Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Maryland

Re: Avoiding judgement trial

The best way to start is to call the attorney who filed the action in District Court. Tell him/her that you are interested in settling the matter and tell him/her how much you are willing to pay. Remember that if you are not paying it in a single payment within the next couple of weeks, you should know how long you are going to take to pay, whether you are offering to pay the debt and the attorney's fees, what interest rate you are offering to pay (10% is what they would get on the judgment if there is not already an interest rate attached to the debt). Don't expect the creditor to accept an offer of 1/2 the amount over a period of years for an interest rate of less than 10%. You should probably offer to pay at least 75% of the original debt if you are paying it off all at once and closer to 90% if you are paying over a year or two.

You should also expect that they will come back with a counter offer (e.g., you offer to pay $1800 and they offer to accept $2040 but waive the fees) so you may want to make your first offer lower than you would be happy with (e.g. $1650).

Best of luck with your negotiations.