questions & answers

Question: After a Judgement has been paid in full through a writ of garnishment can a creditor claim that there is still money owed to his client? In this case the amount in the judgement is less than what the client turned into the creditor plus a 40% collection fee. And after the judgement was paid in 2005 no further notification was received as to any extra amounts being due. I have just now received notice that I owe this outstanding blance plus 4 years of interest. This is still the original creditor from 2005.

Answer: Assuming that the judgment was in fact paid in full, then no, the creditor cannot claim there is more money owed. If a satisfaction of judgment was filed, then you have evidence that the judgment was paid in full. If you do not know whether one was filed, you should check the court filings (which might be available online through government website) or drive to the court and look at the case history to see if any satisfaction was filed. If no satisfaction of judgment was filed, you will need to prove that the judgment has been paid in full. You should contact the creditor’s attorney for an accounting of the account. You should also contact your employer to get an accounting of all payments made to the creditor. If monies were garnished from your bank account, you should get a statement from your bank. You will probably need a lawyer that practices consumer law to help you to figure out whether you still owe money based on these documents. If the judgment was not satisfied, you may still owe it. If the judgment did not expire, you may still owe it. If the judgment was renewed, you may still owe it.