Rebuilding Your Credit

[snowytimber]

I am finally in a position to get serious about raising my credit score.  I recently got my credit report and found a judgment against me from 2008.  I never knew anything about this.  It is my name but at an address I have never lived at.  I live in VT and the judgment in from Suffolk County Court on LI and the address shown for me is on LI.  I grew up on LI but haven't lived there since 1977 and haven't even stepped foot on LI since my mother's funeral in 2004.  The address listed on the judgment isn't even close to where we lived.  Should I contact the Court or dispute this on my reports?

[Duncanrr]

While I'm not licensed to practice in TN, I can give you some general advice. (you may want to contact local counsel to discuss your rights). You need to pull the original lawsuit and judgment as well as the proof of service. Depending on the type of action, if you were not properly served with the original petition then the judgment is null and you can have the court vacate it. The fact that they have the wrong address makes me think that you were never properly served. In addition to service, make sure that this is a judgment against you and not some other individual. If judgment is good on procedural grounds then you need to treat it like other collections. Note, in Louisiana judgments are good for 10 years and then have to be reinscribed.

[pizzadude]

I agree that your first step should be to contact the court and obtain copies of the lawsuit and associated judgement. If it is a case of mistaken identity ( you weren't actually sued ) then it should be relatively easy to get it off your reports. If you were sued but were never served properly then you'll need to go the route of getting it vacated as described.