Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

The next step is that the attorney will review the form and determine if anything that you have can be seized and sold. If so, a writ of execution will be issued, the sheriff will take your property and sell it. Or you will receive a note from the sheriff indicating that he will take your property unless something is worked out with the creditor. The only other correspondence you might get from the attorney is either questions (called interrogatories) in aid of execution or a post-judgment collection letter.

If you do not have anything that can be taken, then nothing will happen. The judgment will just sit there and get bigger.

The exemption papers are good for 90 days only, so if anything will happen it will be in the next 90 days. After the 90-day period expires, the creditor will have to again send papers to you if they want to execute. Usually, the creditor might try again next year. It would be very unusual for the creditor to do it again after the first 90-day period expires.

If you have money in the bank, get it out of there. They will freeze your accounts if you keep much more than $100 in there. If you have not done so, it would be good to have a small account at a local bank located 25-50 miles from your home, at an online bank, a credit union or if you are near the border, in the adjoining state.

The debt does need to be resolved. You can make payments at any time directly to the clerk of court. If you do this, make sure you pay enough to satisfy the interest plus something for the principal. Do this monthly until the balance is paid in full. When you have it paid off, the clerk will mark the judgment satisfied.

If you cannot afford this, then save up your money. When you have approximately 50% of the judgment saved up (get an updated balance from the clerk of court where the judgment was enterd), offer to pay that in a lump sum to the creditor. They may not accept - some creditors want 60%-80% of any judgments. If they give you a low enough number, see if they will let you make a down payment of what you have saved up and the balance in 1-6 pays. If the amount they want is still too high, keep saving and see what happens when yu have 65% of the balance saved.

Make sure that you get any settlement terms IN WRITING before you pay any money. Once the settlement amount is paid, get the creditor to mark the judgment as satisfied. This is very important. Otherwise, anyone who views your credit (like if you are applying for a loan of some type) will not know that the judgment has been paid.