Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in New Jersey

Re: judgemnt

You may be a victim of identity theft. Contact the credit reporting agency and dispute the report. Ask how the report was obtained. They are obligated to verify it and tell you the result. That will tell you more. Then, ask again.

See also: http://info.corbettlaw.net/lawguru.htm

Re: judgemnt

The situation you describe is rather common these days often as the result of "debt buying" by debt buyers of very old claims. They buy old claims for pennies on the dollar and then file lawsuits on the debt they have bought, often using outdated debtor address information (based on the debtor address reflected in the years old debt ). This results in default judgments and debtors not learning that they have even been sued until they see a judgment on their credit report, or the judgment creditor starts judgment enforcement efforts.

You don't mention the dollar amount involved so it is unclear whether it would make economic sense for you to get an attorney involved. If you can afford to hire an attorney, hiring one in the county where the court that issued the judgment is located who handles these type of matters would make sense.

If a judgment debtor learns there is a judgment entered against him/her and has no idea what it is about, he/she should obtain a copy of the judgment and underlying case file. If judgment debtor knows the court that issued the judgment, he/she can go there in person and request a copy of the case file and photocopy it. If the judgment debtor can�t physically travel to the court in question for some reason (because it is out of state, too far away, etc.) he/she may be able to arrange for a fee to the Court to have court staff conduct a records search and provide copies of the relevant records, or hire a local outside copy service to do this (most courts are serviced by at least a few outside companies that provide such service for a fee, sometimes called �attorney service� firms).

If in your situation the judgment was obtained by a debt buyer, and the underlying debt is not one you ever owed (i.e., debt buyer sued you because your name is same or similar to someone else, but you never had the underlying credit card in question/owed the alleged debt), you may have a claim for violation of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act (FDCPA) claim against the plaintiff that got a judgment against you.

If you can't afford an attorney, the NJ Court system website has information for the self-represented and regarding legal assistance, see: http://www.judiciary.state.nj.us

Please feel free to visit the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on our website at www.starrandstarr.com/faqs.htm for further information regarding debtor-creditor and collections matters generally.

The foregoing is intended as general information of interest to readers of this web site and is not intended as legal advice regarding your situation. Facts and circumstances not provided in your brief description of your matter may have a material affect on your rights and remedies in this matter. YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY.

Best regards,