Walk It Through: The Collection Calls
Late on a car loan, calls at night, a threat of arrest, and a judgment that reaches a paycheck.
Laid off, a borrower misses a car payment. A week later a notice of the right to cure arrives.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
Two debts and one paycheck. Bankruptcy, a repossession sale and its deficiency, a student loan and a federal debt collection claim are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Debt collectorAnyone collecting a consumer debt, who may not threaten, abuse or harass, or call more than thirty times a week or talk more than ten times a week with intent to annoy.
- Domestic violenceBetween family or household members, causing or attempting physical harm, placing someone in reasonable fear of it, creating fear through harassment, stalking or threats, sexual assault, or holding someone against their will.
- Right to cureA consumer's right, after a notice of default, to catch up by paying the past due amount and charges before the creditor accelerates, sues or repossesses, which it may not do until ten days after the notice.
- Suggestee executionA judgment creditor's levy on a debtor's wages, a lien on wages due within one year after it issues, reaching no more than twenty percent of them.
- Exempt propertyProperty a resident may hold apart from a creditor's execution, such as a car up to $5,000 and household goods up to $8,000, up to $15,000 in all.
- Statute of limitationsThe time to bring a lawsuit, two years for personal injuries or damage to property, measured from when the right to sue accrued.