How many collection accounts did/do you have?

[treehugger1]

Colections can stay on your account for seven years, unless you had an agreement with the agency to delete when paid in full. Most consumer credit accounts will track back 7 years. Judgments can stay for 10 - 15 years and can be renewed in many states. In BK, you want to have the judgment vacated if possible. If you declare BK and the judgment debt is discharged this will not necessarily remove the judgment. It simply can no longer be collected on.

In terms of general collections of consumer debt, there are various statutes of limitations related to when a collector or creditor can no longer legally collect. This is why some agencies try to "re-age" older debt. Now, once you are beyond the SOL it does not necessarily mean the debt goes away, it cannopt be collected on. If you are out beyond the SOL timeframe and you get sued, the SOL makes a great answer for a small claims hearing or courtroom. You do need have all your facts straight.

[danaf]

I've heard of tactical judgements where someone in your court sues you & wins a judgement and that money just goes into a protected account for you in the future.

I can't remember exactly where I heard this or if I'm even explaining it correctly.

In dreamland, sounds cool. In reality, sounds way too fishy too me and surely there would be consequences.

[treehugger1]

It depends on the various state laws. In some states, if the judgment leads to a wage garnishment that you contest, the garnished wages are sent to the courthouse until the issue is resolved. It doesn't hurt to contest everything and answer every summons. I'm not an attorney, but state and federal laws do not state a debtor has to "roll over" and immediately plead guilty. I'm not an expert on answering lawsuits and summons, but there is plenty of info out there on the WEB. Just my opinion.

[Annika]

We had:

the mortgage company (we kept the house)

the truck payment (kept it, only 3 payments were left)

10 credit card companies, but it wasn't as bad as it sounds. Two of the cards were just under $10k, but the others had very low balances. We were in the process of paying them off ... and had actually gotten two of them paid off and were making excellent progress on the others ... never even had a late payment ... when I suddenly got sick.

12 different medical bills (several hospital stays, surgery, doctors, ambulance, several E/R visits, etc.) that totaled almost $100k! There was simply no way. But if I hadn't gone to the hospital, I wouldn't be here now, so whadda you do?