Credit Card Judgement

What is the name of your state? NC
I recieved a phone call today from a lady that said I have a civil judgement against me. Up until May of last year I had perfect credit but an illness has made it to where I had to leave my job and am now living with family in North Carolina, I am originally from Florida and I have nothing in North Carolina except for my mail. Everything else still has my Florida information, including my 1995 vehicle and a house that my parents put my name on along with theirs. I have told the credit card companies that I owe of my situation, and that I have no income. I know I owe money, but am not able to pay. My life over the last year has been turned inside out and I really need to know what I need to do here. I'm 40 years old and aside of knowing I owe these people money, need to know what I can expect now. Thank you.

[Ladynred]

Do you know who the woman was, her company, anything ? How did she manage to find you to tell you this ? IF there really is a judgement against you, you can call the civil court in the county where it was entered and find out all the particulars about it.

There IS a scam out there where people are contacted and being told they have judgments when they really do not. People get scared and end up paying the scammers ! Just a precautionary bit of information.. find out what you can on your own as to the facts.

Thanks for your reply Lady and yes she did identify herself as Ms. Jones but did not identify where she was calling from. She merely said there is a civil judgement against me and I need to call her immediately and also gave a case #. I honestly would not doubt if a credit card company has filed suit against me, I just don't know what to expect, or if I should talk to a lawyer 1st before I reply to the phone call. I should have contacted a lawyer when my situation worsened, but I keep hoping that I can get back to work soon, so I have just been putting my money obligations on the back burner.

[Ladynred]

Hmmm.. could still be a scam. Also, collection agencies use 'case numbers' as their internal reference numbers, so it could just be a scare tatic on her part to make you call her. If you don't know what creditor she's collecting for, be careful if you do call her back, I wouldn't call her back right away, believe me, she WILL call back !

In the meantime you can do 2 things to check her story. Call the civil court in the county where you are now and ask if there are any judgments filed against you. I would also call the civil court in FL and see if anything is filed there. If that's the only 2 addresses they would have for you, then that's the only places a judgment could be filed. Check this yourself before you make any calls to a collector. She may just be lying thru her teeth to scare you.

How long has it been since you paid anything and about how much do you owe ? Judgments *usually* take quite a bit of time to happen unless you're talking about a LOT of money.

I will do what you suggested. It has been at least a year since anything has been paid on any accounts and the last 6 months or so that were paid-were paid by my sister. But the interest charges & late fees were just too much for her to help me with. I know I don't qualify for the statute of limitations. I will go now to check on any judgements files--the only thing I'm worried about is my parents' house that they put my name on because of them getting on up in years. Thank you again. Oh, When all of this started my debt was about $16k, most of that being medical payments. I'm sure with the added fees it is well over $20k now.

[Ladynred]

Its *possible* that if there is a real judgment it could be for a high medical bill. However, judgments don't happen w/o your knowledge. You would have to have been served papers, either by a process server or by certified mail, that would notify you that someone is going for a judgement. If you have never been served any papers, this woman is most likely just another scum-sucking collector.

You're right to be concerned for the house, a creditor could put a lien on it. However Florida has some might good laws in favor of debtors, like an unlimited homestead exemption in bankruptcy. I'm not sure if that applies for judgements, but I can look that up.. or maybe a Sr. Member will chime in here