Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina
creditors seizing property
In NC, if a judgement is taking out on someone, can they come into your house and take personal items due to credit card debt? What do you do if a collection agency will not accept a payment offer? This agency told me that I could not file bankruptcy and I could not get help from a counseling agency because the accout was charged off and it was too late to do either of these? What are my options?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: creditors seizing property
They can have the Sheriff execute on your property. If they want to execute, they will first have to send you a Notice of Rights to exemptions which you have 20 days to answer. It is extremely important to fill out the Notice of Rights and file it with the Clerk of Court, or you may lose all the exemptions you have.
Also you should not be taking legal advice from a collection agency. If you want to know about bankruptcy, consult with a bankruptcy attorney.
Finally, for anyone who is reading this, if they got a judgment against you, that means they filed a lawsuit and you either lost in court or didn't respond meaning they were able to get a default judgment. For those people who are apt to ignore the lawsuit, I would strongly suggest consulting with an attorney before you just allow a creditor to get a default judgment. Perhaps, there is a statute of limitations problem, perhaps the Creditor has violated the Fair Debt Collection Act, or perhaps the attorney can help you negotiate a payment plan.
- Jeff