What should I do about Asset Acceptance lien on savings account?
About 2 years ago, asset acceptance attempted to get a judgement against me for 32500 in marion county, florida. I was able to rebuttle the judjement attempt but one year later they came back with a new unbelievable legal defense which I was unable to rebuttle at the time. Anyway, the judjement went through. It seems as though they would check and see if I was actually worth the time and trouble, since I have Zero assets , 50.00 in the bank at various times after bills and an old 2008 nissan sentra with 120000 miles on it which i owe 6000 dollars on it and it's worth 3500. I had opened a checking account with regions bank for my 1200 a month s/s check and put five dollars in a savings account ( hoping to build it up but never did). Well, today I get a letter that Asset Acceptance decided to have the court put a $32500 lein on my five dollar savings account that has never had more than five dollars in it. Really, I just don't know what to do. None of my other accounts are on the letter so they can't touch my s/s. The house I live in is on the brink of for-closure and I've had it up for short sale. I owe 250000 on it and it's worth 118000. Please help me if you can I talked to a person at the bank and he said I can't just close the savings account. Well, Every time Asset tries to take money out of the account, the bank charges me $100.00. I said you have to have at least five dollars in it to keep it open, who's going to keep paying the hundreds of dollars? Thanks for your assistance. Al
What should I do? Please help. Thanks
—al
It sure will take Asset Acceptance a while to collect on a 32k judgment at 5, or even 100 dollars a clip. I am curious about what you did to beat back the judgment the first time, and what they brought forward the second time that helped them to get win.
Settling debt with Asset Acceptance
One option to handle the Asset Acceptance judgment would be to settle with them. Given the circumstances you would need to be able to pull together a hefty sum of money (settling judgments typically takes more money than settling a debt without). But from the sounds of it, you are not in a position to come up with the amount of money they would accept. You mention your only source of income is social security, and that your home is underwater and up for short sale. These conditions could make for a better than average result in a settlement. But I am still talking about a healthy sum.
Have you considered bankruptcy? If you can qualify for chapter 7 where the debt with Asset Acceptance can be discharged, it would prove to be the least costly route. A straight forward chapter 7 bankruptcy will run you less than 2k all told. If you have other credit card debts, those could be discharged as well. There may even be benefits with the bankruptcy that would apply to any hangover from a short sale or foreclosure.
Have you consulted with a bankruptcy attorney? If not, that should be your next step. You may learn something that gives you pause, or may learn it is exactly what you want to do.
If you have additional questions, please post them in the comment section along with your reply to my questions above. Anyone reading that is dealing with debts Asset Acceptance is collecting is welcome to post in the comments below for feedback.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
A lien was just placed on all of my accounts due to a judgement I never knew existed. Don’t you have to be served in order for them to take you to court and get a judgement?
Look up the court case against you. There is usually an entry in the docket early on in the case that show when and how you were served. Look that up. Let me know what you find. Be sure to look for any address they say they served you at. You may have not lived there at the time, or find other concerns. Let me know and we can go from there.
Hello!
In 2008 I got a credit card from Regions Bank to help with living costs and medical expenses. On 7/30/08 I was given a credit limit of $7500. I stopped using the credit card at some point (unsure if before reaching the limit or right at the limit) and was always behind in payments. Unfortunately I was sent to collections since I did not make contact with FIA Card services by 9/29/09 as requested in their email to me on 9/23/09. Yesterday I tried to do some research to find out the info regarding the credit card (how much I spent, how much was the interest at the time, how much interest has been accrued since I stopped using it, and what interest rate is being charged at this point), but no one could give me those answers. I was told that the credit card was through Bank of America and they sold the account of $9338.87 to Asset Acceptance Recovery services in 2011. I was then told that Asset Acceptance sold the account to Midland Credit in 2014.
I had someone serve me with papers in June 2012 from a law firm in Tennessee that was trying to collect a debt from Asset Acceptance. I immediately called my family and was put in contact with an attorney in Mississippi that was handling my case. He told me that they were in the middle of working out a deal and I would not need to show up in court. In 2013 I received papers again on a matter that I assumed was being handled with the two attorneys. The last contact that my attorney had with the firm in TN was in 2013 and then they never responded to any other emails or calls from him. I didn’t think much more about it after that and moved out of state in October 2013. A few days ago I discovered that my checking account had $628.46 taken from it. I contacted the bank and they gave me the number of the TN law firm that had served me the papers in 2012 and 2013. I contacted the court in TN and was informed that the attorney went to court on 2/5/14 and was awarded a default judgment since I did not show up for my court date and there was no one there to plead my case. I never received any new papers telling me that I had a court order and my attorney was not contacted about this either. I contacted the TN firm and asked what had happened to my account and was informed that they were able to put an indefinite hold on my checking account until they received payment of now $10, 082 in full or they couldn’t speak to me because they had not received answers from the bank and didn’t know when they would. After pleading on the phone for three days someone at the firm gave me the number of the actual attorney that had my account. I never spoke to him, but did speak with his assistant. She told me that she would not return the money that they took from me, but would accept payment arrangements for the rest of my debt. She also told me that if I made payment arrangements then she would remove the hold on my checking account and this would prevent future levys. I asked the assistant questions regarding the credit card and she refused to answer. She said that I should have asked questions before my court date in 2014.
* Do they have the legal right to drain my bank account to zero by taking the $628?
*Do they have the legal right to take 100% of my next paycheck if it’s deposited in my account without a monthly pay plan being established?
*Now that they have a levy on my account, is there any way I could call one of those free credit help places that I see on T.V. or even an attorney to have them chop off some of the interest and penalties…or is this the bottom line?
*Are they legally obligated to allow me a payment plan?
*I asked them for the breakdown of the balance and they denied that request. Are they not required by law to tell me exactly what I’m paying for? What if part of that balance was due to fraud? (someone hacking my card)
Sorry for the novel, I just wanted to make sure you had the details.
Thank you!
Julie
I am not sure what happened with your attorney. It is uncommon to be unaware of the disposition of a case. Maybe there are some angles here that you can look into by consulting with an experienced debt collection defense attorney. I can refer you to some that offer a no cost initial consult if you like? Post the name of larger nearby city. You would also want to run some of the questions you have above by him/her.
Generally speaking:
Judgment creditors can levy your bank account to the extent allowed by state law. There are some states that protect a certain amount of money on deposit.
The legal right to additional money being deposited can vary by state too. If it were me, I would stop any auto deposits and drafts immediately until this is sorted out.
You could look to negotiate a settlement, even though they have a judgment and have levied your bank account. Depending on how collectable you look, you may be able to negotiate a good savings, pay it in a lump sum, and put this behind you. You can hire someone, or do it yourself.
They are not legally obligated to offer you a payment plan per say.
They are not obligated to give you a breakdown of how the balance came about at this time. That type of detail could have been hammered out earlier by your attorney in the discovery process. Are there fraud issues with the account?
At the time of this debt I lived in Nashville, but have lived in Atlanta since October 2013.
I am not sure if there are fraud issues with the account as I don’t recall how much I spent and how much could be interest that they added to the amount I owe. It’s aggravating because I can’t see a breakdown of everything to ensure that it was either my spending and interest or something else.
Thank you for your response to this matter!
Okay. I am sending an email to you with contact to two experienced consumer law attorneys. The one in Nashville would likely be more relevant to speak to. Both offer no cost initial consults.
Georgia has a wildcard exemption of up to 5k that must cover all real and personal property when protecting you from judgment creditors. That means your car’s value, household goods, personal items, and cash, is limited to this. You are also at risk of up to 25% of wages being garnished in GA.
I found out that a judgment was obtained by Asset Acceptance LLC against me on what I believe to be a time barred debt due to my failure to appear at the court procedings. I was physically located in Iraq at the time of the court hearing, was never served and subsequently knew nothing about the action period. The debt stemmed from a cell phone acct that I had during my previous marriage that became delinquent in late 2001 early 2002 when I was living in California. It is my understanding that California has a 4 yr statue of limitations regarding law suits seeking to collect on consumer debts. In this case Asset Acceptance LLC apparently purchased this old debt and filed suit in Essex County, NY in July 2008, based on my wife residing in that county. When I contacted the County Clerk regarding the judgment imposed by their court system and informed them that I was not even in the United States at the time of the filing, nor had I been in the United States for the years prior to the filing. Additionally, I informed them that I was never served any notice of the law suit and asked how the court could have even entertained such an action without proof of service. The response I got was that Asset Acceptance LLC filed a proof of service afidavit stating that they spoke to a female with brown hair at the listed address that appeared to be between the ages of 14 and 21. I then asked how can an afidavit like that be leagal, especially without prooving that they actually spoke with anybody to begin with, their were no signed documents from this aledged bwon hair female and that the only person that could have fit the description was my 13 yr old step-daughter. The response I got from the clerk was thay cannot provide leagal advice but that in the state of NY personal service must be served on adults of consenting age being 18. I am a resident of California still, however I am still working and living outside of the United States as a government contractor. Lastly, the judgment amount was $917.00, it has been on my credit report for the last 6 years and is due to be removed by federal law next year; however, because i am buying a house through the VA, they are requiring me to pay off the judgment in order to quality for VA funding…I feel this judgment was fraudulently obtained and a payment action now will result in resetting the clock and an additional 7 yrs of reporting it on my consumer credit report.
Can I file some sort of action with the Essex County Court in NY to have this judgment nullefied or recinded based on how it was obtained? Can I still file such an action if payment is rendered in full on the debt? Lastly, can I have the item removed from my consumer report after it is paid without having to wait an additional 7 years?
Do you have a home selected for purchase right now? How time sensitive is it to reach your goals of resolving the debt with Asset Acceptance? Your answer will impact my feedback.
Taking a shot at backing out the judgment will take time, and have a cost.
Paid judgements do not necessarily stay on your credit reports for another set of years like some paid tax liens could.
The answer to all three of your questions are a qualified yes, depending on your goals, time, and what you are willing to spend.