Can You Have a Judgment Against You Without Knowing About It?

If your wages have been garnished and you do not know why you may have a judgment against you. A judgment is a legal action or lawsuit against you to recover debts. It is possible to have a judgment against you without your knowledge.

When it does happen, you may not have been served the original summons because your address is not up-to-date, or you weren't served the summons properly. You may even have missed the court date.

If a judgment has been made against you by a court, you must take immediate action. There is a proper way to issue a summons, and yours may have been granted under questionable conditions or improperly served. Read on to see how to fight a judgment taken without your knowledge.

What Does a Judgment Against Me Mean?

A judgment is a legal decision that defines the rights and liabilities of the two parties in a lawsuit. There are six different types of judgments in a debt collection lawsuit. These are legal definitions, and since we are not attorneys, we are not offering advice. If you have questions, contact an attorney before signing anything.

Confession of Judgment is a document where the debtor admits to a debt and agrees to a judgment. If you sign this document, you cannot dispute this claim in the future. If you have signed an IOU or promissory note, you may have a confession of judgment without a lawsuit.

A Consent Judgment means that the debtor has agreed they owe the debt but cannot pay it now. If one of these is enacted, the debtor is protected from a lawsuit if payments are made on the debt.

A Default Judgment means that there has been a Summons and Complaint, but the debtor did not attend the court date. The debtor then has a judgment against them for the amount of the debt, plus attorney fees and costs, as appropriate. Once this judgment is issued, bank accounts can be frozen, or wages garnished.

A Summary Judgment is a court order that declares that there is evidence to declare for one party without a trial.

The last two involve Trial by Jury/Bench and an Arbitration Award. The first occurs if there is no agreement before the case goes to court, and the second is settled by a third party based on the case. Many credit cards have a binding arbitration clause in the fine print.

How Judgments Can Impact Your Finances and Credit

In the past, a judgment, with or without your knowledge, was against you damaging your credit score and history. This is no longer the case. However, several factors associated with judgments can affect your finances and credit report.

The damage to your credit report is done before you end up with a judgment. The summons was issued because of non-payment of the debt, and that non-payment hurts your credit score.

If there is an unexpected judgment, you can end up with bounced checks or returned payments for insufficient funds. This can cause additional missed payments that damage your credit report further.

Wage garnishments and frozen bank accounts can create financial hardships. There are limits on what the court can order seized, so if you did not show up to the court hearings, the court could not protect the mandatory amounts in your accounts or wages.

How Can a Judgment Happen Without My Knowledge?

Mistakes can happen, especially if you have moved or not kept your creditors up-to-date with your current address.

We will outline the steps that the creditor and court must take.

1. You should receive a Demand letter. This letter explains that you owe money, collections have been attempted, and the creditor or debt collector plans to take legal action against you. If you get one of these, respond immediately. You can find directions are on this article.
2. The creditor (plaintiff or judgment creditor) files a Summons and Complaint
3. The court processes the filing
4. The Summons is sent to the debtor (defendant or judgment debtor)
5. The defendant has a brief time period to respond. Instructions are included in this article. Do NOT ignore this summons, or there will be a default judgment against you
6. The lawsuit is heard in court
7. The court renders a judgment that can include the following:
8. Wage garnishment
9. Payment plan
10. Attachment of liens on the property (this means you must turn over proceeds from selling the property to the plaintiff)

If you are behind in taxes or child support payments, the federal or state government can garnish your wages or freeze your account without going to court. They must, however, notify you in writing before the judgment is enacted.

As you can see, there are plenty of places where paperwork can go astray. While getting phone calls and letters from creditors or debt collectors is annoying, keeping your address up-to-date with them is very important. Doing this will help keep debt collectors from contacting your employers or family.

Ignoring demand letters or summons is a very bad idea.

The summons is a legal document, and ignoring it makes it much harder to reverse the judgment. Check your credit report regularly to ensure no errors or unpaid bills.

How to Discover if There is a Judgment Against You

If you have ignored your mail or not kept your address up-to-date, your first realization of a judgment against you may be a frozen bank account with bouncing payments or your employer notifying you that your wages are being garnished.

To keep on top of your finances, regularly check your credit report. Since more than 1/3 of Americans have errors on their credit histories, it is very important.

Keep an eye on public records by checking online databases for your county, state, federal government, or any courts covering your location. If you need copies of the records, you can request them online.

You can also use a people search tool, which can be expensive.

Finally, always pay your bills, balance your checking account, and pay attention to your mail.

What to Do If You Discover a Judgment Against You

If you discover a judgment against you, your first step is to call the court that issued it. Once you have gotten all the paperwork, you then have two choices. If the judgment was in error or you never received the summons, you may want to contact a lawyer to help guide you through getting the judgment reversed.

If the judgment is valid, you can contact the creditor/debt collector and try to settle the matter through payments.

They will probably prefer a lump sum payment. Get everything in writing, make copies of the check or method of deposit (screenshots), and get a letter stating that the debt is paid as agreed. You can then petition the court to resolve the judgment.

If you cannot, you may need the professional services of a debt settlement company like Pacific Debt Relief to negotiate your debt for you.