Wage garnishments and collections

Hi there.
I have a quick question... I just received a judgment regarding a debt, including interest totaling about $600. I’ll be settling this within a few days, but... once it's paid, what happens next? The company I originally took that loan from back in March—the one based out of $333—has actually gone out of business, so I don't even have a contact number to call. Since I'm currently abroad, I'll be handling the payment via online banking... but should I notify anyone once it's done, or...?

I have a bit of a theoretical question—what actually happens when an enforcement notice is issued to someone who has passed away, and how does the creditor handle receiving that notification?
I’m aware that legal heirs end up inheriting debts along with assets, but I’m curious about how this plays out in the real world. Especially when we're talking about relatively small amounts 🤷

Betty Fisher said:Yes, they are. Every single one was stamped with the corporate seal and signed off by the authorized manager.

You should probably ask your lawyer what the next move is. Honestly, you might want to ask her why she didn't go straight to FIFA with a garnishment order. I think that would have automatically put you on the list of creditors, but check on that. Either way, talk to your attorney about why she handled things this way—she’s your legal rep, after all.

Tax payments can be made through FIFA.

Look, if you actually had all the documentation in order like you claim, you could have just collected payment directly through the IRS.

Anthony Richardson91 said:Hi there.
I have a quick question... I just received a judgment regarding a debt, including interest totaling about $600. I’ll be settling this within a few days, but... once it's paid, what happens next? The company I originally took that loan from back in March—the one based out of $333—has actually gone out of business, so I don't even have a contact number to call. Since I'm currently abroad, I'll be handling the payment via online banking... but should I notify anyone once it's done, or...?

Maybe file an objection? You can mail one from anywhere in the States via certified mail—send three copies. Who actually owns the debt? If the original company was dissolved but a successor entity took over the debt, they’ll demand payment regardless of what you already paid the old one. It’s a total mess, and I wouldn't recommend paying a dime until you have concrete facts. Basically, file an objection until you know exactly who to pay. You can find templates online.
You could try reaching out to the law firm that drafted the decision or maybe a notary, though I doubt they'll actually give you anything.

hollowmason64 said:I have a bit of a theoretical question—what actually happens when an enforcement notice is issued to someone who has passed away, and how does the creditor handle receiving that notification?
I’m aware that legal heirs end up inheriting debts along with assets, but I’m curious about how this plays out in the real world. Especially when we're talking about relatively small amounts 🤷

In practice, you have to start with the probate hearing, and the executor needs to be present. If they don't show up, that's on them. They should probably spend more time reading the local news instead. 😉I'm basing this on the legal distinction between individuals and corporations. If a company goes into bankruptcy, the individual creditor is responsible for filing their claim. Whether or not an individual actually keeps up with the Federal Register isn't anyone else's problem. 😉
It’s pretty obvious that if everything follows standard procedure, a creditor can only go after the estimated value of the assets held by the individual who inherited them.

Hey everyone. Not sure if this fits here, but I could really use some advice. About a year ago, I got a call from Chase about an outstanding debt of roughly $167. Since I'm just a student and the only account I ever had there was a checking account I already closed, I have no idea where this came from. The lady on the phone was pretty intense, too. I finally went into the branch yesterday—honestly, I kept stalling for a year because I just didn't want to deal with it. The teller told me it’s from a checking account opened about two years ago. I don't even remember opening one, and there's zero reason for me to have it. I don't even have a debit card; I'm positive I never even picked one up. Long story short, she said they sent a formal demand letter to my address, but since I moved and am registered at a different place, I never saw it. Turns out, the whole debt is just accumulated monthly maintenance fees. The teller is calling me back today to give me the final number because she couldn't even find the exact amount in her system given how old it is. My main question is: when do I actually have to pay this off? And should I be worried about the police showing up with a warrant or having to deal with a courtroom? Thanks a bunch!

Daniel Martinez9 said:Who knows... they'll eventually file it, but when you actually get served depends on how fast they work with the local sheriff.

But what happens if I just go ahead and pay right now? Like, will they try to hit me with some extra interest for the time between now and then?

I mean, I'm definitely going to settle up, I actually meant to do it today, but I just got tied up with some other stuff 😁
...

hollowmason64 said:I have a bit of a theoretical question—what actually happens when an enforcement notice is issued to someone who has passed away, and how does the creditor handle receiving that notification?
I’m aware that legal heirs end up inheriting debts along with assets, but I’m curious about how this plays out in the real world. Especially when we're talking about relatively small amounts 🤷

1. First, you'll need to pull a death certificate from the local vital records office.
2. Then, you have to obtain a decree of distribution or some kind of probate ruling from the appropriate court.
3. After that, the creditor files for the enforcement of the judgment and submits those documents as proof—assuming, of course, that the heir has officially inherited assets.

Is that clear enough? 🙂

Hi there!
I have a question about my cell phone bill. I'm on a contract that isn't supposed to end until August 2014, but the thing is, I haven't paid a single bill since then—in fact, I don't even use that card or number anymore. I want to cancel the contract now, but I'm wondering if I'll be forced to pay those three old bills from back in August, September, and October of 2012. Can I just claim they're past the statute of limitations, or am I stuck paying them even if there hasn't been any collections action yet?
Thanks in advance!

Maybe file an objection? You can send one via certified mail even from overseas—just make sure to send three copies. The real question is, who actually owns this debt now? If a corporation was dissolved but another firm took over their liabilities, they’ll demand payment to their own account regardless of what you already settled with the old one. It’s a total headache... I wouldn't recommend paying a dime until you have the facts straight. File that objection first so you know exactly who you're dealing with. You can find standard objection templates on sites like LegalZoom.
You could try calling the law firm that issued the judgment or maybe a notary, though I'm not sure if they'll actually be helpful...

To be honest, my finances were pretty tight six months ago, but things have turned around significantly since then, so... this is the first time I've dealt with something like this. I just paid through an attorney the same day the garnishment notice arrived. The lawyer who filed the paperwork withdrew it immediately once they got paid, so... maybe I didn't need to pay so fast, but I just wanted to avoid any potential legal runarounds...

Hey everyone.
Does anyone happen to know if the statute of limitations still applies if the debtor passed away? I'm looking at a situation where a bank failed to collect on what they were owed back in the day—we're talking about a decade ago while the person was still alive. Does that clock still run?
Thanks in advance.

Rebecca James2 said:Hi there!
I have a question about my cell phone bill. I'm on a contract that isn't supposed to end until August 2014, but the thing is, I haven't paid a single bill since then—in fact, I don't even use that card or number anymore. I want to cancel the contract now, but I'm wondering if I'll be forced to pay those three old bills from back in August, September, and October of 2012. Can I just claim they're past the statute of limitations, or am I stuck paying them even if there hasn't been any collections action yet?
Thanks in advance!

First things first—if you're thinking about canceling, then I say go for it! These days, the way they calculate penalties has changed quite a bit; it’s usually either the remaining installments or just the discount you originally received for being on a plan, so it might actually be worth your while. As for the unpaid bills, I’d venture to guess that a collections process has probably already been kicked off—maybe even a few months ago—and it might just be sitting with a local legal office waiting to be processed, so you could hear something very soon. Honestly, it's pretty rare for them to let things just expire without action. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably just pay those three months today (plus interest, of course). That way, you avoid those extra collection fees that have likely already piled up, even if you haven't seen the official notice yet. In any case, I think paying all three months plus interest right away is probably the smartest move.

John Clark6 said:First things first—if you're thinking about canceling, then I say go for it! These days, the way they calculate penalties has changed quite a bit; it’s usually either the remaining installments or just the discount you originally received for being on a plan, so it might actually be worth your while. As for the unpaid bills, I’d venture to guess that a collections process has probably already been kicked off—maybe even a few months ago—and it might just be sitting with a local legal office waiting to be processed, so you could hear something very soon. Honestly, it's pretty rare for them to let things just expire without action. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably just pay those three months today (plus interest, of course). That way, you avoid those extra collection fees that have likely already piled up, even if you haven't seen the official notice yet. In any case, I think paying all three months plus interest right away is probably the smartest move.

Thanks for the advice. One thing though: if I pay the full amount before the official court order or collection notice hits my door, am I still on the hook for the legal fees they used to draft the paperwork? 🤷

P.S. Another question—once a judgment becomes final, does interest keep piling up from that day forward, or is everything I owe clearly listed on the final settlement notice?

You might have already come across this—if you go back through the previous posts, I think you'll find it mentioned there...

John Clark6 said:1. First, you'll need to pull a death certificate from the local vital records office.
2. Then, you have to obtain a decree of distribution or some kind of probate ruling from the appropriate court.
3. After that, the creditor files for the enforcement of the judgment and submits those documents as proof—assuming, of course, that the heir has officially inherited assets.

Is that clear enough? 🙂

is 😁
but I have one more quick question—from the moment the notice is sent to the creditor until they actually get their hands on all that paperwork, does everything just stay on hold?

Is everything still available? I was wondering about the pricing—what are we looking at? And how long does the whole thing usually take?

Hey there, got a question I'm hoping someone can clear up for me.

If someone gets hit with a judgment here in the States, can the creditor actually go after assets or pull funds from a bank account located in another EU country?

Daniel Martinez9 said:That’s why people keep copies of receipts for at least 10 years... on December 31, 2013, I’m tossing everything paid before January 1, 2003—so I’m holding onto 11 years of valid receipts... it's a massive pile. Nowadays, since I use online banking, I always pull an e-statement and attach it to my records... so now it's an even bigger pile... maybe I'll get hit with a garnishment eventually.
Technically, there's no need to notify anyone except the creditor, provided you file a formal dispute.
Otherwise, LegalZoom is one of those sites where you can roughly draft a dispute for free, though you have to register and provide your Social Security number.

Anyway, that's not the point. There's a more important thing I want to cover. I didn't want to bring it up before, but since the media is already running a shallow version of this story, there's no sense in keeping it to myself.

Basically, I mentioned a while ago that people can actually rid themselves of collections quite easily, but I hesitated because the methods involved could be considered a serious abuse of the legal system.

This is about fighting collections that are in the thousands of dollars (we aren't counting small change here).
First off, this whole approach requires someone you trust implicitly. Without that, nothing works. Second, this won't work if a collection action has already been officially filed.

Let's get to it. You get a notice for an amount >$16667 and you know you'll never be able to pay it. What do you do? Filing a formal dispute is the first step to neutralizing the collection. That buys you at least a year or a year and a half. Second, you open a protected bank account at a local FIFA branch. Third, you sort out ownership of your belongings and property. If you have minor children, it's best to transfer assets to them—provided they aren't addicts... 😉 Basically, transfer all real estate and assets to someone you trust. If you're married, a divorce becomes inevitable and necessary. If you have kids, you'll naturally agree to set child support at the maximum allowable rate. The goal is to reach a state where you practically own nothing—not even the clothes on your back—so any creditor trying to collect finds absolutely nothing to grab.
And here’s the most important part:
The moment you file an objection, you sign a loan agreement with a default clause involving someone you trust—let's say $100000 (believe me, there are plenty of people out there, and you can set this up right at the same notary where you filed your objection... they won't mind the extra income) with an 8-day repayment window and an 8.99% annual interest rate, just to be aggressive. 😉
Once those 8 days pass, your trusted person files a judgment against you for $100000 against your cash assets using a valid legal instrument 😉. Naturally, when that judgment hits your mailbox, you simply file an objection to it as well. It becomes legally binding, and you can head straight to the bank to freeze your own account.
After that, any other collections hitting you will just sit behind yours. Since your debt is practically uncollectible thanks to our "fair and just" laws, none of those subsequent collectors will be able to touch anything.

But... if you want to be truly ruthless, don't send the judgment for collection immediately...

People on forums have mentioned assumption of debt agreements... you could simply sign a contract taking responsibility for all debts owed by other individuals, provided you don't cause them harm (be careful with this one and do your homework, because for example, if you assume responsibility for utility bills, companies like ConEd might shut off the power after three missed payments)

Actually, you don't even need to research that. Just take out a personal loan for the maximum amount possible (roughly $67), withdraw the cash, and hide it under a mattress or give it to your trusted person to put in a high-yield savings account...
Only then do you trigger the judgment... as for the bank... whatever, let them try to collect. 🙂

The fallout: You'll never be able to use credit cards again... and of course, if this trusted person is your life partner (which is usually the case), you'll have to treat them like royalty for the rest of your life... because everything you own now belongs to them, while they spend a third of your income pampering you... 😉

The catch? The abuse of rights lies in the fact that you signed a sham loan agreement with no actual money changing hands... so yes, expect some lawsuits. But the prosecutor would have to prove the contract was fake, which is incredibly difficult to prove.

I'm not entirely certain, but isn't there no statute of limitations once they actually initiate the seizure process? Otherwise, one could just borrow cash from friends, hop a flight to some exotic country, and return ten years later with a smile because the debt has expired—meaning you don't owe them a single cent. :/

But that’s not even why I started this thread—I actually got hit with a garnishment myself. 🙂 Since I rarely commit traffic violations, this caught me completely off guard (plus, I didn't receive any official notice). I went down to Goldman Sachs, and they told me the garnishment stems from a 2009 order—likely a fine from 2007 or earlier that I appealed, leading to that 2009 ruling. As far as I know, that should have timed out by now—I distinctly remember paying something and faxing over a receipt, and I think they even took money from my tax refund back then—but I moved in the meantime, and those papers are lost in the shuffle. They've already pulled the funds, so I'm not sure if it's even worth fighting.

The fine was $167 plus $37 in court costs, totaling $203. What really confuses me, though, is something else—I have a JPMorgan Chase account from which they took $130 (even though there was more than that in there), yet the account is still listed as frozen. On top of that $130, they also grabbed $8.25 in fees and sent it to Goldman Sachs. I also have an account at a local bank in Miami (with USD, EUR, and various other balances)—they took $38 from one, then moved 11.73 EUR from the Euro account, converted it to dollars, and snatched it; then they took about 5 bucks from the USD side, followed by a few more small withdrawals of around 200 cents here and there—$25, then $27, then $14...

Why go through the hassle of taking it ten different times when they could just take it all at once?

Goldman Sachs collected $8.25 from the JPMorgan Chase account for their services, and from the Miami bank, they took $27 + $25 for their fees—making it a total of $60 in "forced collection fees."

feraljackal2 said:I'm not entirely certain, but isn't there no statute of limitations once they actually initiate the seizure process? Otherwise, one could just borrow cash from friends, hop a flight to some exotic country, and return ten years later with a smile because the debt has expired—meaning you don't owe them a single cent. :/

But that’s not even why I started this thread—I actually got hit with a garnishment myself. 🙂 Since I rarely commit traffic violations, this caught me completely off guard (plus, I didn't receive any official notice). I went down to Goldman Sachs, and they told me the garnishment stems from a 2009 order—likely a fine from 2007 or earlier that I appealed, leading to that 2009 ruling. As far as I know, that should have timed out by now—I distinctly remember paying something and faxing over a receipt, and I think they even took money from my tax refund back then—but I moved in the meantime, and those papers are lost in the shuffle. They've already pulled the funds, so I'm not sure if it's even worth fighting.

The fine was $167 plus $37 in court costs, totaling $203. What really confuses me, though, is something else—I have a JPMorgan Chase account from which they took $130 (even though there was more than that in there), yet the account is still listed as frozen. On top of that $130, they also grabbed $8.25 in fees and sent it to Goldman Sachs. I also have an account at a local bank in Miami (with USD, EUR, and various other balances)—they took $38 from one, then moved 11.73 EUR from the Euro account, converted it to dollars, and snatched it; then they took about 5 bucks from the USD side, followed by a few more small withdrawals of around 200 cents here and there—$25, then $27, then $14...

Why go through the hassle of taking it ten different times when they could just take it all at once?

Goldman Sachs collected $8.25 from the JPMorgan Chase account for their services, and from the Miami bank, they took $27 + $25 for their fees—making it a total of $60 in "forced collection fees."

First off, I have no idea what you're even talking about. My post was strictly about people facing massive wage garnishments and repayment plans they can never actually fulfill, and how to navigate their way out of that mess. You completely missed the point of what I was saying.

Since you learned how the whole bankruptcy system actually works the hard way, I have to ask: what’s the verdict? What’s your take on it all? You’re one of the lucky ones who got off easy, as grim as that sounds. By my math, they only took about... $500 You didn't account for the interest on the amount. $203 Since 2007. 😉
Now you're going to have to pay JPMorgan Chase just to get your account unfrozen. 😉
I hope you’re enjoying how this rule of law is working out for you.

Honestly, looking at what you wrote—which isn't much—I’d say you have no one to blame but yourself. You didn't provide a single relevant detail. When was the garnishment triggered? When was the order issued? When did you file the appeal, and when did you get a response? If there hasn't been a response, why not? Nobody else can pull that info except you. Sure, it might cost you some legwork to track it down, but you brought this on yourself.
Since you don't even know what happened yourself, why would you expect anyone else to give you anything useful?
I've got my own theory on what went down, but that's just a theory... 😉

Ryan Lee2 said:Hey everyone.
Does anyone happen to know if the statute of limitations still applies if the debtor passed away? I'm looking at a situation where a bank failed to collect on what they were owed back in the day—we're talking about a decade ago while the person was still alive. Does that clock still run?
Thanks in advance.

Once the debtor dies, it's over. If the bank didn't collect the debt while they had the chance, they're out of luck. If they had a lien on the property, they can move to seize it. Immediate family gets first dibs on buying out the property for the amount of the debt. There’s more to it, but that’s the gist.

Dennis Long13 said:Hey there, got a question I'm hoping someone can clear up for me.

If someone gets hit with a judgment here in the States, can the creditor actually go after assets or pull funds from a bank account located in another EU country?

The answer is yes, but only if it happens within the US. 🙂
For example: credit unions that aren't even registered for business here still manage to seize people's assets in America... personally, I think the lawyers are more to blame than the courts. 😉

Otherwise, there isn't some international agency out there that’s just going to recognize a local US court order or a notary's ruling.

Daniel Martinez9 said:First off, I have no idea what you're even talking about. My post was strictly about people facing massive wage garnishments and repayment plans they can never actually fulfill, and how to navigate their way out of that mess. You completely missed the point of what I was saying.

Since you learned how the whole bankruptcy system actually works the hard way, I have to ask: what’s the verdict? What’s your take on it all? You’re one of the lucky ones who got off easy, as grim as that sounds. By my math, they only took about... $500 You didn't account for the interest on the amount. $203 Since 2007. 😉
Now you're going to have to pay JPMorgan Chase just to get your account unfrozen. 😉
I hope you’re enjoying how this rule of law is working out for you.

Honestly, looking at what you wrote—which isn't much—I’d say you have no one to blame but yourself. You didn't provide a single relevant detail. When was the garnishment triggered? When was the order issued? When did you file the appeal, and when did you get a response? If there hasn't been a response, why not? Nobody else can pull that info except you. Sure, it might cost you some legwork to track it down, but you brought this on yourself.
Since you don't even know what happened yourself, why would you expect anyone else to give you anything useful?
I've got my own theory on what went down, but that's just a theory... 😉

I went down to Goldman Sachs and they told me my debt was $203 (if I remember correctly, maybe $500 plus $110 for a seatbelt fine and court costs). They said if I just paid it into my account, they'd pull the funds and everything would be settled. They also mentioned there's no interest on traffic fines. They told me I could go to room 200 to request a printout of the judgment, but I’ve already accepted it—I'll just pay. If they had sent the notice to my house, I would have paid it the same day and avoided this whole mess.

The real issue is the service fees being tacked on for this forced collection process. In fact, they didn't just take $203; they took $120. Then they hit me with $13, then $20... and so on. They kept charging these "collection fees" in increments of $80, $70, $25... and so on.

And regarding your advice—I told him he needs to think long and hard before proceeding, because (from what I understand) once a collection action starts, the statute of limitations doesn't save you anymore. It’s hard enough to predict where you'll be in five years, let alone twenty or fifty.