Winning a collection or debt lawsuit results in getting a judgment against the debtor. But that alone does not guaranty you get paid by the debtor. It is simply a court ruling that says the debtor owes the money to a business, HOA, healthcare organization or some other entity. Now you have to collect on that debt. If a judgment is entered in your favor, a judgment recovery enforcer will have stronger tools in enforcing the court order, like wage garnishment, bank levy, property lean, and more to collect the past due debt.
Once an judgment account is placed in Specialized Collections Bureau's system, we locate and contact the debtor to help negotiate a resolution for their outstanding court judgment collection. We understand there are several different situations why a balance is left outstanding, and we are here to help.
Now that a judge rules in your favor, you still don’t have a judgment to collect on. The clerk of the court needs to issue the judgment so the process of judgment collection can begin. The filing of the court clerk typically takes 2 to 4 weeks, but with governmental budget cuts, the pandemic, and reduced on site workers there have been a few occasions where the clerk filing can take to 6 months. Now that the judgment is issued, it then needs to be recorded at the state level and also be recorded in any county where the debtor owns real estate.
We provide numerous tools to reach out to consumers. In certain cases, we approve payment plans or settlements on claims. Some of our tools are:
- Demand Letters
- Credit Bureau Reporting
- Skip-tracing
- Online payment portal
- Client/Consumer/Agent negotiation
- Legal filing and investigation
There are several approaches you can use via the courts for a judgment collection. Each judgment collection process takes time and involves expenses. Some of the more common judgment collections are as follows:
Bank Levy: A bank levy or garnishment can be issued by the court upon request for the judgment collection. First you will need to know where the location of the debtors bank account is. The levy for the judgement collection typically should be served at the branch where the account was open, not just any branch of the bank. The levy must be delivered by a court appointed organization, which typically is the local sheriff or marshal.
Wage Garnishments: A wage garnishment can be obtained against any individual who was named on the judgment collection. A wage garnishment requires the employer to garnish, or hold back, a portion of the employee’s wages and submit these funds to the court on a monthly basis to be paid towards the judgment collection. You have to know where a person works in order for the garnishment order to be sent to the employer. The law limits how much of an employee’s wages can be garnished for payment towards a judgment collection.
Real Estate Lien: A lien is effectively placed on real estate when the judgment collection is recorded in the county where the debtor owns property. If they try to sell or refinance the property, the judgment collection will come up during the record search. The debtor will not be able to complete the real estate transaction without working on an active solution towards the judgment collection.
The most important aspect in processing a court ordered judgment collection is having correct information on the debtor’s assets and income. If Specialized Collections Bureau does not have that information, then our first step in the process is to conduct a debtor exam. The debtor is to appear in court with their banking information as well as other information regarding their assets and income so we can get the information needed to do levies, garnishments, etc.
Specialized Collections Bureau is here to help you collect after the court granted your judgment. You have spent the time and energy going to court, now is the time to collect on that judgment. Just use the form above or call us to schedule your free consultation for Specialized Collections Bureau's judgment collection services.