“BLJ” stands for “Bankruptcies, Liens, and Judgments.” They are civil court records that include information such as: amount owed, date filed, filing number, court name, chapter (for bankruptcies), and case status. Lien and Judgment records are filed on a per-county basis and are therefore hard to get complete coverage for. Bankruptcies are all filed through the federal government and, as a result, tend to be more comprehensive and complete.
Recently the three major credit bureaus (Transunion, Equifax, and Experian) stopped including Liens and Judgments in their consumer credit reports. Because the bankruptcies were more reliable and carried more importance, they remain in those credit reports. As a result, lots of people are looking to “fill the hole” that the credit bureaus left when they chose to remove liens and judgments.
USInfoSearch offers both a Personal and Business BLJ search which includes all Bankruptcies and Liens and Judgments from a large selection of jurisdictions (contact us for a complete county coverage list). But remember, our data is non-FCRA compliant and cannot be used to make a credit decision!
