Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

Ok. If there is a judgment entered then this is what you need. Praecipe is just a fancy word directing the court prothonotary (the name for the civil court clerk) to do something. If a judgment has not been entered yet and a lawsuit is still pending, then once a matter is resolved, the creditor will file a praecipe or direction to the clerk telling him or her to mark the lawsuit as settled\, discontinued or ended. Once judgment has been entered, its a different thing. Instead, the creditor must file a praecipe or direction to the clerk to have the judgment marked as satisfied.

But before we get there, this is what you need to do. If you and the creditor have agreed to settlement terms, then you get the creditor to send you a letter memorializing that agreement. It should indicate what is at issue, how much is owed, the settlement amount, the date by which the payment or payments are to be received, who the check is to be made out to (creditor or law firm) and a physical address where payments are to be sent. If this is a settlement agreement to be paid over time, it also states that the creditor will not pursue further collection activity for so long as all payments are being made timely.

Once you get the letter, you then get a cashier's check or money order for the payments. make a copy. You then send the payment with a copy of the settlement letter to the physical address by UPS or FedEx. Do not send by certified mail! It may or may not be delivered and at least with UPS/FedEx you will get a delivery receipt. Print out the delivery receipt so you have proof the payment was received. Send it on time so that the money is received on or before the due date.

30 days after your last payment is sent (if this is in multi-parts), you contact the creditor and ask that they file either the praecipe to dismiss or the satisfaction of judgment. Some creditors will prepare and send to you for filing. If that happens, then you file it at your courthouse; it costs about $10 to file. If the creditor files, ask them to send you a file-stamped copy. Some creditors do - some do not. If they just send to the court, then follow up at the court to make sure the thing was filed and get a file-stamped copy. Keep the copy forever as you may need it.

If you have any questions or need further help, please email me at [email protected].