I contacted a loan specialist in regards to our credit report to begin the process of owning a home again after a foreclosure. When he looked into our credit he told us that there is a judgement against us. We were not aware of this so I contacted the clerk of courts. They said that there is a judgement and if I understand this correctly they said the judgement went into a lien. They gave me information on the case so I contacted the law firm that is involved and asked them about it. I tracked down the original creditor because the law firm does not do settlements and the original creditor sold the account to Capital One. I contacted Capital One and they told me the amount of the judgement is around {$6000.00}. The amount that we actually accumulated on this card was a little over {$1000.00} and this is an old debt. I asked them why the amount we owed is so much. They said late fees, interest and court costs have accumulated but they would accept {$4400.00} so the lien can be lifted. This credit card was one that was being negotiated by a debt settlement company that we were working with that turned out to be a scam. Before this credit card debt could be taken care of, the debt settlement company collected their fee from us then disappeared. The law firm claims that all the information they got from this creditor was being sent to the debt settlement company which no longer existed. My question is, why did n't they then get in touch with us before the amount on this account got to be what it is??? This debt is many years old. I told them that I could not send the entire amount of {$4400.00} but that I would send it in three payments of {$1400.00}. I am working with a credit counseling agency right now and this does n't sound right to them either and finds it suspicious that a credit card debt would go into a lien. I already sent the first payment but I am now wondering if I should send the remaining two payments just in case this account can be settled for the amount of the first payment I sent of {$1400.00}. Can I get someone to help me with this issue? This account is not on our credit report from what I can see and I 'm not sure how the loan specialist came across it.