Can You Negotiate Debt After a Judgment? Expert Attorney Tips

Getting hit with a debt collection judgment feels like game over—but it's not. In a recent episode of The Debt Hotline, former collection attorney Yale Levy explained why you can still negotiate even after a judge rules against you, though your options become more limited and expensive.

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You can always try to settle debt after judgment

"The quick and easy answer is yes, you can always try to settle the debt at any time throughout the process," Yale explains. However, timing dramatically impacts your negotiating power and the final settlement amount.

The harsh reality? Post-judgment settlements typically cost significantly more than pre-lawsuit negotiations. Where you might have settled for 30-40% of the original amount before being sued, expect to pay 60-80% or more after a judgment.

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Why post-judgment settlements cost more

Debt collectors invest considerable time, money, and resources pursuing lawsuits. Court costs, attorney fees, and administrative expenses all pile up throughout the litigation process. Once they obtain a judgment, collectors want to recoup these investments—meaning less favorable settlement terms for you. Yale notes:

"So much time and effort and court costs have been spent to get to that judgment, it is now going to be more expensive for the ordinary consumer to have that debt settled.”

This is why it’s better, in almost any case, to settle the debt before a judgment is entered by the court. In fact, the earlier you start negotiations, the better your chances will be of settling for less and avoiding additional court costs, attorney fees, and post judgment interest. Instead of paying more than you originally owed, you might find yourself settling for a percentage of the debt and literally saving thousands.

When negotiation becomes nearly impossible

Your leverage disappears almost entirely once collectors secure wage garnishment or bank levies. At that point, they're guaranteed payment and have little incentive to accept reduced settlements.

Wage garnishments can take up to 25% of your take-home pay in many states, while bank levies can drain your entire account depending on timing. These "involuntary payments" eliminate your control over the situation entirely.

What leverage do you still have?

Even with a judgment, collectors face uncertainties that create negotiation opportunities:

• Employment detection challenges. If you work for smaller, "off-the-grid" employers like local restaurants or small businesses, collectors may struggle to locate your workplace for garnishment.
• Asset discovery difficulties. Collectors can't garnish what they can't find. Limited assets or income sources may motivate them to accept partial payment rather than risk getting nothing.
• Collection costs. Ongoing collection efforts require time and money. Sometimes accepting a settlement beats chasing payments indefinitely.

Real-world settlement examples from The Debt Hotline

During the podcast, Yale discussed various settlement scenarios from actual listener questions. Kevin asked about settling a $13,000 Lending Club debt at 20 cents on the dollar, while Jessica dealt with a judgment from 2013 that had grown from $1,092 to $1,600 due to added fees and interest.

These real cases show how settlements with companies like Velocity Investments typically range from 60-80% of the original amount, though individual circumstances significantly impact final terms.

Let's consider an example.

Example: Frank had a $5,000 judgment against him from Midland Funding. He hadn't been working at a major company, so they couldn't find his employer for wage garnishment. Frank used SoloSettle to offer 70% ($3,500) as a lump sum payment. After some negotiation, Midland accepted $3,800 to close the case completely. Frank avoided ongoing collection efforts and saved $1,200.

Settle your debt for less with SoloSettle.

The key to successful post-judgment negotiations

Waiting until the day before garnishment starts severely limits your options. The earlier you communicate, the better your chances of reaching an acceptable settlement. Yale emhpasizes:

"The trick to settling your debts is one thing and one thing only. Communication. Whether through phone calls, hiring an attorney, using legal aid, or platforms like SoloSettle, you must initiate contact.”

How Solo helps with post-judgment debt

Solo offers multiple tools for post-judgment situations:

• SoloSettle provides a digital platform for negotiating directly with collectors without phone calls
• Document generation tools help create motions to set aside judgment or request payment plan modifications
• Educational resources explain your rights and options at every stage

For expert insights on negotiating debt after judgment and strategies for different collection scenarios, listen to the complete Debt Hotline episode on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Yale shares additional real-world examples and detailed advice for specific situations like wage garnishments, bank levies, and settlement timing strategies.

Transcript

George (00:02):

Howdy folks. I'm George, founder and CEO of Solo, the trusted platform that's helped hundreds of thousands of people respond to debt lawsuits and resolve debt. Join us weekly to hear from debt experts, debt collectors and debt survivors. No shame, no judgment to straight answers and a fresh start. All folks, this is George Simon, I'm founder of Solo and we are here with the debt hotline. I have my friend Yale Levy with us today. Yale, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Yale (00:47):

Yes. My name is Yale Levy. I was a collection attorney for 20 years. I owned a law firm based in Ohio that did work in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, and Maryland. I sold my practice at the end of 2023, thought I was retired for the rest of my life and then George contacted me, said hey, needed some help, and he hired me and before I knew it I had a job and I've been with Solo since September 15th, 2024. It's been a great time.

George (01:20):

Fantastic. We're very lucky to have you levy on the team here at Solo. He's an expert on debt collection, understands what consumers need to do, what collectors need to do to get that resolved. Today we're talking especially a little bit about can I negotiate my debt after a judgment? What's the quick answer on that? Can you negotiate a debt after there's a judgment on a lawsuit?

Yale (01:42):

The quick and easy answer is yes, you can always try to settle the debt at any time throughout the process. Unfortunately, the sooner you try to settle the debt, the better the deal you get. The later the process it goes, the harder and harder it becomes to settle that debt. Because so much time and effort and court costs have been spent to get to that judgment, it is now going to be more expensive for the ordinary consumer to have that debt settled for something that could have been settled for maybe half that amount if they did it earlier in the process.

George (02:17):

Right. Think as expert negotiators know, everything is a negotiation.

Yale (02:23):

Correct.

George (02:24):

Right. Even buying bread at the grocery store can be a negotiation if you really want to deal.

Yale (02:29):

The most difficult time to negotiate a debt after a judgment has been obtained is when they have a bank attachment or a wage garnishment already filed. So the collector or law form or lawyer that has the debt knows that they're going to get paid basically a hundred percent and in those instances it becomes very, very difficult to get them to take something less than the full balance because they've spent so much time trying to get to that spot and now it's going to come out of your paycheck or your bank account and they have really no incentive to take less.

George (03:10):

Yeah. So what is the incentive? What is the carrot that a consumer can give to a collector if there's already a judgment? What's the carrot they can give to get a deal done after a judgment? Again,

Yale (03:21):

If they haven't obtained it, will you walk or they haven't figured out where you bank? The carrot still is, would you rather have money now than maybe have it down the road? Some people you can't find where they work at. Some people you can't find where they bank at. So yes, there is a risk there that they won't be able to find where you work at or where you bank at, and they would want to take something rather than nothing. So if you work at someplace small like a pizza parlor or something that's kind of off the grid, it's a little bit more difficult for that law form or collection agency to find you. But if you work at a big company like Walmart, Joanne Fabrics target that report to all these bureaus, there's a good chance that they'll probably one day find where you work at and use that information to start a wage garnishment against you, which is a pretty life-changing event because a wage garnishment varies from state to state.

So I'm going to be generic here. I can't tell anybody about those specific states, but once a wage garnishment is filed, the creditor or the plaintiff gets to take up to 25% of your take home pay. So your ability making ends meet and now you're get hit by a wage garnishment and all of a sudden your $500 paycheck becomes three 50, not $500, and now you have to try to make ends meet with $150 less a pay bank attachments go the same way. No bank attachments. Sometimes you have money in the bank, sometimes you don't. It all comes down to timing and how lucky they are. So bank garnishments or bank attachments as they are called in Ohio is kind of a hit or miss. It depends when you hit. Guess what? If you hit a bank attachment or the bank at the end of the month before you pay your rent, before you pay your car payment, before you pay your mortgage, they might get a lot of money If it hits after that time, they might just get a little bit of money. So we call those things involuntary payments because instead of you being in control and being able to decide how much and when or at least come to an agreement with your collector about how much it went, that's so much more preferable than these surprise attachments or garnishments that takes money out your check without you knowing it and then you don't have any say in how much it's taken. They just take what they can.

George (06:04):

So that is the quick rundown on whether you can negotiate after you have a judgment on your debt. Short answer folks is yes. So we have the first question here. Coming up from Kevin, I'm going to go ahead and play this clip.

Guest #1: Kevin (06:23):

I have a two-part question regarding settling a debt during the lawsuit process and it's not my first time going through the process, but it's been a while so I'm aware of a few things. Currently, a firm in New York issuing on a $13,000 debt from Lending Club and I responded to the lawsuit back in January.

George (06:51):

That's the first bit there, right? So he is getting sued, $13,000 debt Lending Club being sued in New York.

Guest #1: Kevin (06:57):

I haven't heard back from them since and no changes online with the lawsuit. I live in New York, there's a three year statutory limit. Next year will be year three. My question is once they file the lawsuit, does that pause the statutory time? And if it does, how do you unpause it so we can go back to statutory time being counted because once three years goes by, I don't have to pay it in a sense. I can just say you're out of your time limit to sue me for it and two, if I do go ahead and choose to settle it, I was going to go in at 20 cents on the dollar. Reason being, I can always do a bankruptcy possibly, and also there's so many debts, they're going to be finding it harder to get blood from a stone. So that is my question, how do you calculate the statutory time and do you see an issue with going in at 20 cents on the dollar?

George (08:16):

Alrighty. So Kevin is wondering how statute of limitations is calculated in New York Also if you can get blood out of the stone, right? So how low can he settle? What do you think, Neil?

Yale (08:28):

Yeah, so boy, what a great in-depth question that Kevin had. So his first question is, once they file the lawsuit, does that stop the statute of limitations? Again, I am not a New York lawyer. I am a lawyer in Ohio, but hypothetically, since I cannot give legal advice to anyone here firing the lawsuit in most states, if not all states will pause the statute of limitations. So that means that the statute stops during the lawsuit period, and if judgment is granted, that statute of limitations is now off the table because a judgment has been granted adjudicating who is owed the money or if not owed the money. So unfortunately for Kevin, the statute's not up. Sounds like they filed timely according to the data that he provided us, and unfortunately that's the situation. His second question was, should I start at 20%? Again, it is everybody's ability to start wherever they want and creditors and law firms and collectors will look at your unique circumstances to determine what you can afford to pay.

There are some instances based on the hardship that Kevin has, depending on his age, his income and his assets, they might accept 20%, albeit unlikely to do. See a lot of velocity accounts on SoloSettle velocity is a good company. They're an honest debt buyer, but they do sue people frequently to collect money that is owed to them and debt that they have bought. Usually we see settlements in the 60 to 80% range. But again, every circumstance is unique. If you have very little assets, if you don't own a house, if you are over 70 and are no longer working and you're living on social security, they might be very willing to take 20% because that's probably better than they could get otherwise. So there's a lot of variables. Every situation is unique and stands on its own legs. I have seen some creditors and collectors in my day when I worked in collections even walk away from debt saying there's nothing we can get that does happen. But they do spend a lot of time looking at the debts that they want to sue on because for them it's an investment they have to pay the court costs upfront. So there is some skin in the game for these debt collectors, these law forms, these debt buyers, these creditors. So they really don't do everything. They just sue the things that think are collectible.

George (11:22):

Right, right. Filling in some details for you there, Kevin. My understanding of the statute of limitations in New York is six years, not three under the New York CPLR. Section two 13 is what we're seeing. Solo does have a great statute of limitations calculator you can use. So you can search statute of limitations calculator so low that'll come up on our blog. You can check that out and punch in your details there to see if the statute of limitations expired. And the question is are you actually a stone, right? You can't get blood out of a stone, are you actually a stone? And then we'll find out. I think the collector is suing you because they have some score like a collectability or solvency score that's indicating to them that you're likely have some ability to pay that debt. So 20 cents on the dollar isn't something that we see very often in the lawsuit because they've accrued so much cost. Getting to the lawsuit stage, you might have been able to get that before a lawsuit. Now the lawsuit's happened. What we see most often is like a 70% to 80% settlement after the lawsuits begin. So let's get onto the next question. We have one from Matthew. I'm going to pull up his question.

Guest #2:Matthew (12:48):

Hello. I'm currently in a lawsuit with Velocity Investments about $5,000. I'm in Kansas. I was served last October, filed my answer with solo suit right away, had a pretrial zoom court in January. Plaintiff asked for continuance to provide discovery and another pretrial zoom in March. Same thing kind of happened. They wanted more time. Judge said, okay, and now next court date. Is this coming Monday? Kind of wondering how to proceed from here. I still have not received ever any correspondence from Velocity Investments. I haven't received any of these documents in discovery or a settlement or anything. No phone call, email, mail, how aggressive I should be at this next trial date if they still don't have anything, it's been over six months. Should I just tell the judge that I think they've had enough time, should I even ask for the case to be dismissed at this point? I'm just kind of wondering how to proceed from here and how forward to be at this next court date since it seems like nothing's happening. Thank you.

George (14:18):

Alrighty, that's our question from Matthew. So he is wondering what to do in this lawsuit with velocity that is ongoing.

Yale (14:29):

Matthew really gave us a great detailed synopsis of what's going on. I'm surprised the judge been so lenient on the plaintiff's attorney. Again, I don't work in Kansas. I am not a Kansas lawyer, but what I would suggest hypothetically doing is he should say, your honor, this has been the third pretrial. I haven't received anything. It's been six months. I think it's time for the opposing party, the plaintiff, to either make a move or dismiss the case because they seem that they're dragging their feet and I keep coming to court missing my job and this isn't fair to me. So that's what I would do if I was Matthew again in court. You need to stand up for yourself and advocate for yourself. There's a couple of ways to do that. You could hire an attorney to do it. You could try to find legal aid to help you or you got to do it yourself.

So the best thing is Matthew went to all these court hearings. He didn't skip 'em, he did not show up. He came, let me just tell you all, if you don't show up for these hearings, there's a chance that the case could be rewarded against you because you failed to appeal. So it's very, very important to show up for these court hearings, these case management conferences or these pretrials because if you don't show up then the court says, boy, they're not interested in getting this settled or resolved and there could be a judgment awarded against you when you receive your notice in the mail. Sometimes it does say at the bottom, failure to appeal may result in a default judgment or a court judgment being warn or issued against you that is not there just for the head of it. They're giving you that notice to put you on notice that that could happen. So please go to court

George (16:25):

And Matthew worth pointing out, right, if you owe this debt, if you're aware of the debt, if you owe some portion of it, even if you get the case dismissed, right, you could ask the judge to dismiss it for lack of prosecution. Even if that occurs, you still will owe the debt, right? You'll essentially be like quote, winning on a technicality or getting the case tossed out of court. It's not exactly the same thing as winning or having the judge say that you don't owe the debt. So they could still try to collect on it outside of court if they wanted to. So the best option for you if you owe a portion of the debt is just to try to contact them and make a deal for settlement. Solo has a good relationship with Velocity and other collectors that collect for them, but you can always make an offer to them on SoloSettle, right?

You can see what kind of offer you can get on SoloSettle if you just punch in the information right now on solo suit.com/SoloSettle and you can make an offer and then start making payments on the debt that'll improve your credit score and really improve your financial position long term. Okay. Question here from Linda Soor. I received a judgment free eviction but all paperwork was sent to my last address. I didn't get a chance to go to court after the judgment was issued and I requested a hearing. First I have for you Linda Sotomayor is why don't you ask your cousin Donia Sotomayor Justice in the Supreme Court, right? Yeah, that name doesn't get around that much, but I'm glad that you're coming to the debt hotline to get some

Yale (18:05):

Tips. Yeah, so Linda, again, I don't know what state you're in. I cannot give you legal advice, but I'll tell you what I would do. If it was me, yes, I would contact the court, do a motion to set aside the judgment. One of the seminal things that has to happen for judgment to be issued is that the defendant needs to have due process and to get due process, they need to have notice of the court hearing so that they could show up, defend and appeal. If it was sent to an old address and you did not have knowledge of the complaint being filed against you, you need to stand up for yourself, you need to go to court and you need to have the court set aside that judgment. We do have a product called Solo Pilot on solo suit's website where you can use AI to help you create a motion to set aside judgment.

My recommendation to you is twofold. Just my recommendation I'm not giving you legal advice is one, be specific as possible about dates and times of where you lived and when so that they could see that service was made in an address where you didn't live at that time. And I would recommend that you attach an affidavit to the motion kind of swearing out that you lived at this address at this period of time, you moved on this date and that after that date you lived at this other address for this period of time and that you never received service. That affidavit would really help support your motion to set aside the judgment. I also request a hearing be held so that you could go to court, plead your case, explain to the judge that you never received that summons and complaint for the amount owed, and I think all those things would put you in a pretty good position to get that judgment vacated.

George (20:03):

Linda, it seems terribly convenient or at least ironic that you were served documents for eviction in the wrong place, right? It isn't for an eviction situation. Seems like whoever's trying to evict you would know where you live. So it seems kind of bizarre. You definitely do a motion to set aside judgment and just real quick looking at what that looks like. So it is basically just our AI document generation tool on solo. So you go to associate.com, click generator document kick started, and then you'll have to sign in, which is free to make an account and you can select from a very long list of here and you can choose the motion to set aside judgment and then you can continue and it's a very low cost option for generating awesome legal documents. People love using this tool all the time. Yale, go ahead.

Yale (21:03):

So Bruce has, I've been sent a notice for my second hearing. Can I request a continuance since me and my creditor are working out a settlement? Yes, you can do that yourself, Bruce, or you could ask the lawyer that you're working with that represents the creditor to do that for you. There's no need to go to a second hearing. If you guys are in the midst of settling or trying to settle that account, it'd be helpful I think to you to save time, not miss walk and try to get the case settled. I hope that helps. Bruce. This is another one, George, a video.

Guest #3 (21:43):

This is a video. They're trying to sue me for the remaining balance on a truck that was repossessed the court date tomorrow morning at eight o'clock in the morning. Paperwork guys can get a look at it. Maybe you can give me some advice on what to do, what not to do. Supposed to be at tomorrow morning, 8 45 in the morning.

Yale (22:11):

So I'm sorry the man didn't leave his name, but he said his truck was repossessed and his trial is the next day. Well guess what folks? Trial of the next day doesn't give you very much time to get a debt settled. What I tell people all the time, and I'm on the phone all day long is the trick to settling your debts is one thing and one thing only communication. You need to communicate with your collector either by picking up the phone, hiring a lawyer, using legal aid, using SoloSettle, using another service. But you need to communicate with them. They send you these things because they want to get your attention and they want to get these cases settled. It is better for them, it is better for you. Let me tell you, an 80% settlement, which means you pay 80% of the debt will be much better for you than having a judgment taken.

Having court costs and interest start accruing and in five years that a hundred dollars debt becomes $150 instead of 80. So you need to communicate, yes, you need to stay on top of it. You can't wait till the day before the trial to start asking for help. That doesn't work. You need to do it. As soon as you get the sums and complaints. You need to pick up the phone. You look at SoloSettle, you need to call a lawyer, you need to go find legal aid. You need to find a way to communicate with that collector or that law firm or that creditor. So you get these cases settled. They want to settle. You want to settle. Everybody wants the same thing and a quick settlement as quickly as possible. So again, there's so many ways to do it,

George (24:07):

But definitely the easiest way to settle is just go on little suit.com, click settle a debt, and you're going to be put right in here. You just give us some basic information about your lawsuit and then we'll help you get that thing settled real quick. We'll show you what kind of deal you can get with the collector and you can get this thing wrapped up very quickly. Oftentimes we get settlements done in just a few days. Sure.

Yale (24:30):

Kelsey Perry, to answer your question, do you suggest filing an answer with solo or doing the settlement offer with solo first? Well, ideally if you have time, you should try to get it settled before an answer is filed and resolved. But if you don't have time or you're running into a time crunch, you need to make sure you understand your state's time period for filing an answer after service. Solo suit has great resources and educational material to tell you based on your state how soon you have to file an answer. Some states are 20 days, some states are 30 days. In Ohio where I'm from, it's 28 days. So you have a specific static period of time to get an answer filed. If an answer is not filed, there's a chance a motion for def file judgment will be granted against you. So yes, if you have time, Kelsey, I would try to reach out via Soto settled or call them or hire an attorney and try to get the case settled before that answer date is due and if you could do a lump sum, they might be willing to even dismiss the case.

So time is of the essence. That's why I keep saying communication and acting quickly as possible when you get that summons and complaints

George (25:50):

And so you can use solo suit software to get that answer filed. Sometimes people can get it filed in just one day. Sometimes it takes up to eight or nine days to get the answer filed. So you don't want to cut things too close there. Also, you can also use a motion to extend time, which you can generate with the solo document generator and you could file that as well. Asking to push the deadline to respond back 30 days is a pretty standard request and oftentimes approved by the court. We have a question from somebody who wrote in to the debt hotline. This is a question from Jessica. So Jessica says, they said I owe $1,600 and some change. Originally the debt was only 1090 $2. I'm assuming once the judgment was made and decided, which was 2013 and decided in 15 I was incarcerated.

Okay, so looks like she was sued for a thousand dollars debt, which might not be very much for some people, but for other people that could be a huge amount and looks like about $500 was added in additional fees and at the time she had lost her lawsuit, it looks like she went to jail for some reason. Definitely wondering what happened that you went to jail and do that. All this stuff happened all at once on you. I just found out about this judgment on April 4th this year. I put in a motion that's about 10 years later, right? So 10 years later she finds out about it. I put in a motion to set aside judgment showed up to the proceedings supplemental on the 25th and it was a joke. The attorney representing the plaintiff, which is LV Envy continued because there was not a hearing to set aside default judgment and I only recommend that I file another motion to set a hearing for that. So it looks like she showed up to a hearing, but it wasn't necessarily talking about the motion to set aside.

Yale (27:47):

Jessica, what elaborate story. And I can't believe that you have a debt from 2013 that is still following you, but that can happen. They are able to revive and continue to renew judgments so that they do not go dormant. Yes, I think you need to keep advocating for yourself. You need to keep going to court you to keep filing motions. To have that judgment vacated. You need to explain to them, as I told Linda in the motion, explain to them in detail why service was bad, why it was out of statute, and if you could figure out how to do an affidavit back up those facts with an affidavit that explains one potato, two potato, why you say what you're saying is true, go to a bank and have it notarized attached to that motion. Do not give up. Do not quit. You need to continue to advocate for yourself, beat your own drum and do what you can to get this judgment vacated if you truly believe that they do not have proper service on you or that it was out of statute at the time that they sued you.

But we have lots of resources on solo suit.com. We have lots of blogs, articles, YouTube videos that should help you understand what you need to do. If you needed any additional help, I wish I could give you more information, but I haven't seen your paperwork. No, I'm totally clear on exactly what the issues were, but again, this is the problem. When a default judgment is issued against a consumer, a 1092 debt becomes $1,600. That's about almost a 50% increase of that debt amount. That's why it is everybody's best interest. Don't let them get their default judgment. Stand up for communicate, use solo, settle, use an attorney, find legal aid. Go to our website. We have lots of resources including document generation abilities to help you prepare the motions and other documents that you need to protect selves

George (29:58):

And that makes sense just to try to pay off this debt pretty quickly, right? If you have a $1,600 debt that's outstanding and it's 20 years old or thereabouts, at least 10 years old, you might be willing to take a pretty good settlement deal on this thing. You might be able to wrap it up for 1400, maybe a thousand, maybe even less, maybe $800 at this point. And maybe you could do that in three payments over three months, three payments of $400, then you could get this thing fully behind you and totally out of your way. Just saying she brings in a little over 2000 a month, so that's like 25,000 a year. Oftentimes we see that people get sued for about 80% of their monthly income is like an average number as you're being sued for about 80% of your average income. So that's probably a pretty significant thing and like to be in a pretty bad position, trying to pay that off in the lump sum, depending on what you have in the bank account essentially has less than $170 left over after bills. The collector might very well take a monthly payment of a hundred dollars on the debt in this position, which would get you paid off. And when they do that, they'll usually stay interested. It's usually a required term that they stay the interest. Yeah. Do you know if the collector will usually stay the interest on a post-judgment settlement?

Yale (31:36):

Yeah, it depends on the client, on the law form that has sued her. I see she has no assets and she looks like she has pretty low income. I think she's doing the right thing. Jessica, keep up the hard work, keep going to court, keep getting the attorneys to come to court that every time they do that you get a little bit closer to maybe getting out of this, but it's going to be a long road to hoe

George (32:02):

Jessica. Yeah, further thoughts. You filed a motion set of that judgment, but it's 10 years after the fact. A court probably isn't going to accept the set aside motion to set aside judgment no matter, almost like no matter what the reason after 10 years, so that's not likely to happen. And then as far as the commotion at the court, it seems like you're pretty bothered with how the hearings are proceeding. I wouldn't be too suspicious that something weird is happening here. The attorney with LVNV is licensed by the bar, right? The bar's regulating what they're doing, overseeing their actions, making sure they aren't doing anything sketchy, and the judge of course will be a legitimate attorney. Most likely, depending on the state. Sometimes, like Texas, Arizona have pretty young non-attorney judges in their small claims courts. Last thought here is just pointing out that the collector will be able to infinitely renew the judgment.

Right now they have this judgment against you. They can renew that in most states pretty much forever, right? Usually it comes up every 10 years for renewal. That's why they sued you in 2025. That's why they came after you again in 2025 is because the judgment was coming up for expiration and they probably decided to renew that. So if you want to get this thing behind you, protecting yourself in court and trying to make a settlement deal with them, it's probably the best way to make that happen and just try to figure out what you can afford on that so it's definitely not something more than $170 a month and try to make some little payments to get yourself out of debt and get back on track. We're sure that you can do it. All right, Jessica. All right, y'all, last question here was CJ.

Yale (33:51):

Cj, you say you settled with portfolio recovery in January for a reduced amount and they filed for an MSJ in March for the full amount. Were you making your payments pursuant to the January settlement that you entered into? Maybe you defaulted on those and that's why they decided to file for MSJ in March. If you did not default, I would show that to the court and tell 'em, Hey, I have this agreement here. Why are they filing an MSJ if I'm abiding by the terms of the settlement agreement that I had with portfolio recovery? So there's kind of issues there. I don't think you need to file a motion to dismiss hypothetically. I would say I would file a motion in opposition to summary judgment setting that agreement that you have with portfolio recovery, hoping it's in writing, and that you can attach a copy of that to that motion contra or motion and opposition to the assembly judgment and explain to the court, Hey, don't grant me motion for assembly judgment.

We've settled with this case. Typically, the judge or the court provides you with some time to get the settlement made and have a case dismissed. So that would be much, much better for you. Boy, there's so many questions. I wish we had more time, but this is very complicated stuff for everybody. The legal process is not easy, but the one unifying factor is communication. You need to not stick your head in the sand. You need to reach out to your collector, your law, form the creditor, talk to them, use solo, settle, use a lawyer, but communication is the key to getting these cases resolved. Everybody wants to settle. That is the ideal settlement is a quick and fast settlement for something that the consumer can afford and that the creditor can accept.

George (35:44):

Bingo. Yeah, you nailed it. That's a good one, right? Yep. We're all trying to find something that the consumer can afford and that the collector can accept. All right, folks, this is the Debt hotline by Solo. I've been listening to me. I'm a founder of Solo. My name's George and Yale Levy has been our guest tuned back. In next week, we're giving tips on not only how to respond to a debt lawsuit, not only how to resolve or settle a debt lawsuit, but also helping out with things like evictions or ral financial tips, right? If you want to find out more about how to improve your credit, how to improve your net worth, feel free to call into the debt hotline. Leave us a voicemail and ask your question. Alrighty. We'll see you next week here at the Debt Hotline. Take care.

Disclaimer:

The information presented in this podcast is intended strictly for general informational purposes and should not be construed as legal, financial, or investment advice. Solo and its hosts are not licensed attorneys, financial advisors, or other certified professionals. While select guests may hold active professional licenses, their contributions are purely for educational thematic discussion. They're not delivering professional or personalized advice. Solo is not a law firm, does not offer legal representation and must not be relied upon as a substitute for professional legal counsel. It is also not engaged in debt, settlement, credit repair, or financial counseling services. SOLO provides self-directed software tools designed to support users in navigating their own legal and financial situations. Participation in this podcast is not establish an attorney-client relationship. Listeners are encouraged to consult with attorneys or licensed professionals for guidance specific to their circumstances. The opinions expressed by podcast participants are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views or official positions of Solo Suit Inc. Doing business as solo or any affiliated organizations.

How to Answer a Summons for debt collection in all 50 states

Here's a list of guides on how to respond to a debt collection lawsuit in each state:

The Ultimate 50 State Guide

• Alabama
• Alaska
• Arizona
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Delaware
• Florida
• Georgia
• Hawaii
• Idaho
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas
• Kentucky
• Louisiana
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Missouri
• Montana
• Nebraska
• Nevada
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• New York
• North Carolina
• North Dakota
• Ohio
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont; Vermont (Small Claims court)
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Guides on how to resolve debt with every debt collector

Are you being sued by a debt collector? We’re making guides on how to resolve debt with each one.

• 11 Charter Communications
• AAA Collections
• Aargon Agency Inc
• Absolute Resolutions Investments LLC
• ACEI Collections
• Account Services
• Accredited Collection Services
• Accredited Collection Services
• Advanced Recovery Systems
• AES NCT
• AFNI Collections
• Alco Capital Group LLC
• Aldous and Associates
• Alliance Collections
• Alliance One
• Alliant Capital Management
• Alpha Recovery Corp
• Alltran Financial
• Alltran Health
• Alorica Inc.
• Amcol Clmbia in Court
• American Coradius International
• American Profit Recovery
• American Recovery Service
• Americollect
• AmSher Collection Services
• Apelles LLC
• AR Resources
• ARC Collections
• ARM Solutions
• Arrow Financial Services
• ARS National Services
• ARSC Debt Collectors
• ARS National Services
• ARstrat
• AscensionPoint Recovery Services
• Asset Acceptance LLC
• Asset Recovery Solutions
• Associated Credit Services
• Atlantic Credit and Finance
• Atradius Collections
• Automated Collection Services, Inc.
• Autovest LLC
• Avante USA
• Avantus
• AWA Collections
• Balekian Hayes
• Bay Area Receivables
• BCA Financial Services
• BC Services
• Benuck and Rainey
• Berlin-Wheeler
• Bluebonnet Financial LLC
• Bonneville Collections
• Bull City Financial
• Bureaus Investment Group
• Cach LLC
• Caine and Weiner
• Capio Partners
• Capital Accounts
• Capital Collections
• Capital Management Services
• CardWorks
• Carmel Financial/New Coast Direct
• Cavalry SPV I LLC
• CBCInnovis
• CBCS Collections
• CBE Group
• CBV Collections
• CCB Credit Services
• CCS Collections
• CCS Offices
• Central Mediation Services
• Central Portfolio Control
• Cerastes LLC
• Choice Recovery
• Choice Recovery Inc
• CKS Financial
• CKMS Financial
• Client Services
• CMRE Financial Services
• COAF
• Coast Professional
• Comenity Bank Debt Collection
• Commonwealth Financial
• ConServe Debt Collection
• Consumer Collection Management
• Contract Callers Inc
• Convergent Healthcare Recoveries
• Convergent Outsourcing
• Couch Conville & Blitt
• Covington Credit
• CRDT First
• Credco in Court
• Credence Resource Management
• Credit Bureau Systems
• Credit Control Corporation
• Credit Management Company
• Credit Management LP
• Credit Systems
• Credit Systems
• CSIEZPay
• CTC Debt Collector
• CVCS Debt Collection
• Cypress Financial Recoveries
• D&A Services
• Daniels, Norelli, Cecere & Tavel P.C.
• DCM Services
• Debt Recovery Solutions
• Delanor Kemper & Associates
• Department Stores National Bank
• Direct Recovery Associates
• Discover Collections
• Diversified Adjustment
• Diversified Consultants
• Diversified Recovery Bureau
• DNF Associates, LLC
• Dodeka LLC
• DRS Credit
• Dynamic Collectors
• Eagle Loan
• Eagle Accounts Group, Inc.
• Eastern Account System
• EduCap
• Ellington and Associates Collections
• Encore Capital Group
• Enerson Law
• Enerson Law LLC
• Enhanced Recovery Company
• EOS CCA
• ERC Collections
• ERSolutions
• Estate Information Services
• Equable Ascent Financial
• Everest Business Funding
• Executive Credit Management
• Faber and Brand
• Factual Data
• Falls Collection Service
• FBCS
• FCO Collections and Outsourcing
• FIA Card Services
• fin rec svc (Financial Recovery Services)
• First Federal Credit Credit Control
• First Financial Bank
• First Portfolio Ventures LLC
• First Progress
• FirstPoint Collection Resources
• Firstsource Advantage
• FMA Alliance
• FNB Omaha
• Forster & Garbus
• Franklin Collection Services
• Freedom Plus
• Freshview Solutions
• Frontline Asset
• Frost Arnett
• Fulton Friedman & Gullace LLP
• Galaxy International Purchasing, LLC
• GC Debt Collection
• GC Services
• General Revenue Corporation
• GLA Collections
• Glass Mountain Capital
• Glasser and Glasser
• Global Credit Collection Corp
• Global Trust Management
• GMAC Financing
• Golden 1 Credit Union
• Grant and Weber
• Grant Mercantile Agency
• Gulf Coast Collection Bureau
• Gurstel
• Halsted Financial Services
• Harris and Harris
• Harvard Collection
• Harvest Credit Management
• Helvey and Associates
• Hollis Cobb
• Holloway Moxley
• Hosto Buchan
• Howard Lee Schiff
• H&R Accounts
• HRRG
• Hudson & Keyse LLC?
• Hunter Warfield
• IC System
• Impact Receivables Management
• Innovative Recovery
• Integras Capital Recovery LLC
• Javitch Block
• JHPDE Finance 1 LLC
• JP Receivables Management Partners
• JPMCB card
• Kenneth Eisen and Associates
• KeyBank student loans
• Kinum
• Kirschenbaum, Phillips & Levy P.C.
• KLS Financial Services
• Kramer & Frank
• Lakeside Collection
• Lending Club
• Lincoln and Morgan Kabbage
• Linebarger Goggan Blair & Sampson LLP
• Lockhart Collection Agency
• LJ Ross Associates
• LTD Collections
• Malcolm S. Gerald and Associates
• Malen & Associates
• Mandarich Law Group
• Mannbracken
• Marcam Associates
• MARS Inc. Collections
• MBA Law
• MCA Management Company
• McCarthy, Burgess & Wolff
• Meade & Associates
• Medicredit
• Mercantile Adjustment Bureau
• Merchants Credit Association
• MGM Collections
• Michael J Adams PC
• Midland Funding LLC
• Mid-South Adjustment
• Monarch Recovery
• Monterey Financial
• Moss Law Firm
• Mountain Land Collections
• MRS Associates
• MRS BPO
• MSW Capital LLC
• Mullooly, Jeffrey, Rooney & Flynn
• Nathan and Nathan PC
• National Collegiate Trust
• National Credit Adjusters
• National Credit Care
• National Credit Systems
• National Enterprise Systems
• National Recovery Agency
• National Recovery Solutions
• Nationstar
• Nationwide Credit
• Nationwide Recovery Services
• Nationwide Recovery Systems
• NCEP LLC
• NCO Financial Systems Incorporated
• North American Recovery
• Northland Group
• Northstar Capital Acquisition
• Northstar Location Services
• NPAS
• NRC Collection Agency
• Oliver Adjustment Company
• Oliphant Financial, LLC
• Oportun
• P&B Capital Group
• PCB Collections Agency
• Palisades Collection LLC
• Pallida LLC
• Paragon Contracting Services
• Paragon Revenue Group
• Payday Loan Debt Collectors
• Pendrick Capital Partners
• Penn Credit
• Perdue Brandon
• Persolve LLC
• Phillips & Cohen Associates
• Phoenix Financial Services
• Pioneer Credit Recovery
• PMAB LLC
• PRA Group, Inc.
• Pressler, Felt & Warshaw LLP
• Prestige Services, Inc.
• Prince Parker and Associates
• ProCollect
• Professional Finance Company
• Progressive Management Systems
• Provest Law
• PYOD LLC
• Quaternary Collection Agency
• RAB Collection Agency
• Rash Curtis and Associates
• Radius Global SOL
• Radius Global Solutions
• Rawlings Company
• Razor Capital
• Real Time Resolutions
• Receivables Performance Management
• Regents and Associates
• Reliant Capital Solutions
• RentGrow
• Resurgent
• Resurgent Capital Services and LVNV Funding
• Revco Solutions
• Revenue Enterprises LLC
• Revenue Group
• RGS Financial, Inc.
• RMP LLC in Court
• RMP Services
• RS Clark and Associates
• RSIEH
• RSIEH
• RTR Financial Services
• Rubin & Rothman
• Salander Enterprises LLC
• Samara Portfolio Management
• SCA Collections
• Scott Parnell and Associates
• Second Round Collections
• Second Round Sub LLC
• Selip & Stylianou LLP
• Sequium Asset Solutions
• Sessoms and Rogers
• Sherman Acquisition
• Sherman Financial Group
• SIMM Associates
• Source Receivables Management
• Southern Management Systems
• Southwest Credit Group
• Spire Recovery Solutions
• SRS Company
• Stark Collection Agency
• State Collection Service
• Stenger and Stenger
• Stillman Law Office
• Summit Account Resolution
• Sunrise Credit Services
• Superlative RM Debt Collector
• Suttell and Hammer
• Synergetic Communication
• Synerprise Consulting
• The Law Office of Michael J Scott
• Trellis Company
• Troy Capital
• TRS Recovery Services
• TrueAccord
• Tulsa Teachers Credit Union
• UCB Collection
• UHG 1, LLC
• Unifin
• Unifin Debt Collector
• Unifund
• Universal Credit Services
• US Bank Collections
• USAA collections
• USCB America
• Valentine and Kebartas
• Valley Servicing
• Vance & Huffman LLC
• Van Ru Credit Corporation
• Velo Law Office
• Velocity Investments
• Viking Client Services
• Wakefield and Associates
• Waypoint Resource Group
• WCTCB
• Weinberg and Associates
• Weltman, Weinberg & Reis
• Westwood Funding
• Williams and Fudge
• Wilshire Consumer Credit
• Wolpoff & Abramson
• Worldwide Asset Purchasing
• www.AutomotiveCredit.com
• Zarzaur & Schwartz
• Zwicker & Associates

Resolve your debt with your creditor

Some creditors, banks, and lenders have an internal collections department. If they come after you for a debt, Solosuit can still help you respond and resolve the debt. Here’s a list of guides on how to resolve debt with different creditors.

• American Express; American Express – Debt Collection
• Bank of America
• Barclay
• Best Buy Credit Card
• Capital One
• Chase
• Credit One Bank
• Old Navy Credit Card
• PayPal Synchrony Card
• Regional Finance
• Retailers National Bank
• Reunion Student Loan Finance Corporation
• SYNCB/PPEXTR
• Synchrony Bank
• Synchrony Walmart Card
• Target National Bank
• Webbank
• Wells Fargo
• Can I Pay My Original Creditor Instead of a Debt Collection Agency?
• Can I Settle a Debt with the Original Creditor?

Settle your medical debt

Having a health challenge is stressful, but dealing medical debt on top of it is overwhelming. Here are some resources on how to manage medical debt.

• Am I Responsible for My Spouse's Medical Debt?
• Do I Need a Lawyer for Medical Bills?
• Do I Need a Lawyer to Fight Medical Bill Debt?
• Does Bankruptcy Clear Medical Debt?
• How Much Do Collection Agencies Pay for Medical Debt?
• How to Find Medical Debt Forgiveness Programs
• Is There a Statute of Limitations on Medical Bills?
• Medical Debt Statute of Limitations by State
• Summoned to Court for Medical Bills — What Do I Do?
• Summoned to Court for Medical Bills? What to Do Next

Guides on arbitration

If the thought of going to court stresses you out, you’re not alone. Many Americans who are sued for credit card debt utilize a Motion to Compel Arbitration to push their case out of court and into arbitration.

Below are some resources on how to use an arbitration clause to your advantage and win a debt lawsuit.

• How Arbitration Works
• How to Find an Arbitration Clause in Your Credit Agreement
• How to Make a Motion to Compel Arbitration
• How to Make a Motion to Compel Arbitration in Florida
• How to Make a Motion to Compel Arbitration Without an Attorney
• How Credit Card Arbitration Works
• Motion to Compel Arbitration in California
• Sample Motion to Compel Arbitration

Stop calls from debt collectors

Do you keep getting calls from an unknown number, only to realize that it’s a debt collector on the other line? If you’ve been called by any of the following numbers, chances are you have collectors coming after you, and we’ll tell you how to stop them.

• 1-800-390-7584
• 800-289-8004
• 800-955-6600
• 8009556600
• 877-366-0169
• 877-591-0747
• 800-278-2420
• 800-604-0064
• 800-846-6406
• 877-317-0948
• 888-899-4332
• 888-912-7925
• 202-367-9070
• 502-267-7522

Federal debt collection laws can protect you

Knowing your rights makes it easier to stand up for your rights. Below, we’ve compiled all our articles on federal debt collection laws that protect you from unfair practices.

• 15 USC 1692 Explained
• Does the Fair Credit Reporting Act Work in Florida?
• FDCPA Violations List
• How to File an FDCPA Complaint Against Your Debt Collector (Ultimate Guide)
• How to Make a Fair Debt Collection Practices Act Demand Letter
• How to Submit a Transunion Dispute
• How to Submit an Equifax Dispute
• How to Submit an Experian Dispute
• What Debt Collectors Cannot Do — FDCPA Explained
• What Does Account Information Disputed by Consumer Meets FCRA Requirements Mean?
• What does “meets FCRA requirements” mean?
• What does FCRA stand for?
• What is the Consumer Credit Protection Act