona, since last 5 years. I have had a Judgment in Michigan for a credit card (was never served the docs). I then went ahead and settled the account with the bank for 4 payments about 3 years ago. I have since lost the documentation of payments due to the move.

How did you pay? Unless you paid cash, there has to be some way to get proof of payments.

The bank has apparently sold the account to another Debt collector, as they popped in my credit report last month. Upon questioning the bank on the account and the sale to Debt Collector, their lawyer came back and mentioned that the bank had only received 3 payments and because they never received the 4th payment, they sold it.

The judgment balance was transferred to another CA?? I'm not sure that's legal. I have never heard of this happening.

I do have the documents received from the credit card bank's lawyer for the settlement and receipt of the payments.

Ok, this statement confuses me because above you said you don't have proof.....are we still talking about the same debt here?

I need to resolve this issue and looking at possible options?
1) Can I send the final payment to the bank, they mention not receiving, and force them with settlement?
2) How do I resolve the Judgment issue as the bank no longer would entertain this account due to sales of the account? (the judgment was supposed to be settled upon the payments)
Any other options to settle this?

Please clarify and answer the above questions.....then I may be able to offer you better advice.

[thenewbeetrader]

1) I paid with moneyorders.
2) The account was sold to CA. The judgment was for the Original bank, which I had negotiated with.
3) Still talking about the same debt above. I don't have moneyorder receipts/copies anymore. I have a letter from their attorney mentioning that they had received the other payments, except one.

[Trish]

Ok.....I think I understand your situation a bit better now.

Yikes...if you paid with MO (the one option I didn't think about), it would be difficult to prove you paid.

So....the original bank that you worked with sold the remaining balance (the last payment they claimed they never rec'd) to a CA and the CA turned around and got a judgment on you? Am I understanding that part right?

In your first post you said you were never served the documents... I'm assuming you meant for the judgment. If that's the case, then you need to call up the courthouse and find out how you were supposedly served (they have to keep record of this) and then check the Michigan state laws and see if you were served properly. You may be able to file a motion to vacate the judgment.

United States Rules of Civil Procedure, Process Serving Laws ? ServeNow.com

Also how old is this debt? When was the date of first delinquency (the first month you rec'd a "late" notation). Need to see if it's possible out of SOL too.

IF by chance you were served properly......and there is absolutely no way you can prove that last payment......you may need to see if you can negotiate with them. Is it only the collection acct that is on your CRs? or is it also the judgment (in public records section of your CR)?

Hoping I have answered some of your questions........even though I think I posted more questions than you.

Let me know and I will be able to give you more advice.

[thenewbeetrader]

The judgment was already in place with the original debtor(bank), when I settled with them at 30% of the total amount.

The bank then turned around and sold the whole debt (minus payments made) to a Debt Collector company. The total now is 1.5 times that amount because of interest by CA.

The last payment was made in 2005, which was one of the settlement tranch.

On my CR, the original debtor, the CA and the Judgment are shown. (all three)

[Trish]

Hmm.......ok. See I'm still not sure that's right (selling the judgment to a CA)...

I'm going to have to check into that and see. I'll try to get back to you as quick as I can.
For the reporting issues - DEFINITELY dispute that judgment (in public records section). You need to get that off of there.
Read here for that part....
Guide To Disputing/Removing Judgments

Then I will be back hopefully with some answers about the OC and CA...

[Trish]

Ok, I found out that it is possible for a judgment to be sold over to a CA although in some states they have to go through a special process.

If you have ANY idea where you got those money orders, it's possible they can be tracked.

You most definitely want to DV the CA. Make them prove they have rights to collect on the debt. Make sure they are licensed to collect.

Also contact the OC (or was it the OC's atty that said they have all 3 payments except for the last one?).....let them know what's going on and have them search their records and check your payments to make sure they haven't made a mistake.

[thenewbeetrader]

The Judgment was in Michigan.

The moneyorders were from Arizona, where I currently reside.

I have been working with Lexington Law to deal with the CA and they are already gone from one CRA.

My concern is the Judgment, which is showing on my CR and hurting my score and credit. I've already started the process you mentioned.

I did contact the OC, although the lawyer mentioned that the burden of proof is upon me. I wouldn't mind paying the last payment again, if that was possible to remove the judgment. Although they have already sold the account, so I'm not sure that they can.

Can the judgment be used against me going forward?

[Trish]

You should hold off on doing anything if you have Lexington working for you. You do not want to overlap disputes and get flagged as using a CRO. That can definitely hurt your chances of removing derogs.

Have LL work on the judgment for you.......or wait until they are done before you send those dispute letters. The judgment is not being reported by the OC or the CA.......its supposedly being reported by the courts. But like I said in the judgment thread, it's very unlikely that the courts are actually reporting it.

The other thing you should check on is the money orders. If you remember where you purchased them, call them up and see if it's possible to track them from several years back. It never hurts to try.

[thenewbeetrader]

LL is working on it and I'm just helping.

Here's my question as I'm mainly concerned about the Judgment.

How can this judgment be used? If CA buys the account, do they also get the judgment? Or is the judgment only valid with OC? Considering there is a settlement in place with OC, how would that impact the case?