Dealing with Discover Credit Card Debts After Judgment
I lost my job in 2007. I had two Discover accounts that I continued to make at least the minimum payments on until I couldn't continue. I stopped in 2010. I wrote asking Discover for smaller payments temporarily and was put in collections. At the time I did see a local debt collection specialty attorney who only wanted to direct me towards bankruptcy.
I went to court on a balance of approx $4300 and agreed that I owed it. The attorney representing all the plaintiff's told a group of us not to contact the collection companies but to wait to be summoned back to court and the judge would assist in a payment arrangement. That was over a year ago. In the mean time I was served a summons and complaint for the larger account of approx $6900. I filed an answer and provided additional info regarding my desire to work out a payment plan. I then received a letter from the attorneys wanting my financial info and wanting me to sign a stipulation. I did not.
I did consult a different attorney, through a state bar association referral service, to try to get assistance in either an affordable payment plan or settlement. His retainer and hourly rates were more than I could afford. Since then I received a signed judgement. I was not even notified of a court date.
What are my options now?
I am not working. I have medical issues but am not on disability.
I have a checking account and my husband and I have a joint checking and savings. We own 14 year old vehicles and a home that has a tax lien on it. Should I close my account or just leave it? Can I put the balance into pre-paid cards to pay other small bills/debts without it being frozen? Should I remove my name from the joint accounts even though I have not contributed to them in years? How do I protect our home? How do I get a payment plan for these debts?
Thank you kindly for any assistance you can provide!
How do I proceed after a judgement has been signed?
—Anne
Without a job right now, you do not have to worry about garnishment of wages from the Discover credit card debt. That leaves a lien being placed on the home, or a bank account levy.
You Need to Come up with a Plan to Deal with the Discover Judgments
Is the checking account in your name costing you anything to maintain? If not, there is no strong reason to close it. If they try to hit it with a bank levy a couple times and come up empty handed, it may make them more pliable to settle for a reduced amount.
Even though you do not have a paycheck or money of your deposited into the joint checking account with your husband, the account is still at risk. You should definitely consider removing yourself from the account until the 2 Discover debts are resolved.
Is there a mortgage on your home? If so, that loan is first in line. The tax lien on the home may be next. If the Discover credit card judgments do now, or later wind up with a lien on the home, they would be last in line. This fact could actually play in your favor for negotiating the debt. Given what you have shared so far, I do not think your home is at risk.
Come Up with a Payment Plan or Save to Settle Discover Credit Cards
The Discover debts have been growing since you stopped paying with late fees and increased interest rates, and later with judgment interest. They are not going to go away. Judgments can be renewed. Depending on the state you are in, judgments can last 20 years, or even longer.
Coming up with a payment plan would have to make sense for you. That plan should incorporate a way to also tackle the tax lien.
Settling the now inflated Discover debts will often make more sense. I have some questions for you about your situation. If you can answer them in the comment section below I will be able to give more feedback.
Who is the law firm that sued you?
What state are you in?
What amount of money can you confidently come up with each month in order to pay off the debts?
Do you have any resource you can tap to come up with half of the combined Discover debts?
Have you looked at chapter 7 bankruptcy as an option to put these debts behind you? If you have, what did you learn that prevented you from filing?
You have not shared anything that would suggest there is an urgent reason to deal with this today. It looks like you have time to come up with a realistic plan. Getting your name off of the joint checking account would be the one action step you can take this week.
Post your answers to the above questions in a comment reply below and let’s take it from there.
All readers with concerns and questions related to the above are welcome to post and get feedback.
My settlement is about:$3,000.00! I have paid off one!
Nice work! Thanks for posting updates.
I had a credit card with Discover years ago. After I lost a well paying job it went into arrears. A few years later I got a summons to appear in court. I had another menial job and sat in the courtroom for over 2 hours. No one showed up on their behalf. I have recently found out that they placed a lien on my home….the amount is way more than I owed. I am trying to refinance my home to get the payment lowered..I retired last year due to health problems. They want me to contact Discover and get them to take a less amount than over $7K. I have not papers or anything that I can find regarding this debt.
I would suggest scheduling a phone consult with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
I can get more into the details of your situation and how to accomplish your goals on that call.
My husband and I are poa’s on his 97 year old mother’s checking account or joint owners. She got herself in huge credit card debt! We were not aware until she fell and broke hip and shoulder. She owes Discover 12000 dollars and not able to pay because she let her Ge stock go down to nothing and her pension and social security is from retiring after 25 years with Ge in her eighties. We did not know. We can’t pay this! An attorney told us to just let them put judgement on house and when she passes away settle with Discover after house sold. We are worried because we still have our name on her acct and need to pay house payment and utilities etc for her. What do we need to do to continue taking care of her. She has no money to pay them off right now. She wants to live her life out in her home
Check out this post about exemptions for bank accounts when the funds are from an exempt source: https://consumerrecoverynetwork.com/question/social-security-pension-state-exemption-debt-collector-garnishment/
Married and a SAHM from 2005-2015. I had two credit cards in my name only. I stopped using them in 2011 as we just bought a house. My ex retrieved all mail. Paid all bills. Things were always taken care of. We separated in 2014/2015/2016. Filed for divorce. Kicked him out. Realized he had paid off all of the debt in his name and my two credit cards were in collections. I had no income. Was trying to figure things out for myself and three daughters ( 5,9 and 10). I was served by one card ($4100). My divorce atty answered for me and got them settle for half. I have paid them monthly for two years and paid it in full as of last month. Discover served me and a friends husband said he’d handle for me. I told him I just wanted to settle and no more court as I was emotionally depleted after going through the divorce, 2012 IRS issue, etc. The cards in my name and nothing I could do about that. Fast forward two years, and after many court continuances,I found myself before a judge. My atty did nothing for me. Even emailed that morning g and said I could just go represent myself as they probably had no witness or documentation. I showed up and he actually did right before trial. He objected. Did not let me speak. I left with Discover being awarded $9700. I was never given notice of Pretoria meetings, etc., and I would have done anything to stay out of the courtroom and to not have a judgement. I just wanted to tell my side. Try to negotiate the balance down and have a payment plan I can afford. I am working ( building my business) and make less that $41,000 for a family of 4. Including child support. Monthly basic living expenses are more than what I make luckily my ex picks up the slack for us.
I wrote the court that I didn’t feel my atty represented me well. He has since withdrawn but not before filing a motion for a retrial. What should I do?????
I’ve been researching letters to write asking for a settlement offer. I may even be judgement proof. Any advice is greatly appreciated. I just want all of this off of my shoulders. It shouldn’t be on me at all but it is. I do not want a stigma of a Judgement. I have three daughters to care for, no family, and I know I’ll need good credit for them. Help
Zwicker snd Associates sued me. I’m in TX.
Sorry… I saw this post after my prior question.
You will likely qualify for head of household wage garnishment protection in TX, but the cash in your bank account has no protection in Texas. You may want to consider some ot the things I point out in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4qsAdlpVSM
Discover is not great with negotiating judgments for less than half, and you may be looking at 60 percent or more. How long will it take to pull that together?
How much money could you pull together in order to settle this?
What state are you in?
Zwicker and Associates Texas
Owe $6000
I could pay 200 maybe more once my wife finds a job.
Have you been sued yet?
Mike,
I recently learned of a $5,400 judgement Discover had won against me when my bank account was frozen. Zwicker and Associates got $670 from the account. What is my best chance of settling with this firm? Does it make sense to call Discover, or do I now need to deal with Zwicker? On my initial call, they told me they would only take the full balance and a settlement or payment plan was not an option. I could put together the balance of 50% of the judgement. Thanks.
BTW…I’m in Florida. Thanks, again.
You typically have to deal with Zwicker and Associates in this situation.
50% settlements on a Discover judgment is no gimme, but you should be able to negotiate a decent reduction. Check out this post about settling judgment debts (read deep into the comments too), before you take your next step. Also know that negotiations usually happen over multiple phone calls, and dialogue is less productive, in my experience, when they just got some money through a bank levy.
Hello Michael..
I have a $6k judgement from Discover entered in 2011. The law firm that sued me was Moore Law. I’m not working and don’t have any assets. Looking to finally getting this resolved. In your experience, what’s the best case scenario if i’m looking to settle with them? I’m hoping family will help me come up with a lump-sum.
Thank you so much.
50% settlement with Moore Law on your Discover account is optimistic, but doable. I would not even make the first call until I had close to that if it were me.
Michael I started out only discover $5,400 + 2006 and now that they have taking money from two banks up to $10,000 charge me $700 a month and penalties and interest and they’re still saying that I owe them 32,742 Dollars and that also filed a lien on my house I’m self-employed work has been slow and when they take money from my account they have to totally clean me out they have drove him into the ground and left me with nothing is that legal for them take all of my money $32,000 and they will not return my calls
Please look up your name in the county court where you were sued. Look at the original lawsuit that was filed and tell me the named plaintiff. Also tell me the name of the collection law firm handling this.
While in the court record pull up the judges final order of judgment. In there will be the interest rate that the court set to accrue while the judgment remains unpaid. Post that information also, and then we can go from there.
Hi,
Discover has began to garnish my wages. Taking $134 each pay week. Right now as it stand my balance owed is about $1000. Do you think they would be able to take collect the remaining balance from my next paycheck. For an example, $500 one week and another $500 the next week. I really just want to be done with this already.
Thanks for your tips.
There are state laws that limit what can be garnished from your paycheck. It is highly unlikely you could tell your employer to send more than the maimum state law allows.
Hi does Disvover revive judgements in Illinois and if I sell my house can I still offer them 50% at closing against a lien?
TY
JC
Renewing judgments is generally a trivial process that can now be done electronically with the court. It is simple, inexpensive, and something rarely missed by judgment creditors.
If you sell your house, have equity in excess of what you owe on the judgment, and wait to negotiate at the closing table, you can usually forget saving a penny, let alone 50%. You will usually want to negotiate the judgment pay off before you even list the home.
HI Michael,
I googled for assistance with a summons received last week Friday from a Discover attorney called Forster and Garbus for a debt of $1,821. I don’t know what to do or where to begin. Please help!
Are you able to come up with a lump sum of money to settle the Discover debt with Forster and Garbus? How much money can you put together in the next couple weeks?
Hello Michael,
Everything I offered the Representative declined. The lowest she stated today that she was willing to settle for was $1,250 and I can’t afford to pay that at the moment.
You can often buy a few months time to save up money if you file an answer to their complaint/lawsuit. I would encourage you to talk to an experienced debt defense attorney about this.
Starting out by defending the lawsuit can sometimes lead to a more flexible or lower settlement too.
I have the cred card co.’s atty file judgement for $4,300, was served on door while not home, so i was tld by courts, but never received summons. Judgement hasnt been issued yet but missed court daye by a week. Should i settle w/atty or file an answer to dispute charges, if not too late? Atty will only take bout $1,300 off, even though i have no job or bank accts right now. Should i settle w/atty for $3,000 or file answer in court & hope for better outcome? Thx! I have no job right now due to health.
Mary – Are you able to pull together the 3k to settle the Discover credit card debt? Yes, defending the collection lawsuit can often lead to a better settlement, but when you weight the time you would dedicate to that process personally, or the cost of hiring an experienced debt collection defense attorney to assist you, you may actually come out ahead (and with less stress), if you settle with Discover now.
If you do settle with the attorney for Discover be sure to get the agreement documented before making payment.
Michael This is Don I just got off the phone with you. I found out the attorney office is Bernhardt and Strawser out of Charlotte.
I would stick to the 50 percent settlement target on the Discover Card judgment. Like we covered on the phone, the judgment balance will increase due to any interest set by the court, which in NC is capped at 8%.
Make that first call to the firm and find out today’s balance. Read through this page about settling judgment debt to prepare your negotiations.