This is such a familiar story for so many Americans:
- Someone wrongs you
- You take them to small claims or civil court
- The judge or the magistrate decides in your favor
- You never receive the money owed to you
Although the civil system is set up to allow you to recover money , that doesn' t mean that it is easy. The courts offer you fairly generic information on filing wage garnishments, liens, bank garnishments and other methods of recovering the money the courts awarded you, but that information is too generic.So that leaves us with only a few choices:
- Let the debtor win (Never collect the money owed to you)
- Spend several weeks trying to learn how to recover your judgment yourself.
- Hire an attorney and pay a retainer plus hourly fees up to $150 per hour
- Use a judgment recovery service like Expert Judgment Recovery
Although judgment recovery isn't very difficult once you learn how to do it, the process can be time consuming and frustrating. You would think that once the court awards you the judgment, they would make it easier for you to collect the funds that are owed to you.
The courts offer a pamphlet to you explaining what your rights are as a debtor. Try to ask one of the court clerks how you go about finding the debtors bank account information or the process for garnishing the debtors wages,-and you will find a familiar answer - 'we cannot offer legal advice'.The easiest way to get all of the information about the debtor is a process called skip tracing. Part of this process involves pulling a credit report on the debtor, and playing private detective to put all of the pieces together. One of the obstacles a creditor will run into is that most credit reporting agencies will not allow you to pull a credit report on someone if you don't own or operate a legitimate company that complies with FRCA laws and regulations.
If you use a judgment recovery firm like Expert Judgment Recovery, they will recover your money with no fees out of your pocket,-and no fees if your funds aren't recovered. Unlike attorneys who charge a per hour fee, whether or not they are able to collect your fees.
Having a judgment in your favor is similar to having an IOU written. The money is yours, but it is only a piece of paper if you don't do anything to collect it. You can view more information about recovering your own judgment, or hiring someone to do it for you like Expert Judgment Recovery. The money is yours if you put in the effort to recover it. If you do nothing, the debtor wins, and it was ultimately a waste of time taking the person to court in the first place.