My mother had a default judgment against her by Midland Funding last year. The last two months she took classes to try to qualify for grant money for a down payment to get a house. They advised that somehow she has to get the default judgment removed off her credit report before she gets a house. I have been doing some digging around and wrote to the Divisions of Corporations in New York State. I found out that Midland Funding did not have a Certificate of Authorization to do business in New York State at the time they had the default judgment against my mother. Midland Funding did receive a Certificate of Authorization from NY State on Jan 22, 2008. They had no right to collect debts from NY State residents before this date. My mother is going to file to have the judgment vacated. Furthermore I found out that Midland Funding was registered in NY State as a Delaware LLC. The Divisions of Corporations further stated that they were using a fictitious name. Any persons who reside in NY State and have default judgments against them by Midland Funding before Jan 22, 2008 should have their judgments vacated. You can write to the:

Department of State
Divisions of Corporations & Uniform Code
99 Washington Ave. Suite 600
Albany, NY 12231

You can get verification of what I have stated here and show the verification in court.
Anyone who lives outside of NY State should write to their State's Divisions of Corporations and find out if a debt buyer such as Midland Funding or another has a license to do business in your State. I doubt they have a license in all 50 States, that would be very time consuming and costly to do so. They think everyone is clueless and will not think to check up on them. Furthermore a license has to be renewed each year. A debt buyer is also subject to taxation laws in each State they collect debts from. Are they paying these taxes? I hope this information can be helpful.

Amy
Jamestown, New York
U.S.A.