Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

Something is fishy here. Creditors do not make phone calls to debtors giving them a heads up that a judgment has been entered and that the creditor is going to garnish bank accounts. What a creditor does is serve the notice on the bank if they have a judgment and freeze your account. No notice is given because you would already have had notice of the lawsuit.

Second, if your mother is not a co-signer or co-borrower, then tell me how a creditor who sues you and gets a judgment can levy on your mother's bank account or place anything on her credit that is derogatory? That would be a blatant violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act so I would like to see them do that because your mother could sue the pants off them.

And no, what they did was unlawful because a creditor cannot threaten to take any action under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act that cannot be lawfully taken.

The creditor is lying. If a judgment was entered against you in CA and you have lived in GA, how can that be? Lawsuits do not occur in secret. You (or someone) has to be served wikth a copy of the complaint. Have you pulled your credit report? Is there any judgments listed on it? Assuming that a judgment was entered in CA ,what county? Many CA counties have access to the records online so this can easily be checked. Failing that, you can call the county and see if a judgment was entered in CA as claimed.

Judgments get bigger with interest so I am not surprised that the balance has doubled - court costs and attorneys fees, if allowed, and pre-judgment interest are all included too.

What I would do is hire me or someone else to write a debt dispute letter to this place and dispute the information. However, you are unemployed so money is understandably tight. Perhaps your attorney friend will do it for you. If not, there are plenty of free samples of debt dispute letters floating around the internet.

You have to dispute the debt and advise the debt collector to refrain from calling your relatives. you should point out that the debt collector has committed several violations of ,law (study the fair credit reporting act so you can point out the statutes the collector has violated). Advise them that you are taking note and if any further violations occur you will report to your lawyer. And advise them that you dispute the debt and that you demand verification thereof and if a judgment was entered in CA then you want the particulars (county where entered, case number and a copy of the judgment). Send the letter via certified mail, return receipt requested.

I don't think you will hear from the collector again but Google Cogent & scam ... they have engaged in similar tactics with others. They seem to collect medical debts though. Are you sure this is for a loan???

If you are having more problems or want a lawyer to dispute the debt for you, I can do that for a reasonable fee. Please email me at [email protected] if interested.