North Carolina Collections Legal Questions

Even without a written contract, you may still have legal options under North Carolina civil law to recover the money if you can show there was a clear agreement or understanding that your daughter and son-in-law would repay the loan. Their past payments toward interest strongly support the existence of an oral contract or implied agreement to repay you. You’ll want to gather all documentation showing the loan and payment history — bank statements, withdrawal records, text messages, or emails discussing repayment terms. Those can be used as evidence in a civil lawsuit for the remaining balance. Since they live in Thomasville, NC, you’ll need to hire a North Carolina attorney—ideally a collections or civil litigation lawyer in Davidson County—to file the claim locally. Depending on the amount and circumstances, your attorney might pursue repayment through a breach of contract claim, a promissory estoppel argument, or even a constructive trust on the property if the funds were tied to it. Act sooner rather than later—North Carolina has a three-year statute of limitations on most oral agreements, so timing matters. A local attorney can review the full history and file the proper suit to protect your right to recover the $150,000.... Read More

Depending upon how a house it titled, a judgment for money owed many not be a lien on your home. If it becomes a lien, you do not have to sell. The bank just wants to be paid if you do eventually sell or refinance you home, or if you pass away. The more important issue is that you need to see a consumer bankruptcy attorney ASAP to determine your options, both bankruptcy and non bankruptcy. Either filing bankruptcy BEFORE a judgment is entered, or working out some type of resolution can prevent a "general unsecured debt" like a credit card from turning into a "secured debt". DO NOT WAIT! YOU ARE NOT "REQUIRED" TO FILE BANKRUPTCY JUST BY HAVING THE CONSULTATION. Get you advice from an experienced, NC licensed attorney. Financial hardship is NOT a legal defense. No state court Judge or arbitrator can force the bank to settle or offer you a payment plan that you can afford. All they do is decide if you owe the Bank for the debt and if so, how much. The only Judge who can do that is a bankruptcy judge. ... Read More

You have ten days from the day the Motion to Claim Exempt Property was filed to object to the claimed exemptions, and you must request a hearing and pay the hearing fee to have the motion put on a calendar for hearing. If the ten days have passed, it is too late to object. The attorney was only required to deposit a copy of the Motion into the first class mail, he was not required to send it with a tracking number and he is not responsible for slow US mail delivery. Your next step is to request a writ of execution from the Sheriff. The Sheriff will investigate his assets and take any found which are not exempt. HIs home is automatically exempt if he owns it jointly with his spouse - whether it is a mobile home, trailer, camper or real estate. Failing to list his home on the form is not a waiver of tenancy by the entireties. Funds in his bank account may be exempt by law even though he did not list the bank account on the form to claim the exemption. The Sheriff's department handles this by telling the bank not to freeze funds from exempt sources such as Social Security benefits when they send the Writ of Execution to the bank. Some accounts like IRA's are not reachable by law and that cannot be "waived". The Social Security benefit exemption cannot be "waived", either. If the Sheriff returns the writ of execution unsatisfied, you may being "supplemental proceedings" against him to have him questioned about his assets, or you may send written interrogatories seeking more information. Supplemental proceedings are very exensive and time consuming. The vast majority of people in North Carolina own no assets which are subject to execution on a judgment for money owed. You may have to face the reality that you will never collect anything on the judgment. You should contact an exerienced collections attorney for more specific advice. ... Read More

Unfortunately, you need to make payment arrangements with the NC Attorney general and you are probably looking at having a judgment etnered against your daughter and yourself. Student loans are not dischargeable in bankruptcy without very extenuating cirumstances. The AG can offset tax returns and garnish wages. The loan should never have been allowed to go into default. They don't do this unless the loan is very past due. They are also very inflexible about settlement. No doubt this is already negatively affecting your daughter's credit as well as your own. State of NC loans are not given the flexible repayment plans that the Federal loans are so you are stuck with what ever the State will give you. Note that a judgment against either one of you could end up being a lien upon real estate depending on the circumstances. Options are very limited especially if no effort at all was made to repay the loan so far. ... Read More

He needs to consult with a local attorney to go over the specific details ASAP. He can go to court and ask for a continuance if he can't find an attorney right away, but if the case has been pending a long time the Court may not grant a continuance, and even if they do, it will be for about 4 weeks at most. I would start with a consumer bankruptcy attorney. Most consumer bankruptcy attorneys are familiar with the laws on auto repossession and can advise about this. What your son needs to do depends upon what all he is being sued for. If the action is a "claim and delivery" where they are seeking possession of the car, he needs to make arrangements to get the car to the credit union because they are entitled to the car since he is not making the payments. The case will stay active until the credit union sells the car and calculates any deficiency, and then they will seek a judgment for that amount. If the credit union already took the car and sold it, an attorney can help your son figure out if they sold the car in a reasonable manner, refunded any premiums for warraty protection and credit insurance, and the amount they are suing for is correct. Financial harship is not a legal defense, so if his only defense is that he lost his job and could not afford the car any more, he will lose. The Court cannot force the credit union to "work with him", or make them accept a lower amount than what they are legally entitled to. Bankruptcy may be his best option if the amount they are asking for is large and especially if he also defaulted on other loans, credit cards, and so forth. He won't go to jail for this, and they can't garnish his wages, but depending upon what other property he owns, his assets may be at risk if he does not make arrangements to start paying the credit union the balance of what he owes or file bankruptcy. Judgments are good for 10 years and if they remain unpaid, can be renewed for an additional 10 years. Judgments accrue interest at 8% per annum, so he needs to address this sooner, rather than later. ... Read More

There are "supplemental proceedings" in aid of execution that can be used to ask the debtors to disclose information about their income and their assets. These include sending written interrogatories (questions) for the debtors to answer, and asking the Clerk to issue an order requiring the debtors to appear before the Clerk for questioning. You will probably need help from a collections attorney for this.    Unfortunately, most people who are evicted have no assets which are available for execution and we do not have wage garnishment for unpaid money judgments. You probably will never see a dime. If the amount of your money judgment is small, it may not be worth the time or effort to go further. An experienced collections attorney can help you make that decision.... Read More

Your bank account with Social Security benefits up to two months payments are exempt under Federal law and cannot be seized. In order to claim exemption for your pension benefit, you will have to timely respond to  "Notice of Right" to claim your exempt property. This won't be served upon you until at least 30 days after a Judgment is entered. The cheapest and fastest way for an answer is to have a consultation with a consumer bankruptcy attorney who will give a free initial consultation.... Read More

You need to have both judgments (the small claims and the other) transcribed over to the State of New York. Once you are certain of the other party;s location, contact a collections attorney in that county and they can handle everything for you. Incidentally, just transcribing a judgment is not enough to enforce it. Here in NC you have to issue a Notice of Right to claim exemptions and then afterward you request a Writ of execution and the Sheriff will take any non exempt assets. They have wage garnishment in new York, so getting the judgments recorded up there may give you a better chance of getting them collected. You just have to follow though on the judgment enforcement process and don;t just let the judgments sit there.... Read More

You don't provide enough specific details for me to give a meaningful response. In general, if you are told you have won a contest but you have to pay something to get your prize, its a scam. Be especially suspicious if you are asked to buy Green Dot cards or other prepaid debit cars and send the information online. You can also search the North Carolina Attorney General website at ww.ncdoj.gov consumer complaint section for more information about sweepstaes scams.... Read More

It is very difficult to find a collections attorney that will work on a contingency fee. Most people and companies have no assets and thus your chance of recovering anything is very slim. If the judgment was against an individual, GA, NY and NJ have wage garnishment, which may increase the chances of recovery. North Carolina has no wage garnishment. If the judgment was against a corporation, LLC or partnership, likely there are no assets remaining and you have little chance of recovery. It takes a lot of work to have the individuals behind an LLC, corporation or partnership be hald responsible for a corprate or partnership debt and the attorney who works to establish that deserves to be paid. You cannot expect an attorney to work for free. You should contact creditor's attorneys in NY, GA, NY and NJ to see if anyone can do a "blended" fee arrangement (some up front and the rest on contingency) to register your judgment in those states and pursue judgment enforcement. Your company may need to face the grim relaity that there is very little chance of them recoverying anything on this judgment. People who are finacially irresponsible will avoid the banking system, never put assets into their own name, and do whatever it takes to avoid paying back their debts. Do not look for  just"collections" attorneys, because you will get attorneys like myself who never represent creditors. Search for a "creditor's" collection attorney. Good luck.... Read More

Dear "MH": North Carolina recognizes judgments entered in other states, also called "Foreign Judgments." While you can attempt to collect on the judgment by alternative means outside of the legal system, you would need to have the judgment filed in the county of North Carolina where the debtor resides or where the debtor owns real estate or personal property in order for the judgment to be collected upon by ways such as a Writ of Garnishment by the sheriff and levying bank accounts. Lanier Law Group has an aggressive collections division and would be happy to review the documents and judgment you have to determine if this is something we can assist with. You would have to pay any costs needed up front in the efforts, but we do not collect attorney fees unless we collect. This response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor should it replace a full consultation with an attorney. Please be advised we cannot give full and complete legal advice without further information that is not capable of being conveyed in this format. If you would like to receive a free consultation regarding your possible legal matter, please feel free to call us at 855-234-7619... Read More

Dear Ms. Smith: A creditor cannot take your car for past due debt. If the creditor filed a lawsuit and has obtained a judgment against you for the debt owed, then the creditor can seek a writ from the court to have the sheriff locate assets. However, you would know if that happens and have the opportunity to list property to exclude. In some cases, vehicles can be levied by the sheriff to pay for a judgment. This response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor should it replace a full consultation with an attorney. Please be advised we cannot give full and complete legal advice without further information that is not capable of being conveyed in this format. If you would like to receive a free consultation regarding your possible legal matter, please feel free to call us at 1-855-234-7619.... Read More

An "answer" is a legal term meaning response.  It is your opportunity to respond to the allegations made by the opposing party. If you are being sued for a collections action, you should speak with a local consumer rights attorney.  There are various federal, local, and state consumer protection statutes that may protect your rights and a local consumer rights attorney will be able to determine which laws apply.   Most consumer rights attorneys offer free initial consultations to determine what options are available. This is not intended to be legal advice, and is general in its nature. No attorney-client relationship exists or is formed by this information. Furthermore, this does not represent the views or opinions of LexisNexis or its affiliated companies.... Read More

You need to contact a local creditor's rights attorney. This is not intended to be legal advice, and is general in its nature. No attorney-client relationship exists or is formed by this information. Furthermore, this does not represent the views or opinions of LexisNexis or its affiliated companies.... Read More

You should speak with a consumer rights attorney.  Many bankruptcy attorneys have experience in this area of law, and deal with collection actions regularly.  If you file bankruptcy, and complete the bankruptcy, the unpaid debt will be discharged.  A discharge means that the debt does not need to be paid any longer. This is not intended to be legal advice, and is general in its nature. No attorney-client relationship exists or is formed by this information. Furthermore, this does not represent the views or opinions of LexisNexis or its affiliated companies.... Read More