Debt Collection

No, if there is any surplus of funds from a public foreclosure auction, it goes to the homeowners.

This is why banks keep raising fees, interests, charges, costs, and any other monetary items they can impose on an account.

The bank wants to be able to collect as much money as possible from the sheriff sale of the home.

Not surprisingly, a surplus that goes to the homeowners is very rare. Most homes do not sell for enough to pay off even the first mortgage, let alone any other liens or create a surplus.

However, in the rare cases where there is a surplus, the homeowners often have to request it from the court or county clerk. They will not just be sent a check.

The government would rather that the homeowners disappear and leave the surplus for the government itself to claim, instead of letting the borrowers know they are entitled to some funds as a result of the sale.

Yes and no. The estate of the deceased is responsible for payment of any debts of the departed, so if you had been willed any form of an asset then it could be liquidated or levied for the repayment of a debt owned to the estate. The only time children or a surviving spouse are liable is if they put themselves up as a guarantor, including co-signing on a car, apartment, credit card, and/or medical care.

Private money owed no, since the courts do not recognize common loans. However, if there was a contract or loan agreement you could make a claim upon the estate for payment. Just like many other financial wind ups there is an order of priority - (1) State and Federal Taxes; (2) Courts, Probate and Receiver Fees; (3) Secure Creditors, like mortgage holders; (4) Liens and Judgments; (5) Unsecure Creditors; and (6) Heirs. Lastly, if there is not enough to pay all the Unsecure Creditors you may be focused to accept a discounted amount representing your percentage of debt compared with other debtors. Then again, anything is better then nothing.

At any time, unless indicated in your credit agreement or contract a limiting term. Genreally most effective receivable management departments will submit the account into collections between 90-120 days past due. Lack of communications being the accelerator, since when they do no have contact with the account holder they move the process faster into more serious collections.

Yes, if the terms of the agreement allow for them to charge such fees, and in fact if the payment is late. Best rule of thumb, is to start calling all creditors upon someones death to let them know to avoid any late fees, since its not the creditors responsibility to check vital status. However, you should be able to request most of those fees to be reversed by providing the death certificate, and if probate is involved you can challenge the amounts they are charging.

In Ohio, once a debt collector has obtained a judgment in small claims court, the statute of limitations does not prevent garnishment as the judgment itself is enforceable. However, if a significant amount of time has passed since the judgment was issued (typically 21 years for most debts), you may be able to argue that the judgment is no longer enforceable. It's important to consult with a legal professional to understand your specific situation and options for challenging the garnishment.

On ordinary bad debts no, however since wage garnishments are an act of the courts you must be talking about a 10 year old judgment, which can come back to bite debtors in the behind up to 20 years later.

Yes and no. If you live in a community property state then assets you may share with your spouse could be come entangled with their debts. Generally speaking, if your spouse does not pay his bills I would avoid a joint bank account or other forms of shared ownership of assets.

I court has access to any and everything that they can compel to be produced, however the court or judge in itself does not take this action. The party to the lawsuit would make this request to you to provide your banking information. As a debt collector, there are systems that we use that do provide us with listings of banking accounts, and a good investigator can identify possible banks based on your credit report.

As many times as it takes to pay off the judgment, however typically they only need to file the garnishment once unless you change jobs frequently. If not, you can always challenge the amount being garnished from your wages.

No. They are required by law to provide you with two notices, which are typiclly sent in a single letter, that being (1) that they have purchased the debt and you now owe them the balance; and (2) provide you with the required notice that you have 30-days to dispute the debt and to require it to be validated. Secondly, it would be illegal for them to file any lawsuit or threaten to file such action within that 30-days validity prior. They could however provide you with that first notice and inform you that they will be filing a lawsuit in 30-days; but even that has proven in court to still break if not bend the rules. I would say to google for a FDCPA attorney because you would have a case for them violating the laws if that is what they said or did; since both are not legal.

No, a lien is not possible for a medical debt. However, if the collections agency was to sue you and one a judgment that would effect your home if you tried to sell or refinance. This is because a title search is done in both cases, and will list all the taxes owed, mortgages, liens, and any judgments in the name of the listed owners; and the courts require payment of all those debts in that order of priority.

If it was a federal student loan, then yes, the collections agency could take your income tax return money. If it was a non-federal loan, then they would not be able. Secondly, federal student loans are can not be discharged, the US always gets paid even when laws are created for private businesses that disallow the same right of collections.

Depends on who your asking. The first-party, or original creditor, is not require to provide you with any validity notice and is generally not required to have to "prove" the debt to you, that in the end is what the civil legal system is for. However, if a debt collector attempts to collect a debt they are required by law to provide you with a notice on their first letter giving you the right to dispute the debt and to request it to be verified. However, if you do not request this within that first 30-days they can keep trying to collect and do not have to accept your request afterwords. Now if you properly requested then to verify the debt, they are required to stop all collections actions, verify the debt, and provide you with a notice telling you the original credits name, date of origination, and amount. Generally debtors try to use the verification process to provide a list of proof like a copy of a signed agreement, which the collections agency is not required to obtain or send back.

Some states do not require a court procedure to foreclose a mortgage. There is usually a requirement to send written notice to the mortgagor (debtor) and to publish a notice of the foreclosure in a local newspaper. Then a representative of the mortgagee shows up near the property on the date set for the foreclosure auction. If there are bidders, there may be an auction. If there are no bidders, the representative may in some states just set foot on the property for "entry and possession."

Yes and no. Alabama is not a community property state, so the only way he would owe anything on those bills is if he put himself up as a guarantor over the medical expenses. It is common practice for hospitals to try to get spouses into that position.

No, there is not any debt collections company that can willy-nilly money from any banking account. There are exceptions, that being if they are trying to collect a bad check wrote from the account and it means the re-presentment requirements under the Check 21 rules, or if they have a court order to levy or garnish the account which would require the debt to be a judgment. While New York State is a equitable distribution state the bank account and any amount therein would still be open to attachment by such legal orders. This would first occur with the account being frozen by the courts, as you would have the right to fight the garnishment. If this is just another bad collections firm claiming they are going to take the money from your account if you do not pay, then I say contact a FDCPA law firm, as that agency is breaking the law!

The best way would be to hire a debt collections or law firm to collect the judgment. They can typically be hired on a commission rate and cover all the costs in getting the debt paid. Another way would be to use one of those online people searching tools, however that would not give you access to things like credit report data.

Every and any debt attempted to be collected by a third-party for and in the United States, with additional rules and requirements at State levels which often are the same; this includes companies that buy bad debts if they attempt to collect the debt.

Usually the notice of foreclosure sale will identify what the prospective buyer needs to show up with. It may or may not allow inspection of the real estate. If you're thinking you can put an offer in before the sale and cut a deal, the whole reason for a "public" sale is that the borrower is still entitled to the best price that can be had, and that usually requires auction style bidding. The lender usually, but not always, will bid in the amount of the debt for various reasons, not the least of which is to make sure if anybody else wants the property, they'll have to bid more.

In most cases the debts of the deceased, including hospital bills, are the responsibility of the estate. The estate, or its beneficiary should reimburse any valid debtors before giving any of the assets away. Consult a probate attorney in your jurisdiction for help.

Depends on the State, however any deceased persons assess would be drawn down on their assets through probate. This means that if you held joint assets with the spouse; ie., home, banking, investment accounts, then what every value therein is up on the table for the creditors. In those States that have community property laws your at 100% risk of loss, however non-community states your risk is 50%.

No. Debt collectors contracted by the owner of the debt to contact the debtor for payment. In most cases they will say anything and harass you into make a payment. Depending on how their payroll works- If you do make a payment, they get a comission on the payment you make.

Debt CAN be settled with credit card debt and other unsecured debts. Negotiating a settlement is between you and your creditor and settlements have happened for millions of people and helped them get out of debt.

No. The account becomes the sole property of the survivor.