What happens if you are unemployed and you return to work with a default judgment for credit card debt unresolved?

The creditor can haul you into court to garnish or attach your wages to satisfy the judgment, unless you earn too little under your state law to garnish.

Generally speaking, your assets, (current and future), as well as your income (current and future) can and will be subject to seizure (termed garnishment when wages) to satisfy the debt they got a judgment for. Obviously, they can (and as it is their business, very good at) using all legal methods to enforce the right, or compel you to pay...(of which there are many).

You will be entirely responsible for any costs they incur to enforce and collect the full amount of the debt, interest, penalties, legal fees, etc. too. So a small debt for something you bought can grow very large, very quickly. Of course, they may just sell the right to collect to a third party, but the result is the same.

And while you may feel you simply don't have anything to take (or even a wage they can garnish)...a judgment stays in force for 20 years (and can easily be renewed)...so you better want to be poor, have nothing and be worth nothing for a verylong time! It isn't unheard of for some collection agency to find you have an outstanding judgment from years ago...now that they see you have something...(a car, a house, a lottery winning...anything) and get their fee by collecting it with all the back interest.

Your best served by paying, and if you really can't, contact them to work out a plan to do so you can live with.

Well, judgments may be valid for 10 or 20 years. I've never heard of a state that allows a 20-year judgment to be renewed, but I suppose it's possible. 10 year judgments are renewable for an additional 10 years, as a rule. I find it peculiar that the "improved" answer - which went far beyond what was asked - failed to mention filing bankruptcy, which will eliminate all those added fees, interest and charges after filing, treat all creditors in the same class equally, and takes the choice of settling away from the creditor.