A judgment from Pressler and Pressler gives the firm legal authority to collect from you through wage garnishment, bank account levies, and liens on your property. Pressler and Pressler is a debt collection law firm that files high volumes of lawsuits for creditors, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has previously taken enforcement action against it over collection practices.1Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Pressler and Pressler, LLP, Sheldon H. Pressler, and Gerard J. Felt Whether a judgment has already been entered or you are still holding the summons, what you do next decides whether the firm reaches your paycheck, your bank account, or your home.
What Pressler and Pressler Can Do After a Judgment
A judgment unlocks collection tools the firm did not have before the lawsuit. The firm picks among them based on what income and assets you have, and it can use more than one at a time.
Wage Garnishment
Garnishment redirects part of your paycheck before you ever see it. Federal law caps the amount at the lesser of 25% of your disposable earnings or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment Thirty times the minimum wage is $217.50 per week. If your weekly disposable earnings are $400, the garnishment is capped at the lesser of $100 (25% of $400) or $182.50 ($400 minus $217.50), so $100.
Many states impose stricter limits than the federal floor, and a handful bar wage garnishment for consumer debts almost entirely.3U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act Garnishment requires a court order, and you receive notice. You can contest it or file a claim of exemption based on financial hardship. If granted, the court may reduce the amount or pause the garnishment while your claim is reviewed.
Bank Account Levies
A levy pulls money straight out of your account. After the firm obtains a court order and serves it on your bank, the bank freezes the account and turns over funds up to the judgment amount. Notice usually arrives after the freeze, which is why levies feel so abrupt.
Federal regulations shield certain deposits. When your bank receives a garnishment order, it must look back two months and identify federal benefit payments deposited during that window. Any amount attributable to those payments is a “protected amount” the bank cannot freeze, and the review happens automatically without any filing from you.4eCFR. 31 CFR Part 212 – Garnishment of Accounts Containing Federal Benefit Payments Protected deposits include Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, veterans’ benefits, and certain other federal payments. Funds beyond the protected amount can be seized, and the bank must notify you so you can claim any additional state-law exemptions.
Property Liens
The firm can record a lien against real estate you own by filing with the county recorder. The lien attaches to the property and must be cleared before you can sell or refinance. A lien does not force you out of your home, but it blocks any transaction involving the property until the debt is resolved.
Most states offer some homestead protection that shields a portion of equity in your primary residence from judgment creditors. The amount ranges from modest to unlimited depending on the state. If a lien has been placed, you can try to negotiate a release by arranging a payment plan or settling for less than the full judgment.
Vacating a Default Judgment
Most Pressler and Pressler judgments are default judgments, entered because the person sued never responded to the summons. A default judgment is not necessarily permanent. Courts can vacate (undo) one under specific circumstances. In federal court, Rule 60(b) allows relief for reasons including mistake or excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, and fraud. For most of those grounds, the motion must be filed within one year after judgment.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 60 – Relief from a Judgment or Order State courts have similar but not identical rules.
Two grounds come up most often in debt collection cases:
- Improper service. You were never actually served with the summons and complaint, or service failed to meet legal requirements. Service rules differ by jurisdiction, but the most common methods are personal delivery by a process server or another adult who is not a party to the lawsuit, or leaving copies with a responsible adult at your home. If you can show you were never properly notified, the court may lack jurisdiction over you entirely, and most jurisdictions impose no time limit for raising this argument.6Legal Information Institute. Service of Process
- Excusable neglect with a meritorious defense. You had a legitimate reason for missing the response deadline (hospitalization, military deployment, never receiving the papers despite technically proper service) and you can show a real defense to the underlying debt. Courts generally require both elements, and a year from the date of judgment is a common deadline.5Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 60 – Relief from a Judgment or Order
You file a motion with the court that entered the judgment, explain why it should be vacated, and provide supporting evidence. Expect a filing fee that varies by court. If the motion is granted, the case reopens and you get a chance to defend on the merits.
If You Have Not Been Sued Yet or the Case Is Still Open
If the firm has only contacted you, or the lawsuit is pending, you still have the full set of consumer protections. Because Pressler and Pressler regularly collects debts for other creditors, it qualifies as a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The U.S. Supreme Court confirmed in Heintz v. Jenkins that the FDCPA applies to attorneys who regularly engage in consumer debt collection, including through litigation.7Legal Information Institute. Heintz v. Jenkins, 514 U.S. 291 (1995)
Within five days of first contacting you about a debt, a collector must send a written notice stating the amount owed, the name of the creditor, and your right to dispute. You then have 30 days to send a written dispute. If you do, the collector must stop collection on the disputed portion until it provides verification of the debt or a copy of the judgment.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1692g – Validation of Debts If the firm cannot verify the debt, it cannot legally continue collecting. Silence during the 30 days is not an admission of liability, but written dispute preserves leverage you lose once the window closes.
Every consumer debt has a statute of limitations capping how long a creditor can sue. If the firm filed suit after that deadline, you have a defense, and filing on a time-barred debt violates the FDCPA.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can Debt Collectors Collect a Debt That’s Several Years Old? The court will not raise the expired statute on your behalf; you must assert it. Limitations on consumer debts vary by state and debt type, usually running three to six years from the last payment or activity on the account.
If a summons arrived, the deadline to respond varies by jurisdiction but often falls in the range of 20 to 35 days. Missing it is how most default judgments happen.10Federal Trade Commission. What To Do if a Debt Collector Sues You
Settling or Paying the Judgment
Paying the full amount, including accrued interest and court costs, stops all enforcement and entitles you to a satisfaction of judgment. If you cannot pay in full, settlement is common. Creditors routinely accept less than the judgment amount for immediate payment because collection is expensive and uncertain. Settlement offers in the range of 40% to 70% of the judgment balance are not unusual, though the number depends on the age of the debt, your financial situation, and how aggressively the firm wants to pursue enforcement.
Get any settlement agreement in writing before sending money, and make sure it specifies that the creditor will file a satisfaction of judgment with the court upon payment. Installment plans are another option. If the firm agrees to one, document it in a written agreement or court stipulation. A stipulated agreement filed with the court gives both sides enforcement rights: a clear payment schedule for you, and the ability to enforce the full remaining balance if you miss payments.
The Tax Hit on Settled Debt
If you settle for less than the full amount, the forgiven portion may be taxable income. When a creditor cancels $600 or more of debt, it must file a Form 1099-C reporting the canceled amount.11Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Forms 1099-A and 1099-C If you owed $8,000 and settled for $4,000, the remaining $4,000 can show up as income on your tax return.
There is an important exception. If you were insolvent when the debt was canceled, meaning your total debts exceeded the fair market value of your total assets, you can exclude the canceled amount from income up to the amount of your insolvency.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 108 – Income from Discharge of Indebtedness For example, if you had $50,000 in total debts and $40,000 in total assets at cancellation, you were insolvent by $10,000 and could exclude up to that much. To claim the exclusion, file IRS Form 982 with your return.13Internal Revenue Service. What if I Am Insolvent? Other exclusions exist for debt discharged in bankruptcy and for certain qualified principal residence indebtedness discharged before January 1, 2026. Factor the potential tax bill in before agreeing to terms on a large settlement.
Interest and How Long the Judgment Lasts
A judgment does not freeze the amount you owe. Interest keeps accruing from the date of entry until the balance is paid. Post-judgment rates are set by state law, with most states falling between 4% and 12% per year. Some tie the rate to a benchmark like the Treasury yield or the prime rate; others use a flat statutory figure. A $5,000 judgment at 10% grows by $500 every year it goes unpaid, and the creditor can add costs incurred in enforcement, such as fees for filing garnishment orders or recording liens.
Judgments do eventually expire, but not quickly. The enforcement period depends on state law and typically runs between 5 and 20 years. In many states, creditors can renew a judgment before it expires, restarting the clock for another full term. A diligent creditor can keep a judgment alive almost indefinitely by filing renewal paperwork on time. Renewal generally requires an application with the court that issued the judgment, a filing fee, and notice to you. If the creditor misses the deadline, the judgment expires and becomes unenforceable, so tracking the expiration date is worthwhile. You can also challenge a renewal if the creditor failed to serve required notice or filed late.
Will the Judgment Show Up on Your Credit Report?
Since 2017, the three major credit bureaus have stopped including civil judgments on consumer credit reports. The change came from the National Consumer Assistance Plan, which required public records to contain complete identifying information like a Social Security number or date of birth before appearing on a report. Because most court records lack those identifiers, virtually all judgments were removed and new ones are not added.14Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A New Retrospective on the Removal of Public Records
The underlying debt is a different story. If it was a credit card or loan, the account itself may be reported as charged off or in collections, and that mark stays on your report for up to seven years from the date of first delinquency regardless of the judgment. The judgment also remains a public record, and some landlords, employers, or lenders run courthouse searches independently.
Once you pay or settle, confirm the creditor files a satisfaction of judgment with the court. This is a document signed by the judgment creditor confirming the debt has been paid.15Legal Information Institute. Satisfaction of Judgment Responsibility usually falls on the creditor, but follow up to make sure it actually happens. If a judgment appears on a credit report from any of the three major bureaus despite the current policy, dispute it with the bureau and request removal.