Is this typical after SOL passed?

[OHBOY]

Thanks! I was not paying much attention to my credit score, but then got curious. It never dipped below 650. Is it possible that living in NC with a spouse with PERFECT credit effects that. I do mean perfect. Mortgage, paid with extra every month, no credit debt, no loans that are not paid off early. When he went to refiance the house, the bank asked, "do you intend on paying the $24,000 judgement your wife has? He replied no. The bank refinanced at an excellent rate, and because he was unaware that a judgement had placed a lien on the house , it was removed. About a month later the judgement was dismissed. Is this an exception, or normal operating procedures. Again, thank you.

How interesting about the judgement not interfering with the refinance.
I too have a judgement, however when I inquired about a refi (HARP) with my bank, I was informed that because the judgement is a lien on the house and comes before the banks lien that I would first have to get the judgement removed. Of course at that point I gave up since I am sure that it's a waste of time to approach the judgement holder ( a credit card) to ask for a removal of the judgement.
I also asked if my wife would be eligible to refinance and was told, once again, the judgement lien on the property would not make it possible.

[merime]

I didn't know about the lien and neither did my husband. I have no idea how it got approved AND removed , but it did. How did you become aware of the lien? We never received any papers or documents. Could it be that my husband has several lucrative accounts and 401k with the lending bank? Or, having not been aware of the judgement, I have a feeling made the judgement annulled? Maybe that granted the exception to the rule. We have a 20 year mortgage and the house is 14 years old and a year away from being paid off. I have no idea, and he genuinely didn't either. I would think your case would be more typical.

[bcohen]

I have seen a lot of what happened in AngelinaCat's circumstance. Secured debt trumps unsecured any day as far as collectors go.

After the car, or other collateral, has been repo'd and sold, the loan becomes unsecured, just like a credit card. I am not sure that a creditor would think it more likely that a deficiency balance would be paid compared to a defaulted credit card or other similar debt.

[OHBOY]

I didn't know about the lien and neither did my husband. I have no idea how it got approved AND removed , but it did. How did you become aware of the lien? We never received any papers or documents. Could it be that my husband has several lucrative accounts and 401k with the lending bank? Or, having not been aware of the judgement, I have a feeling made the judgement annulled? Maybe that granted the exception to the rule. We have a 20 year mortgage and the house is 14 years old and a year away from being paid off. I have no idea, and he genuinely didn't either. I would think your case would be more typical.

I never received any ' papers or documents' pertaining to any lien. However, following a judgement a lien on ANY property within FL is the typical process and no additional papers need to be served...it's just a given.

[Floridagail]

I never heard of a CC judgement lein being placed on home in Florida. As we have Homestead laws, have you checked with a attorney? I know roof repair or such could be lein, but not cc. Are you sure it is on your home as a lein?

[Floridagail]

OH Boy
I found this article, http://www.debhigginsesq.com/lawyer-...y-2028789.html

[Floridagail]

Just curious. My sol on all my cards have passed. I have one judgement that was voided during a refinance of my house. I do not get collection calls or letters anymore. I get offers for cards and offers, which obviously I do not accept as to not make the same mistakes again. I checked my credit score and it is 790. I finally opened a "real" checking/saving account at Wells Fargo last week. Is this normal after a SOL? I feel like I got off easy. Maybe because I live in NC. Thanks everyone!!

Both my Sons stopped paying their ccs, over 10 yrs ago. They never got sued, but they were haunted by debt buyers for 10 yrs or more. They constantly had to clean up their credit reports. It may be different now with economy, maybe the ccs are not sold as offer, I do not know. I know I was not sued for 7-ccs, but one was aggressive. Have your ccs all fallen off your credit report?

[merime]

In the case such as mine , my car and home never had a late payment. I only defaulted on CC , nothing secure. If you don't get a judgement , there is I believe no fear of these being taken away. Like I said , I was fortunate enough to live in a state where there was little risk.

Yes, all the cc have fallen off my credit report. Crazy.

[GoingDown]

That is a statistically insignificant sample. Do you have any significant data to support that only a tiny fraction of debtors who default actually get sued?

Anybody who decides to try avoiding BK as you did needs to realize that there is a very real possibilty that they will get near the end of the SOL and get served with a lawsuit when they could have already had the debt discharged in BK and begun rebuilding their credit. I completely support anybody's decision to take the risk, as long as the risk is not discounted based on the experiences of a few people and understand that the expiration of the SOL isn't always the end of the story thanks to sleazy JDBs.

I'm speaking mainly from my own experience and from that of people I know who have also had to deal with this issue.

From my experience, the older the debts got, they less aggressive they became. The bouncing around from third party debt collector to third party debt collector and all the calls ceased. They seemed to lose interest in me as time went on, and I think in general, the older a debt gets, the less likely it is ever going to be collected by anyone, and so junk debt buyers offer less and less for these kinds of debts.

I personally think they have software that determines whether a particular debt is worth pursuing, and if it is not worth going after, they put it in an inactive file and move on to other ones that are more likely to cough up some money to them and help them keep the lights on and the phones paid up in their call centers.

There is the old saying that you can't get blood out of a turnip, and they have a way of finding out which of their accounts are turnips.

If a person is unable or unwilling to live the judgment proof or judgment tolerant (yes, I coined a new term here today!) lifestyle for 7 years, then they should go ahead and file BK and get it over with.

It boils down to this:

1. WAGES:

A. JUDGMENT PROOF: self-employed, temp job worker, or retired on a garnishment- exempt form of income, or living in a state which does not allow wage garnishment.

B. JUDGMENT TOLERANT: employed at a job where your employer doesn't mind your wages being garnished, and you can live on 75% of your income.

2. CHECKING ACCOUNTS:

A. JUDGMENT PROOF: your income is direct deposited from SS or SSDI, etc. and exempt from garnishment, and you follow the rules about keeping no more than 60 days worth of income in your account at all times and do not mix funds with a non-exempt form of income ever. OR: you don't have a checking account. You get paid by paper checks and go stand in line at the bank and cash them. You use cash and money orders to pay for everything.

B. JUDGMENT TOLERANT: you're a risk taker. You keep a checking account for convenience, but you never leave more money in it than you can afford to lose. You find out how much money you need to pay a bill or some bills, write the checks and get them ready to send off in the mail, and then go make just enough of a deposit to your checking account to pay the checks you have written. And you're willing to accept the consequences if a debt collector seizes your account someday. At least you don't have a huge amount of money in the account to lose.

3. HOUSING:

A. JUDGMENT PROOF: you're a renter. You've got nothing to lose.

B. JUDGMENT TOLERANT: you're upside down on a your mortgage, and you don't care if they slap a lien on it.

4. CARS:

A. JUDGMENT PROOF: your car's equity is less than your state's exemptions for a vehicle.

B. JUDGMENT TOLERANT: you're a risk taker. You figure that in most cases they are not interested in coming after your car because it is generally more trouble than it is worth to them, and most debt collectors are not set up to take cars anyways.

5. OTHER ASSETS:

A. JUDGMENT PROOF: the type of asset(s) you have cannot be discovered by debt collectors unless you're dumb enough to tell them about them.

B. JUDGMENT TOLERANT: you're a risk taker again, and you figure they won't find out about it anyways, and you're smart enough to not help them find it because you keep your mouth shut and never talk to debt collectors on the phone.

[GoingDown]

Both my Sons stopped paying their ccs, over 10 yrs ago. They never got sued, but they were haunted by debt buyers for 10 yrs or more. They constantly had to clean up their credit reports. It may be different now with economy, maybe the ccs are not sold as offer, I do not know. I know I was not sued for 7-ccs, but one was aggressive. Have your ccs all fallen off your credit report?

I'm curious about them being haunted by debt buyers for 10 years or more. Did they send them cease and desist communications letters? They have worked great for me.

As for the credit reports, after 7 years, it is illegal for them to put anything negative on their credit reports.

In both cases above, violations of the FDCPA and the FCRA could have been turned around used to get some money from the debt collectors. Especially after the SOL passed. I'm actually hoping that some of my old time-barred junk debt buyers will violate those laws, so I can get a settlement out of them. I'm ready and waiting for them, but so far, they're being very quiet and doing nothing to me.

And I am happy to hear that they are another example of not getting sued by debt collectors, and that they made it to the SOL.

[GoingDown]

Yes, all the cc have fallen off my credit report.

All of my old defaulted cc accounts have fallen off my credit reports, too.

I haven't even had a "hard pull" in the inquiry sections of my credit reports for over two years.

[GoingDown]

After the car, or other collateral, has been repo'd and sold, the loan becomes unsecured, just like a credit card. I am not sure that a creditor would think it more likely that a deficiency balance would be paid compared to a defaulted credit card or other similar debt.

For some reason, deficiency balances from repo'd cars seem to be more likely to be pursued aggressively than old defaulted credit cards. I'm not sure why that is, but it does seem to be the case.

My old deficiency balance from a repo'd Chevy Silverado truck was one of the last ones to do a hard pull on my credit report and one of the last ones to attempt to call me on the phone.

My Aunt Teresa took out a car loan from Wells Fargo for a new car, but she still owed $13,000 on her old trade in car. They rolled the 13K into a new loan and she ended up with a $38,000 car loan which she couldn't afford. She stopped paying insurance for the car, and then subsequently got into a wreck. The car was totaled. She then stopped paying the car payment and when they came out to repo it, they were surprised to find a wrecked vehicle. They were the most aggressive creditor to come after her. But even they eventually sold it off to a junk debt buyer which used a myriad of third party debt collection agencies to call her and harass her, but in the end, they ended up running out of time to sue her.

Amazingly, she was able to get a new car loan (from a different lender) just a few years after the car was repo'd.

[Floridagail]

GD
No they did not , they were so young and just avoided the calls, they never got sued. That has to be about 9 yrs ago. My hubby has about 9 cc, has not paid since may 2010. He is just now being sued by Discover. He did not have a Cap One , they usually sue. The cc companies I thnk are not suing, I am with you,
I think there is software that tells them the chances of collecting. I know when we bought our first house in 2002, a cc popped up from nowhere, ( a cc his xwife kept from a divorce in 1991 she had not paid ) It appeared nowhere until the morgage inquiries hit our report.
creditors sign up for notification when someone applies for a morgage.

[GoingDown]

I know when we bought our first house in 2002, a cc popped up from nowhere, ( a cc his xwife kept from a divorce in 1991 she had not paid ) It appeared nowhere until the morgage inquiries hit our report.
creditors sign up for notification when someone applies for a morgage.

Yes, the credit reporting agencies have a service that notifies them if there are any new collection triggers appearing on debtors' credit reports.

[OHBOY]

I never heard of a CC judgement lein being placed on home in Florida. As we have Homestead laws, have you checked with a attorney? I know roof repair or such could be lein, but not cc. Are you sure it is on your home as a lein?

Floridagail: ok, as I checked things out a bit more I should clarify that a CC judgement does represent a lien on the homestead as it pertains to selling the property or for the purpose of refinancing. This because the judgement lien shows up during title search and also because the judgement lien is actually 'one step ahead' of my first mortgage. ( this as per mortgage rep whom I had contacted as I was thinking about a refi)
. As the judgement shows up in court records the judgement needs to paid first in order to get a refi.

HOWEVER....with Florida Statute 222.01 "Designation of homestead by owner before levy " which apparently also applies to mortgages (as I read it) gives the outline as to how to rid the judgement off the homestead.
The difficulty as it pertains to a refi remains the wording:
"Further, the undersigned will either convey or mortgage the above-described property pursuant to the following:

(Describe the contract of sale or loan commitment by date, names of parties, date of anticipated closing, and amount. The name, address, and telephone number of the person conducting the anticipated closing must be set forth.)

I think it's difficult, if not impossible to convince a bank to include a statement such as " commitment subject to applicant getting 'rid of' judgement on homestead" (a process that takes 45 days...on top of everything else)
Actually I talked to the lender about giving consideration to Florida Statute 222.01 and received the following answer: " That's law, and I don't know nothing about law. I only know about mortgage requirements and procedures"

Here is a 'Notice of Homestead' as outlined in Florida Statute 222.01 ( further additional procedure as to go about sending it are given in statute...)

 
NOTICE OF HOMESTEAD

To: (Name and address of judgment creditor as shown on recorded judgment and name and address of any other person shown in the recorded judgment to receive a copy of the Notice of Homestead).

You are notified that the undersigned claims as homestead exempt from levy and execution under Section 4, Article X of the State Constitution, the following described property:

(Legal description)

The undersigned certifies, under oath, that he or she has applied for and received the homestead tax exemption as to the above-described property, that is the tax identification parcel number of this property, and that the undersigned has resided on this property continuously and uninterruptedly from (date) to the date of this Notice of Homestead. Further, the undersigned will either convey or mortgage the above-described property pursuant to the following:

(Describe the contract of sale or loan commitment by date, names of parties, date of anticipated closing, and amount. The name, address, and telephone number of the person conducting the anticipated closing must be set forth.)

The undersigned also certifies, under oath, that the judgment lien filed by you on (date) and recorded in Official Records Book , Page , of the Public Records of County, Florida, does not constitute a valid lien on the described property.

YOU ARE FURTHER NOTIFIED, PURSUANT TO SECTION 222.01 ET SEQ., FLORIDA STATUTES, THAT WITHIN 45 DAYS AFTER THE MAILING OF THIS NOTICE YOU MUST FILE AN ACTION IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF COUNTY, FLORIDA, FOR A DECLARATORY JUDGMENT TO DETERMINE THE CONSTITUTIONAL HOMESTEAD STATUS OF THE SUBJECT PROPERTY OR TO FORECLOSE YOUR JUDGMENT LIEN ON THE PROPERTY AND RECORD A LIS PENDENS IN THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF THE COUNTY WHERE THE HOMESTEAD IS LOCATED. YOUR FAILURE TO SO ACT WILL RESULT IN ANY BUYER OR LENDER, OR HIS OR HER SUCCESSORS AND ASSIGNS, UNDER THE ABOVE-DESCRIBED CONTRACT OF SALE OR LOAN COMMITMENT TO TAKE FREE AND CLEAR OF ANY JUDGMENT LIEN YOU MAY HAVE ON THE PROPERTY.