Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

Given that many such places charge a large interest rate, and have late fees as well, it is very possible that her balance is growing. There is no way without seeing all the paperwork to know if the math is even close to correct and she should not sign anything without talking to a lawyer, as she may make things worse, and may not be using legal tools she has to help herself.

I agree with Attorney Ashman. However, you indicate that your daughter has been late. This is part of her problem. She should never buy furniture on credit. And being late with a payment triggers increasing interest and late fees. you also do not indicate how long she has been paying $180 a month. The payments are going mostly to interest at the beginning and if she has been late or missed then she has interest on top of interest and has not paid very much principal.

Is Farmer's a finance place as well as furniture sales place? In other words are they the lender as well as the seller? Just wondering. Why would they make her sign another agreement? That is strange unless there is some problem with the first agreement or unless either of the parties are desiring to substitute the new agreement with different terms for the prior one. Since its the lender who wants this it is they who have changed the terms so if I were your daughter, I would take the new and old agreements to an attorney and pay the attorney to review and advise.

Really what she ought to do is if she can do so (she probably can't because her credit may be bad with the late/missed pays) is get a low interest loan from a credit union and pay off Farmers and then repay the loan.

You ask if they can get a lien. If the purchase of the goods was financed, there may already be a lien on the items. If so (there would be a financing statement filed called a UCC 1) then the lender has a security interest and if no payments are made the lender can come and get the furniture. They can also sue for the balance owed.

If there is no security interest, then the lender has to sue and recover a judgment. If the lender gets a money judgment, it can be enforced through wage garnishment (if your daughter works in Georgia), by levying on her bank account and by taking any other assets she owns free and clear. I don't know if the lender can recover $6,000 but your daughter needs to read the contract. If properly drafted (and I am sure it was done by a lawyer) then the contract will include a clause that allows it to recover all costs of collection and attorneys' fees as well as pre-judgment interest. Does all of that add up to $6000?

Finally, your daughter needs to read the contract to see what it says about default. If she is current on her payments, then I do not understand on what basis the lender could sue or repossess the property. If she is delinquent, then she is obviously in default.

Your daughter, after she gets out of this mess, needs to take a class in financial responsibility. Buying the furniture on credit was bad but the late pays are worse as she is killing her credit.