Debt Collection - Motion For Judgement

Location: New York

I’m being sued by a debt collector, which also happens to be a law firm. The debt is for a personal loan that I defaulted on in the amount of roughly $3500. At this point, there’s about $2500 left.

I reached a settlement with them a little over a year ago where I’d be making small payments monthly, and in exchange they would pause court proceedings. Their system would not allow me to sign up for autopay, and I kept forgetting to make the damn tiny payment, and thus ended up defaulting on the agreement a few weeks back. I wasn’t aware of this until I received documents in the mail from the law firm telling me they were submitting a motion for judgement.

I immediately called them the next day to square it all away, and the woman on the phone told me if I made payments to bring me back to current, that the motion for judgement would be stopped and the agreement would be put back into place. So I made that payment and left it at that. I checked my courts website for a few days following the payment to see if they had any record of it, but there website had not yet updated with the motion and contributed to say it was in a Disposed status.

Well, over the weekend, I got a letter in the mail from the court saying they received the motion for judgment, that a date was set for the hearing, and that unless the judge said otherwise, I wouldn’t have to attend. I immediately checked the website and it looks like it finally updated to a Post Disposition status.

So I called up the firm again to ask what was going on, and was informed that the payments I made were only meant to reinstate the agreement and that court proceedings could not be stopped.

At this point, I’m not sure what to do. While I intend to make the future payments as agreed upon, I do not want the court to issue a judgement against me. I know a judgement can result in garnished wages, but I don’t know what else that means, if it gets reported to credit unions, or if there could be any other ramifications from it. I’m in a bit over my head at this point.

What do I need to know/do at this point? Is there anything I can do to stop a judgement? Is my only option to pay in full prior to the court date (I don’t *want* to do that, but if I have to, I’ll find a way to make it work)? Is that even an option? Are there any *other* options? Should I get a lawyer at this point?