Can a judgement be placed against me for a credit card bill that has been charged off and closed?

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Can a judgement be placed against me for a credit card bill that has been charged off and closed?

Asked on January 5, 2013 under Bankruptcy Law, Georgia

Answers:

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 11 years ago | Contributor

A judgement can be placed against a debtor for a charged off debt. That's because a "charge off" is basically a creditor's way of informing a credit reporting agency that this is a bad debt. The fact is that in such an event, a creditor can no longer hold a debt as an "asset" on its books (money owed is considered an asset for the creditor) because a debtor has defaulted on payment.

That having been said, a charge off does not negate the fact you still owe the creditor the moneyin question. Accordingly, your creditor may hire a third party collection agency to collect from you or your creditor may simply sell your debt to a third party, who in turn then has the legal right to attempt to collect from you. Either of these situations can include suing you in court and obtaining a judgement.

Note: Every state has a "statute of limitations"'; this is the timeframe in which a creditor can sue on a debt. Depneding on the state, typically a creditor has between 3-10 years after a debtor defaults, to bring suit. After that time, the statute has run so a creditor is time barred from pursuing legal action against a debtor (although the debtor still technically owes the debt).


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