Judgement, but Court doesnt have file

[Anonymous]

So, i received a judgement on my credit reports in July 2014. Its for an credit card that i defaulted on with BofA.  When i noticed the judgement hit my credit report I went to the court office to  get a copy of the civil judgement, and the clerk said they are unable to find my file. I went 2 times in a 3 week span and got the same response. My question is should I dispute this judgement with the CRAs and ask for validation for the judgement? I am sure the plantiff/lawyers for BofA have a copy but I will try not to get them involved if possible. Any thoughts

[RobertEG]

Are you sure you went to the correct court?

Inherent in your post is that you never received any communications from the alleged judgment court, and yet obtained a judment?

That rasies possibilities of seeking vacature of the judgment due to lack of proper service of notice of the proceeding.

If you dont wish to contact the judgment creditor and obtain the information, you can certainly dispute with the CRA based on the statement of the clerk of the court and see whether the CRA verifies.

However, the more significant issue at this point would apparently be your lack of notice of the process.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So, i received a judgement on my credit reports in July 2014. Its for an credit card that i defaulted on with BofA.  When i noticed the judgement hit my credit report I went to the court office to  get a copy of the civil judgement, and the clerk said they are unable to find my file. I went 2 times in a 3 week span and got the same response. My question is should I dispute this judgement with the CRAs and ask for validation for the judgement? I am sure the plantiff/lawyers for BofA have a copy but I will try not to get them involved if possible. Any thoughts

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Your full TU reports should have the exact court, as well as the phone number, and the case (docket) number. If you are looking at your reports online this information may not be visible. Pull you full free reports from annualcreditreport.com

[Anonymous]

Well, I did receive a notice/summons from the lawyers for BoA. However, I dont beleive it was the correct process either of being served.  Thats why i went to the court to get all the documents for the judgement and make sure the process was legal. The clerk saw my info in the system but when she went to retireve the file she couldnt find it. So, I'm debating whether to  dispute with the CRAs or contact the lawyers to get the judgment paperwork from them.

[RobertEG]

That is a very different issue..... the court posted the judgment in the public record, but cant locate the physical file.

If you dispute with the CRA, their obligation will be to reinvestigate whether it is still in the public record.

If it is, they can verify its accuracy.  They wont rule on the validity of the public record.

[Anonymous]

You need to research your states rules for service. It varies greatly. Some states require personal physical service, others allow service to any adult at the residence of record, still others allow service via registered mail.