Wells Fargo purchased a defaulted debt from an original creditor. Wells Fargo then filed a lawsuit against you in an attempt to collect the debt. You may not have received notice or fought the lawsuit yourself but either way the judge ordered you to pay Wells Fargo a certain amount of money.

Since the judgment was put in place it carried interest so it is increasing in value each day. Now is the time to settle a judgment before it can cost more.

Wells Fargo is a debt buyer that purchases large amounts of defaulted debt to try to collect more than they paid. A common tactic they use is to file a lawsuit against Texas consumers in hopes they do not show up or answer the lawsuit. If the consumer does not appear then a default judgment can be taken against the consumer. Now Wells Fargo has a much longer time to collect and is in a much stronger position to collect more money from the consumer.

1. Find out who to settle with Sometimes this is the most difficult part of the process. A copy of the judgment will need to be obtained from public records. You can then contact the attorney that represented the creditor in court. They may or may not be able to help settle the judgment. Sometimes the creditors that took the judgment are out of business, have declared bankruptcy, or sold the debt. You will have to find the entity that owns the judgment now and document how they own it. Even though Wells Fargo took the judgment they may have sold the judgment to another company.
2. Create a hardship letter A hardship letter needs to document the reasons why the judgment creditor should reduce the amount that they are owed. A good hardship letter should be able to provide details of a job loss, divorce, medical issues, or any other event out of the ordinary that inhibits your ability to pay the full amount due.
3. Negotiate A judgment creditor has all the power in a settlement negotiation. Until the client agrees to pay a price that judgment creditor wants, they will not sign off on the release of judgment. A good hardship statement and correct documentation may persuade the creditor to reduce the amount of money they are demanding. The perfect settlement price is what a client is willing to pay and what the judgment creditor is willing to accept.
4. Write a Release of Judgment This is the document that after signing will be sent to the court and recorded in public records proving that the judgment is released. If this is not written correctly or signed off appropriately, then it may be invalid.
5. Transfer Money and Get Release of Judgment Signed It is imperative that you make sure that if you send money to a judgment creditor, they will release the judgment as agreed. If they do not then you may have to take more expensive
6. File Release of judgment in the correct county The settlement process is not complete until you file an original copy of the release of judgment inside the county that the judgment was taken. Most counties charge a small fee to file documents into the public record.