Credit Card Judgment - What Is This & What Does It Mean?

What is a Judgment?

 

When you first get a credit card in the fine print you give that company permission to sue you should you default or stop paying your monthly bill. The credit card company will actually sell your debt to a collection agency but the right to sue you will still hold true.

 

If your account is not settled, you will be sued! You SHOULD be notified of this action and given plenty of opportunity to avoid the lawsuit, however some over zealous collection attorneys may not put a priority on notifying you. Either way you are being sued, often times individuals will not show up and this makes the situation much worse!

 

If you don't show up, which is hard to do if you haven't been notified, then you are in trouble! You will be given an amount of time to repay this debt, typcially 30 days but will vary from state to state. After that time the lender will be able to; garnish wages, place a lien on your property or home ... the actions will depend upon what state you reside in but basically the lender is given every opportunity and ability to collect their debt from you.

 

What's worse is they are given a full 10 years to collect this debt! And an equally bad blow is you get a 'judgment' mark on your credit report! This will drastically lower a credit score and make it next to impossible to get credit. If you are able to get credit you will have to pay through the nose in fees and interest rates - assuming you can get approved!

 

If you can avoid a judgment - do it at all costs!!