Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New York

Credit card debt is unsecured and cannot be used to place liens. However, if they have taken you to court, they can take measures to collect a judgment in their favor. Your house has certain protections in NY- but they can easily freeze a bank account and/or garnish wages from your employer until they are paid. Depending on the amount in question, you have options as to how to handle this (they range from getting a judgment in YOUR favor to bankruptcy). I seriously suggest you do not default- or, if you already defaulted, that you try to re-open the case (this can be difficult, so do not depend on this). The court system in NYC has great volunteer attorney programs that help people fight consumer collections with valid defenses. Many many people have valid defenses but do not know they have them, or they get frightened by the discovery process (which the Credit card companies use to try to get you to default). See the volunteer attorneys or get an attorney to fight this if at all possible.