Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

What do you want to do here? Is this your only debt? Depending on your assets, I would not file bankruptcy if this is your only debt. How long has it been since you last made a payment of any kind on the debt? The statute of limitations in GA for credit card debt is 6 years. If it has been 6 years or less since you made a payment the lawsuit is timely. Chances are it is; I have had very few clients get past the statute of limitations but if you are one of them then you need to pay a lawyer to draft an answer for you and raise the defense.

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Who owns this debt now? The original creditor or a junk debt buyer? If a junk debt buyer has there been more than one and is any documentation attached to the complaint? If not (which is typical for small claims), you might have a real party in interest defense but filing an answer would require you to attend the hearing and present your defense. You would still have to show up even if you had a lawyer if you wished to defend. You only have 30 days to file an answer (really 45 as you get a 15-day grace period) but do not delay if this is what you wish to do.

Who is the law firm representing them? I have dealt with most of the big ones before. If you have approximately $1400, I can resolve this debt for you if you wish to settle plus my fee.

Failing that can you do monthly payments of at least $100? If so, any payment will be on the full amount of the debt but you can get a written agreement (called a consent agreement) whereby the creditor will not garnish your wages for so long as you make payments.

You say you get disability. How do you get paid? Paper check or direct deposit? Have ONLY our disability go into a bank account. That cannot be garnished if its SSDI. How much do you earn from your employment? How often do you get paid. GA allows up to 25% maximum of your pay to be garnished. But if you make less than $217.50 a week, then there cannot be an garnishment at all. If you make over $290 a week then the whole thing can be garnished but if its in between then only the difference between what you earn and $217.50 can be garnished. In determining the garnishment amount, you have to deduct from your pay required deductions like for federal and state taxes, FICA, etc. Here is a link to a handy federal chart: http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs30.pdf

If you need help, send me a paystub.

If you are totally immune from garnishment and have no assets owned free and clear solely in your name, you are judgment proof. In such case, the creditor cannot do much to you and I would not make any repayment agreement. Instead, I would start saving money with an eye towards settling this debt for $1300 - $2000 roughly depending on how big the debt has become by the time you are ready to settle. Judgments do earn interest which accrues daily so it behooves you to get this resolved as quickly as possible.

If you have some risk, then I would make a repayment arrangement but first figure out what the garnishment amount would be and make a deal for less than the garnishment amount. If the garnishment amount is less than $100 a month, it might be wiser just to let the creditor garnish.

There are lots of variables and I do not know all the facts so do not take all of this as the gospel. Different facts could change my opinion as to what you should do. If you would like to discuss this in more detail, please email me at [email protected]. Discussions purely by email are free.