<prompt> Human: My bank account which is joint account with me and my girl friend was frozen. We used that account to pay our rent which is why it was in both of our names. I went through a rough period in my life a few years ago and when I went to the hospital due to a really bad jaw infection I thought my insurance would cover a lot more than it did. I tried to fight how high the bill was because of the outrageous charges for something and I got no where with the hospital. I never paid and it went to a debt collection lawyers office. For a long time I was not in a good place in my life and just said fuck it Im not gonna pay them. About 6 months ago I turned around a lot of stuff in my life and I started to organize my life a lot better but forgetting all about this debt collector. From what I found out online was there was a case which happened in November of 2012. I never had any idea there was a court case. I was never handed a summons and I never got anything in the mail from them or the courts that there was a court date. I moved in early October so if they did send someone to give me a summons to show up in court at my old address then I never got it. I had the post office forward my mail to my new address so if they sent something in the mail I most likely would have received it if they did. The judgment was for a little over 1400 but the original hospital bill was for around 700. There was 1400 in that bank account but I need that money to pay my rent. I dont have a problem paying these guys a reasonable amount of money for the debt I owe but for them to double it is crazy in my opinion, especially when Im sure they paid cents on the dollar for it. From what I read online is that I can try and vacate the judgment due to them not serving me properly but Im not sure if I really have a case for that maybe due to some loop hole that I dont know about. If I call these people do you think they will still negotiate even though they have a judgment against me or what if I tell them I am going to try and vacate the judgment, would they be more will to negotiate then? I really dont know the best course of action to take with this and I really could use some advice. FYI: I live in New York. Also with any advice given to me, I will not assume you are a lawyer in anyway but are just trying to help out. Thank you!Assistant: You know 700 isnt all that ridiculous a bill for a really bad jaw infection that required a hospital. How long were you there? What were the specific charges that you were trying to fight? If theres a 100day general fee youre not going to get any traction, but if its 300 for a band aid youd have a little leeway. Since you did have some insurance Id suspect that theres nothing on there that was too obscene, most likely just a bunch of co-pays. The judgement amount of 700 for legal fees isnt really that high either. If you had owed them 15k the legal fee would probably still be on the order of 700-1000.Had you worked with them at the time you could have gotten on a payment play and gotten out the door with maybe 800 in total expenses after potential interest.Id call the hospital, and the collection agency, and maybe even the court. Try to get them to garnish your wages instead. Theyll automatically take a cut of your paycheck every month to pay the bill. Your fuckit attitude caused this, and since they got a court judgement theres not too much that you can do about it.Human: that required a hospital. How long were you there? What were the specific charges that you were trying to fight? If theres a 100day general fee youre not going to get any traction, but if its 300 for a band aid youd have a little leeway. Since you did have some It is if you actually had health insurance at the time. I was literally with a nurse practitioner for 15 minutes who looked in my mouth and said it doesnt need to be drained and antibiotics will fix it. Thats worth a bill for over 1000? Insurance paid like 300 and the rest was put on me.Who does everyone feel the need to point out that my fuck it attitude is what caused this. No shit! People love point out the obvious I guess.  <response>: 15 minute ER visit? 700 is a bit excessive. Theres always a co-pay for that, but I wouldnt have expected it to be more than about 200.Everyone points out your attitude about this because its the one thing that you can change about the situation. And itll help you in just about everything in the future. Its like teaching you how to fish instead of just giving you a fish. 