Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

It depends on what you have. If you did not file exemptions, that means they are waived and anything you own free and clear will be up for grabs for the next 90 days.

If you have a bank account in your name, take the money out of it now. They will levy (freeze) your bank account unless you only get exempt income (like Social Security). If you do have exempt income, then you need to put the bank on notice now as well as the creditor so that your bank account is not frozen.

If you do not have exempt income, look into opening an online or out of state bank account or else get an account at a very small community bank that is 25-50 miles from your home. If you have a joint account, say with your spouse, take your name off of there although your pay can still be deposited into the account.

If you have a car, how much is it worth and is it owned free and clear? If you still owe money to the finance company, you are probably ok. If you own land, is it owned free and clear? Owned by you and your spouse? If owned by you and your spouse, you are ok as the land cannot be seized and sold. The creditor can, however, grab any equity when you go to sell the house, assuming there is equity from the sale. If you own the land jointly with another, you are probably ok. It will be more trouble to sell your half of the land and it is unlikely that someone would only buy half of the property.

There is no wage garnishment in NC.

It is unlikely that personal possessions (computers, tvs and such) will bring in very much at a sale. Basically, your creditors want money not your things, but I have seen of one case where the creditor actually moved to sell my client's belongings although the creditor in that case was bank not a credit card company and the client was not in NC. I still do not want to give you any guarantees that the creditor cannot try to take your stuff as I don't know who the creditor is, how much is owed or your circumstances.

You need to figure out how you are going to get this debt resolved. I would start saving up extra money. Most creditors on average will settle for between 50% and 80% of the judgment. When you have at least 50% of whatever the judgment has grown to (it earns interest at a rate of 8% per year), I would try to resolve the debt. However, whether the creditor will accept 50% will depend on who the creditor is and the law firm. Some creditors want more; some creditors will let you pay in 1-6 installments and some will not. If they say no, see if you can use what you have saved as a down payment and see if you can pay the balance in installments. If they say no, keep saving until you hit the magic percentage where the creditor says yes.

Exemptions are good for 90 days. That means since you did not fill them out, look to see if they try and execute within the 90 day period after the time for filing the exemptions has expired. If they don't, well and good as the creditor will have to ask you to fill out the exemptions again if they want to try and execute on your property. If they do try to execute, then you will have to enter into some written agreement with the creditor whereby the creditor will agree not to execute on your property or levy your bank account provided that you make payments, usually 1% to 2% of the debt.

If there is no way that you can afford to pay the debt, talk to a bankruptcy attorney. Many attorneys give free consults and just because you get a consult does not mean that you need to file today. That way, the lawyer can go voer your debts and assets and tell you whether you need to file or no to protect your stuff.

If you want to more specifically discuss your assets and the judgment in confidence, I give free email consults. If you have the funds and want to resolve your debt, I can do that for a reasonable fee. Please contact me at [email protected] if interested.