Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in North Carolina

You already have a judgment against you, based on what you describe, but I would have to see the papers to know for certain. It does not matter that it was sold over 5 years ago. What matters is how much time passed between the date you stopped paying and when they sued. If indeed it was more than 3 years, then you had a valid statute of limitations defense and you should have gone to a lawyer when you were first sued. The statute of limitations is a waivable defense meaning that if you do not raise it, its waived.

You don't tell me when the judgment was entered and I don't know if you can file a Rule 60 motion to open the judgment and, if you, could whether the statute of limitations defense can be raised. You nereed to show good cause for a Rule 60 motion and doing nothing because you couldn't afford it or did not know earlier is not an excuse.

The exemption papers are good for 90 days and can be re-issued an unlimited number of times. You have 20 days after service to fill them out. While you have no property, do you have a bank account? The creditor will try and freeze your bank account and will take any money that you have in there.

The judgment will last 10 years from the date of its entry. It can be renewed for another 10 years.

What you should do, if this is your debt, is decide what to do about the debt. As I said, its not going away. If you have a lot of debts, it might be wise to file bankruptcy, in which case you should speak to a bankruptcy lawyer about that. If bankruptcy does not make sense or is not an option, then you can settle debts at any time, even after judgment. I would save up funds equal to about 50% of the debt (plus interest added a rate of 8% year from the date of entry) and when you have the amount see if the creditor will accept it.