Debt Collection Saga

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mickeyg

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I owe approx. €8500 on an old Credit Card debt to AIB. I was paying off at the rate of €140 per month. At Xmas I came into some money and I offered to settle for a once-off payment of €2500. This was rejected. Meanwhile I had stopped paying the monthly amount.
I now have received a letter from a very prominent firm of solicitors in Dublin saying they have received Judgment against me in the District Court for the amount and threatening Sheriff, publication in Gazettes etc.
Firstly I have no knowledge of having received paperwork regarding Judgment but is there a way I can find out if this is for real? I tried searching the Court.ie website but it does not appear to be
working.
By the way I also got a Notice of Intention to Proceed by way of Service in December also.
Would appreciate advice!
 
The notice of intention to proceed suggests that you previously received proceedings which were served over a year ago hence the receipt of the notice of intention to proceed. The notice of intention to proceed would state that the action will proceed after 1 month has expired. Therefore, after the time expired they were then in a position to obtain judgment in default of appearance in the court office without any need to go to court as the action was obviously undefended, you should ask for a copy of the judgment but I believe that it may be genuine. I would suggest you contact them and offer a payment arrangement as it is unlikely that they would accept anything less than 80% in full and final settlement at this time especially without completion of an income and expenditure statement by you. Otherwise, it is in there interest to enforce the judgment as if it is the firm I am thinking about they get paid commission for monies recovered.
 
Thank you for your reply - I would think that is the situation. I was unaware that they would get "judgment in default of appearance" based on the issue of an "Intention to Proceed". My assumption was that I would have
an opportunity to defend on the grounds of inability to pay - so much for justice!
 
"defend on the grounds of inability to pay- so much for justice!"

That is not a defence - it is a reason why the debt remains unpaid. A defence is an argument/explanation as to why a debt is not due.

mf
 
mickeyg said:
Thank you for your reply - I would think that is the situation. I was unaware that they would get "judgment in default of appearance" based on the issue of an "Intention to Proceed". My assumption was that I would have
an opportunity to defend on the grounds of inability to pay - so much for justice!
Click to expand...

The judgement gives legal recognition to the debt and now the bank are probably trying to enforce the judgement ie get you to pay up ! This usually involves getting you back to the district court where the bank will try and get an installment order against you. This is when "inability to pay" should be brought up as a defence, if you don't in fact have the means to pay. A judge can't make you pay what you don't have. However now that the bank have a judgement against you they have 12 years to chase you for the money. If you can't afford installments there is little the bank can do but if you want closure offer the 2.5k as full and final settlement to their solicitor and see what they say.
 
The above post is assuming that they will not use any other enforcement options instruct the sheriff, publish the judgment and/or register a judgment mortgage if mickeyg has any property to register against. Yes it is true that he can have his day in court if they apply for an examination order/Instalment Order and the Judge would take his I&E into consideration but there are other things that can be done against him!
We have no idea as to his means clearly he could afford payments of €140 per month unless his circumstances have changed. It is unlikely that any solicitor working for a bank would consider a short settlement without an I&E competed and this is also required during the IO process prior to any court hearing.
 
Micky, Debt collectors, solicitors etc. aren't above telling white lies to scare the stuffing out of debtors.
 
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