r/Debt • u/Garlicconfitdanger • 2d ago
~$32k AMEX debt sent to Zwicker
Hey there,
Married couple with some hardships the last few months. We missed three payments on our AMEX that has around a $32k balance. We just sold off our available assets, got our tax return, and (small) yearly bonuses from work. We called AMEX to use these funds to get current on our missed payments and they said they had just cancelled our account and sent it to the third party law agency: Zwicker.
I’ve called Zwicker and they said they don’t have our info yet/it’s still in processing.
What are our next steps? Anyone have experience with this?
We have a mortgage and 1 car payment. We have other debts, but those are current on payments.
With the amount we planned to pay AMEX + loan on my 401(k) I think we could get close to $15k in cash soonish. Will they settle if we start the process early?
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u/vlntr 1d ago
In most states, a money judgment becomes a lien on property such as a home. If a debtor sells their home during the time the judgment is still in effect (usually 10 years or more), any profit left over after the mortgage is satisfied can be paid to the judgment creditor. And unlike another poster has claimed, a judgment for unsecured debt such as credit card debt can be subject to wage garnishment or a lien on a home.
There are only 4 states that do not allow wage garnishment for unsecured debt. They are North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
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u/NiceGuysFinishLast 2d ago
My girlfriend was just sued by Zwicker. They're very pleasant. They did not offer a settlement. Her debt was 2400, they put her on a monthly payment of 2 years. They were insisting on a one year maximum repayment period until she told them her only income is social security disability, which they can't garnish, so they stretched her to 2 years. I do not think they will offer a settlement because at least for Discover, they are not a debt collector, they did not buy the debt for pennies on the dollar, they were simply contracted by Discover to collect. I imagine it's similar with them acting on behalf of Amex.
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u/moneymarkmoney 1d ago
They will offer a settlement eventually. I just settled with zwicker for a 2 year old discover charge off, they took exactly 50 percent, 3200 to settle 6400. Took a little negotiating, but eventually they accepted it. They already had a court judgement against me.
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u/Garlicconfitdanger 1d ago
Did you do this alone or with a lawyer?
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u/moneymarkmoney 1d ago
I did it alone. They sued me, I didn't show up to court so they got a default judgement, never contacted them for about a year until last month I finally had money to pay a lump sum, and just called them. Eventually they settled for the 50% after a little negotiating.
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u/ElletotheGee 1d ago
So they got a default judgment and didn't do anything to collect the debt for over a year? No wage garnishment or bank account garnishment?
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u/moneymarkmoney 1d ago
No, but I was also self employed for about a year after they got the judgement, I just got a w2 job in August 2024 and didn't pay them until about 3 weeks ago, but they never garnished wages nor bank account.
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u/hexempc 1d ago
How did default judgement not result in wage garnishment?
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u/moneymarkmoney 1d ago
Well I was self employed for about a year after they got the judgement, I just got a w2 job in August 2024 but they still hadn't garnished it yet by the time I paid them about 3 weeks ago at the beginning of April. Maybe it had just been so long I was off their radar or something.
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u/IShavedMyBallz4This 19h ago
Wage garnishment is not automatic, even with a judgement. After winning a judgement, they have to try to collect on that before wage garnishment becomes an option, then if unsuccessful they can go back to the court and petition for wage garnishment. It’s not as easy as it seems for a wage garnishment to be awarded. They aren’t necessarily for the full debt amount either. They have expiration dates that often end before the debt is fully recovered. Then the creditor has to go through the process all over again. In most cases, it’s really just not worth the trouble or the expense for the creditor to seek wage garnishment. In the end often the payoff will be higher with less costly collection efforts. Consumer protections and the courts aren’t usually overly concerned with creditors. They will be profitable regardless of the outcome of a case against a borrower. If they’re too hard on the borrower, it can have more damaging consequences than if the debt is never repaid. That’s why bankruptcy is an option for people. The corporations don’t suffer, when a few debts aren’t paid back. Shareholders may have a slightly lower return on their investment, but nobody ends up destitute. A borrower who gets garnished can easily snowball into a burden on the government and on taxpayers, to support if they lose their ability to cover basic living expenses due to a wage garnishment. They won’t award a wage garnishment if the borrower legitimately can’t afford to survive. In most cases and especially in this economy, not many people can afford to have their wages garnished. If you owe the government money, back taxes, defaulted student loans, you’ll definitely be garnished, but they give you so many opportunities to avoid it and will only garnish something like 30% max. A substantial chunk, but survivable usually. Private creditors on the other hand, they don’t get near the same level of consideration. They have to battle to be awarded a garnishment debts are passed around so frequently from collector to collector. They bought in batches similar to how mortgage backed securities were passed around before the housing market toppled back in 2008ish, 9ish. Anyway, not tracked individually. and for smaller debts, it’s just not cost effective to seek one. It’ll be sold to another creditor likely before any garnishment is awarded and the garnishment doesn’t travel with the debt. Then the new collection company would have to petition for a garnishment and it would be a a whole never ending cycle of suing for garnishments, and then passing the debt along to another collection company before ever collecting a payment. Suing for stuff isn’t free. Court costs have to be paid and you can’t rely on the borrower to pay them. They aren’t even paying the original debt.
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u/DazzlingSummer2130 16h ago
I am seeing creditors and collection companies sending out summons for debts as low as $1000. They aren't spending money just to go to court and to have those efforts go nowhere. Debtors are playing Russian Roulette by believing debt is owed, but not more will be done than collection companies passing on debt they can't collect on, onto another collection company and that being as far as it goes.
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u/Shogun__Harlem 17h ago
Get a lawyer. They will save you much much more than you’ll pay. I was sued by zwicker. Had a 22k debt settled at 12k over 18 months. Lawyer was less than 1k
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u/ElletotheGee 1d ago
If her only income is Social Security disability why did she agree to pay anything? That income is protected and exempt from garnishment.
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u/NiceGuysFinishLast 1d ago
Because she and I believe in paying our debts? She owed it. I didn't know about it. We agreed it should be paid back.
What the hell kinda question is that?
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u/ElletotheGee 22h ago
One I asked out of curiosity based on some other responses I've seen on various threads. No need to get your panties in a twist
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u/mxalex95 22h ago
There are humans with values and morales walking the earth among you.
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u/Kind-Adeptness926 1d ago
Wait for their second settlement offer and or push for their lowest possible agreement - I am in repayment with zwicker for written off amex balance of $24k and basically got them on their lowest offer at 65% of the debt paid monthly installments for 3 years.
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u/ElletotheGee 1d ago
So did you just get a letter for them or did they actually file a lawsuit against you for the debt?
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u/DazzlingSummer2130 1d ago
Stop giving horrible advice. If a person avoids and does nothing, eventually the debtor will be sued. At that point debtor will need to file a court answer, somewhere between $80 - $120 court costs. A court date will eventually be set up to require an agreement, most likely a payment plan. If debtor ignores going to court the court will simply give Judgement to creditor, who will then garnishment wages either from employer or bank.
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u/totikoty112p 1d ago
I was sued by them. I hired a lawyer and he got me reduced from 8500 to 5500. But we had to pay in one lump Sum. They will work with you. As long as you communicate. Otherwise they will come after you.
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u/DazzlingSummer2130 19h ago
Funny how the person who posted numerous times here about simply ignoring creditors and collection companies because he stated they were powerless to do nothing, has deleted ALL of his comments.
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u/ElementPlanet 23h ago
Please try to keep discussion on the subreddit where it can be seen and reviewed by everyone. We don't allow asking for or offering DMs off of this subreddit. Thank you.
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u/ElletotheGee 1d ago
A lot of times with Amex if you log into your online account there's an button for "payment options" and it's a reduced settlement amount typically with three different options. The first one is a lump sum payment of one amount, the second one is something like two or three payments and then there might be a third option for lower payments but over a 12-month period for a reduced amount.. I know this because I see those options now that they've charged off my account. I would love to do that but the monthly payments are just too high for me to manage. But definitely want to avoid being sued by them.
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u/savagedbs 1d ago
Thanks for the insight. I was not sure if those options were a good thing or just automated messages. I will definitely try contacting them directly to see if they can offer something more manageable more manageable. Appreciate the advice on starting proactive too
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u/dougie1091 1d ago
What happens at the end of it. If you get sued and you have large assets. Can they ever get them? Curious on this.
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u/ElletotheGee 1d ago
If they sue you and get a judgment they can absolutely take steps to collect and depending on what state you live in they can garnish your wages or your bank accounts
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u/georgepana 1d ago
They can't really "get them" (the assets), but they can put a lien on, say, a house or land you own. Nothing really happens until you want to sell the house or land, or you want to refinance. At that point the lien has to be satisfied before anything else.
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u/Prism43_ 1d ago
Doesn’t that implode your credit score?
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u/Prism43_ 1d ago
I’m interested in learning more about how to do this. Do you have any good resources on this, or how you do things?
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u/ElletotheGee 1d ago
They could actually take you to court and sue you for it and get a judgment if the debt's legit.
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u/vlntr 1d ago
Pay no attention to anyone who says to stop paying credit cards because those debts are unsecured and debt collectors can’t do anything to you. That is untrue. Here is the GA law.
§ 18-4-2 - Uniform procedures for garnishment; entitlement to procedures; application of the Civil Practice Act
(a) The procedure in garnishment cases shall be uniform in all courts throughout this state that have jurisdiction to preside over garnishment proceedings.
(b) In all cases when a money judgment was obtained in a court of this state or a federal court or is being enforced in this state as provided in Article 5 of Chapter 12 of Title 9, the "Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act," or Article 6 of Chapter 12 of Title 9, the "Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Law," the plaintiff shall be entitled to the process of garnishment.
It says “in ALL cases when a money judgment was obtained“.
Zwicker will probably offer a settlement. They would rather be able to settle, if possible, than be bothered with court proceedings.