Suttell & Associates collection, legal fees, Bellevue, Washington

Get a copy from Sears that your debt has been written off. Then send it to the lawyers in question. Alot of times these people will buy bad debts that have already been closed. What happened when you went to court the first two times. The only way they can garnish your wages is if a judge orders it. Did a judge order it? If the debt has been written off you need proof from sears. They can not just put a lien on your house. Who told you this. It has to go through a judge. How did you discover that they had put a lien on your house. Did they just tell you they did. It sounds like their  trying to strong arm you into paying off a bad debt that they purchased. If you get proof from sears that should shut them up. If Sears wont give you any get a lawyer and they will get it for you. Or threaten them that you will. If the lawyers dont back down after this is done. Then you may have to get a lawyer yourself.

"Suttell eventually had me served and took me to court twice. "

I appears to me that you have a real problem now because they have a judgement against you-valid debt now.

Once someone wins a civil judgment against you, if you don't satisfy the judgment in a reasonable amount of time, it is NORMAL for the plaintif to go back to court and seek an enforcement order.  It appears to me this has occured. 

With a judgment in place the plaintif may indeed be granted liens against real property as well as other property of value; car, boat, RV, etc. as well as a garnishment of wages.

You need to read ALL of the court documents from the two times you went to court.  What you owe is WHAT IS STIPULATED in the court award.  If their legal fees were included in the judgment, then you now owe the legal fees as well.  Also, you should know that a civil award can appear on credit reports about you for as long as the SOL for civil judgments in the State of the court that granted the award-this is normally LONGER than the general seven years for consumer debt.

I suggest you consult with an attorney about this to obtain competent legal advice as to your remaining options.

Ignore Steff's advice as it doesn't appear she noted that you were sued in court.

Good luck.

While the advise from the previous poster was well meaning, it is wrong.

There are many ways a collection agency can find out where you work without you telling them.  In the end if they for some reason can't they can have the court issue a court order that would require you to tell them.  Second they can not garnish your wages, or have a lien placed on any property until they have a judgment.  Once they have a judgment any Cease Contact letters are basically meaningless because they can get the court to do things for them.

So now back to the OP.  A creditor is under NO..that is ZERO, ZIP, NADA obligation to work with a debt settlement company.  In fact once a creditor finds out you are with a debt settlement company, more and more are instantly going to filing a suit for the debt.  Unfortunately you found this out the hard way.   When Sears charged-off the debt, all that means is that they removed it from their books and sold it to another agency.  It does NOT remove your obligation to the debt, you just owe that debt to another agency.

From what you wrote here, it appears as if they got a valid judgment.  As you were served and seemed to have your day in court to defend yourself.  If that is the case you are pretty much out of options to try and get the judgment vacated.  Which means they can take additional measures to get you to pay.

Now, it is also against the Federal law for an employer to fire you because of a wage garnishment for a single debt.  So if this would have been your only garnishment and they fired you.  Not only could you go after your employer for damages, but they could be fined and be subject to jail time.

Another option is a lien, which they seemed to have done.  Again unfortunately if it is a valid judgment your only choice is to pay the lien or work out a deal with Suttell for them to agree to release it.  When you do this it is best to do EVERYTHING in writing so that you have a paper trail.  If you offer them any money, do not send them any money until you have an agreement in place.  Also, what ever you do, do not pay them from any of your regular accounts.  Have it in writing that it will be by US Postal Service Money orders only.  Because if you give them any information on your bank accounts they may use that to attach those and withdraw the money that way.

They cannot touch your wages if they ask were you work at refuse to tell them. I would also send a stop contact letter certified but keep a copy for your self

I would also tell them flat out I am not paying your fees either and they cannot put a Lein on your house either I would tell them take it off or you will hear from my lawyer