Citi has sued my wife

[BKdinOhio]

have let it slide into default (not official yet) without answer. We don't have enough money for an attorney..yet. Question I have is how long should I expect till they start garnishment. The amount sued for was just over $2,000.


I really need to call a lawyer an plan on calling one that was highly recommended by a co-worker.

[albacore44]

CC I assume ?? When did she stop paying ?? they could get a judgement and never move to garnish wages

[dingdong]

They will possibly want to do a debtor exam, look for income and assets.

Are you filing soon?

[Trixie007]

They sued for 2000??? That's crazy. We owe them something like 35k on two cc's and they haven't done anything but bounce them to CA's, who bounce them right back to Citi because we don't even take calls anymore. Now Citi just recently started sending me a text message every day!

[LuciluS]

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?p=280699#post280699

HHM, a Moderator stated on the above post:

I just posted this in another thread

"...From a collection portfolio standpoint, accounts under $5,000 have the highest yield rate (i.e. highest return to the collection agency), so lawsuits on those amounts are filed more frequently and because in most areas amounts under $5,000 can filed in small claims or some lesser civil court, the cost is low and success rate of getting a default judgment are high."

The law of averages is still about the 6-18 month. Sometime sooner, sometimes longer, sometimes never. As the amount of debt owed gets higher, the chance of a law suit decreases.

Scares me as I have several small Citi accounts we haven't paid on since last Oct.

Luci

[BKdinOhio]

It's been a year since we stopped paying on all our unsecured stuff. Yes this citi is a CC. We have about 45K in unsecured credit. Most of it on B o A Line of Credit, the rest in various credit cards.

[BigJohn]

If you are working, they figure they will win something.

When do you plan to file?

[BKdinOhio]

If you are working, they figure they will win something.

When do you plan to file?

Yea, she and I work.


Pretty much as soon as an attorney is paid off & not a lot of money in our bank accounts. We've most likely got enough to cover the atty's fees..just not the filing fee. But I know most won't file until everything is paid up.

I'm just trying to get an idea of what kind of gap there is between Default Judgment and them filing a writ of garnishment.

[optimistic1]

From the collections sticky,

Assuming the creditor knows where you work, it will still take them 2-3 weeks from getting the judgment before they can garnish your wages.

I have only read about creditors seeking judgements, but then lagging or not even filing a writ, but I have no personal experience, I am simply waiting to be sued as well.

[treehugger1]

You can search some of my threads, but I've been sued by a local CA and some local creditors; all in small claims. I asked the creditors to take it to small claims, get a judgment, and garnish my wages. The amounts were all under $2k each. In some cses, I worked out 2 - 6 months agreements, and in others I simply let them garnish.

I still have another $40K or so in unsecured debts and as of Friday, they have all charged off. I have not ben sued by any big CC companies. They go from one CA to another; sometimes collection attorneys, sometimes new CA's. All the original applications are 5 - 20 years old, and I doubt any of the old references are useful to anyone any longer.

In my state, an attorney is not allowed in small claims, so the cost to engage an attorney for amounts under $7500 and try these in the bigger circuit courts, probably reduce the attractiveness of suing.

I think in other states small claims courts might allow an attorney, or perhaps they have a different court that allows for rapid processing of smaller amounts.

I keep waiting, but no suits from any of the big ones (Cap1, BOA, Citi, etc) have been filed in my district courts. I don't even see these companies on my local court dockets very often.

[optimistic1]

I wish I lived in your district TH

[treehugger1]

BB is correct for my state also. It takes only a matter of minutes from a default judgment to a request for a writ of garnishment. It may take another day or two to have the writ served on the employer, but it can happen fast in Oregon.

[JRScott]

In North Carolina the courts here cannot garnish wages for credit card debt, car loans or other personal debt (only for child support, taxes, alimony, student loans, and ambulance service rendered in the state of NC). However the catch is that if the creditor can under another state's laws get that states courts to sign a legal garnishment then the state of NC will enforce it. (However this isn't possible in all states).