Judgment

• Before a credit card company can take any of your property, the company must obtain a judgment from a state court judge. A judgment is a final resolution of a lawsuit. This means the lender must prove in a trial that you have defaulted on your credit card payments. The judgment will contain an order from the judge directing you to repay a certain amount to your credit card company. Obtaining a judgment typically takes at least six to 18 months.
  
  

Satisfaction

• The credit card company can satisfy the judgment by taking your wages and your land. The lender can require you to show up at a court proceeding, after the trial, where you will have to answer various questions from the lender's attorney regarding what property you own. You will have to disclose any land that you own. The lender uses this information to determine how best to satisfy the judgment.
  
  

Garnishment

• One of the ways the credit card company can take your property is through a writ of garnishment. This is a post-judgment order from the judge that allows the lender to take a certain amount of each of one of your paychecks until the debt has been repaid in full. Garnishment is typically an easier process than seizure of land, so most debt collectors will attempt garnishment before they take your land. This is especially true if the total amount of the debt is less than about $20,000.
  
  

Seizure

• The official way a credit card company can take your land is through a seizure action, sometimes also called execution. The details very according to state law, but in general a lender can seize your land by selling the land in a sheriff's sale or foreclosure auction. Property subject to seizure or execution includes land and also other types of property such as cars and bank accounts.
  
  

Expert Insight

• More often than not, the credit card company is not willing to sue you for credit card debt. Because of the expense of filing a lawsuit, obtaining a judgment and then obtaining a writ of garnishment, execution or seizure, the amount owed needs to be very high. It is more likely that a debt collection company will purchase your debt from the credit card company and then attempt to settle the debt with you for pennies on the dollar.
  
  

Prevention/Solution

• If you are in severe credit card debt, and the credit card company or debt collector has obtained a judgment against you, it may be time to consider bankruptcy. Bankruptcy may discharge the judgment founded on credit card debt, which means it would dissolve your legal obligation to repay that judgment, or it may give you time to pay off the judgment over a few years so you can protect your land.