There is no judgement on my credit report and the original judgement was in 2005 and I have not received any letters from them stating that ...

Question

There is no judgement on my credit report and the original judgement was in 2005 and I have not received any letters from them stating that they were going to take out any money from my check. My employer got a letter and just started taking money out of my check for the garnishment.

Answer

As you were told in the other post, your credit report has nothing to do with the issue. You have a judgment against you. The creditor is not taking steps to collect. That is how it works. They don't have to send you a letter, and your employer likely received a Court Order, not a letter.

Answer

And your question is? This is legal. Credit reports and judgments are two different things. If the credit bureau does not report this, its a boon to you so I would not make an issue of it. Judgments can stay on your credit report for 7 years after the date of entry. Credit bureaus may take a judgment off within 6 years and 9 months if you disputed it so maybe that is the explanation.

Just because a judgment is no longer reported on your credit does not mean that it goes away. Judgments last forever. They can be revived which means that if revived, they can be enforced by garnishing your wages or liening any property or bank accounts.

Rather than allow the garnishment, I would get a consult with an attoney. If you have a lot of debts, then maybe you want a bankruptcy attorney. If bankruptcy is not an option, then you might want to get an attorney who does defense of garnishments who can review the garnishment and see if there are any legal grounds to challenge it and see if the judgment was properly revived. You have to be served with the notice of garnishment, so perhaps you did not receive it yet.

If the garnishment is proper, then you might want to see if the debt can be resolved. The judgment will not go away and it would be better to settle than pay out the full amount. In such case, I would find out what the balance is on the judgment today, realizing that interest has accrued on the judgment, so it will be bigger. Once you know the number, see if the law firm or creditor will accept 50% to settle this debt. If so and if you have the funds, get a written settlement letter and get them to agree to mark the judgment as satisifed onced you pay, If they want more, see if you can use what you have as a down payment and pay the balanced over 1-6 months. If they still want more and will not let you pay out, keep saving until you have the funds.

If this is too confusing, I can help with the debt resolution for a reasonable fee. Please contact me at [email protected]/* */ if interested.

Answer

As you were told in the other thread all this is legal. You'll either need to pay (or settle) or go bankrupt. They don't warn you before a garnishment.