I want to add I am from Minnesota

The place to start is probably a legal aid clinic. Someone there will have the ability to look into court records and find out exactly what happened.

It's entirely possible that someone else with your name, or a similar name, has the judgment against him or her, but it got put under your social security number by accident. Things like that are why people are advised to look at their credit ratings annually.

Why is the amount different in the letter I just got (higher) than what the judgement on my credit report is? It's the same debt collector but the amount is over 700.00 more than the judgement.
.Can debt collectors add more money onto a judgement? I don't believe this is my debt, but for someone that owed a debt, can a debt collector add more fee's onto the debt after a judgement is put in place.

The best - and easiest - place to start is with the court that entered the judgment for the creditor against you, for which the case number and some details are available online. Then, you can go to the court and examine the file yourself for more availing information, including who might have been served, because service of some type was deemed sufficient by the court before proceeding. You might need to make a copy of the service papers.

This will save you a great deal of wasted energy in trying to deal with a member of the Minnesota Legal Services Coalition who is very unlikely to be able to assist you, because it lacks the resources to deal with every matter that comes its way. In other words, MLSC is a triage operation and you will be considered already dead.

Once you have some details, please come back here and I will be better able to assist you.

Thank you for your question.

Yes the amount can continue to grow, because once a judgment is entered, interest is also permitted.

When papers are served, can they be served to someone other than the person being sued? I've never had any papers served to me. I will take your advice and go to the court to examine the file. Thanks for your help

The service can be had by delivering to the named defendant; to anyone else who answers the door over 16 years of age; or by stapling or taping it to the FRONT door. In some jurisdictions, the summons is simply mailed.

Now, any number of things could have occurred, including a mixing-up of similar names or of Social Security numbers. What I have seen more often is where one ex bails on a credit card debt and the other has moved, or they both have moved, and if they cannot find one, they will go after the other, even if you have moved. Debt collectors are not ethical and will only meet the minimum requirements of notice that they can think they can get away with, or even none at all, because a large court venue might be pressed to actually enforce the legal notice requirement and simply award a judgment when the defendant does not show up without questioning service.

Getting a copy of the filed service attempt is very important, especially if there is an obvious discrepancy.