Can I get a judgment removed from my credit report?
I had a Judgement entered on feb/2012 for a $400 medical bill. It increased to $800 once it was sold to a debt collector. The collector reached out to me to make payments but I could not due to lack of funds. Long story short. A judgement was served to my then boyfriend at the time (feb/2012) because he opened my door and confirmed I lived at that residence. Missed court date so the collector received a default judgement against me. Started making payments of $100 every month until I lost my job again. I haven't heard from them since. I made 2 or 3 payments total after the judgement was in place.
I want to fix this debt but I want the judgement to be removed from my credit report. Called the collector 2 months ago informing them I would make two split to pay balance in full within 1 month. They declined saying they would gladly accept the payment but will not remove the judgement they will only said judgement settled on my cr. The firm is a building not far from home maybe 20 min ago with an office of like 5 ppl. Not sure if i can go in face to face to make arrangement again with my same terms or speak to another agent and or person in charge. Not sure if its something i can do on my own to meet my terms or if i need to get my own attorney to do the negotiating for me. Really want to take care of this before it increase any higher than it already is or worse/wage garnishment. btw I live in M0.
How can I get a judgement removed off my account if I pay the balance in full? Is this something i can do on my own if told
—Jai
Short answer
Not by asking whoever is collecting. Debt collectors, debt buyers and collection attorneys cannot make your original creditor change what it reports, and nobody collecting the debt controls the court record. Removing a judgment means getting it vacated. For most people the practical move is to pay or settle it and make sure a satisfaction of judgment gets filed.
Key points on this page
- There is a hierarchy to credit reporting. Collectors, debt buyers and collection attorneys cannot change what the bank reports, and original creditors have no real influence over the court record once judgment is entered.
- The judgment is a matter of public record and the court maintains it. Getting it vacated takes an attorney who knows that work, or a lot of your own time and energy.
- Judgment debt carries a 7 year shelf life, and that clock starts on the date the judgment was entered, not on your first missed payment.
- The earlier stages, from first late payment through charge off and collection reporting, carry about a 7.5 year shelf life from the date you missed your first payment.
- Paying or settling the judgment results in a satisfaction of judgment. Put the filing of that satisfaction in the agreement in clear terms, because there is no shortage of feet dragging on updating the court.
- Once the satisfaction is on the court record you can use it to update your credit report yourself, which matters when you are trying to get a home loan approved or refinance. On a small balance, paying it also heads off garnishment.
It sounds like your main goal is to resolve the debt and get the negative off of your credit report. Unfortunately, you are fighting a losing battle with this approach.
Getting a Court Judgment Removed From Your Credit Report
The life time credit cycle of a debt that goes unpaid looks like this:
- 30 days after you miss a payment to a creditor, like a credit card bill, you should see a thirty day late pay on your credit report if the item appeared there already and is updated regularly.
- 60 days after a missed payment you now would have 2 payments skipped and are considered 60 days late.
- As long as you continue to miss payments month by month you are being reported as an additional month late.
- Ultimately the creditor will charge off the debt and take an accounting hit. The charge off is often then reflected on your credit report.
The Life Cycle of Credit Damage
After missing payments on unsecured (and most other debts), your account may take on some additional qualities after charge off.
5. If a debt collector/debt buyer has the account and reports it as a collection on your credit report, with a balance due, the charge off from the original creditor remains, and the new negative will be reporting a balance due them, not the original creditor.
6. If you are sued for collection and judgment entered in the court, the judgment can turn up in the public record section of your credit profile.
Most of the negative credit impact from missing bill payments does not get to #6. One through 5 has a 7.5 year shelf life from the date you missed your first payment. There are some shenanigans that occur with credit reporting and debt collection accounts being reported with more recent dates, and even instances of multiple entries showing up for the same debt and more than one reporting a balance due, which is not right because you cannot owe the same debt to more than one place.
I am pointing out the above as a brief outline for later readers of this page. A little perspective of what happens to credit reports along the way when a bill remains unpaid is a good foundation for what I have to share about getting a judgment removed from credit reports.
Credit Reporting, Collectors, Debt Buyers, or Attorneys Collecting Debt
There is a hierarchy to who can do what when it comes to credit reporting. Debt collectors, debt buyers, and attorneys that collect debt cannot make your original creditor change what the bank is reporting to the credit bureaus. And even the original creditors have no real influence over the court records once the judgement is entered.
The judgment is a matter of public record. The integrity of that record is maintained by the court. You would need to get the judgment vacated, or the judgment creditor to somehow miraculously want to undo their suing you (doesn’t happen).
Unless you have a good argument for getting the judgment vacated, and are willing to spend the money on an attorney who knows what they are doing when it comes to accomplishing something like this, or dedicate a hell of a lot of personal time and energy to learning how to do it for yourself, the judgment will stay in the record with the court.
Judgment debt has a 7 year shelf life too, but the time only starts ticking from the date the judgment was entered.
Is this a big deal? Not for most people. Getting the judgment paid, even for less than the balance owed if that is agreed to, will result in a satisfaction of judgment being filed. You can use the court record to rapidly update your credit report yourself if you are dealing with the judgment in order to get a home loan approved, or refinance a current mortgage.
Be sure that any pay off agreement, whether in full, or for less than the judgment balance, includes filing the satisfaction with the court. There is no shortage of feet dragging when it comes to updating the court.
Paying Off or Settling a Judgment Debt Can Be Done on Your Own
It is always best to discuss legal matters with an attorney who practices in a specific area of law. In this case, one with credit reporting or debt collection experience. Hiring one to help resolve an 800.00 debt may not make sense unless you want to battle the judgment itself.
With a smaller debt amount such as this one, you can get the payment in and avoid garnishment. Just be sure that any agreement to pay includes in clear terms that upon receipt of payment, or the full agreement being met, a judgment satisfaction will be filed with the court.
Improving Your Credit Report After Payment Setbacks and Judgments
I will have a series up at the beginning of the year that details credit report recovery and tips for increasing credit scores after bouncing back from a tough financial patch. In the mean time, if you can answer the following questions in a comment reply, I can give some more feedback:
What are your immediate financial and credit goals (buying a home, car, other)?
What other negatives appear on your credit report beside the original payment default related to the judgment debt, and the judgment itself?
What positive items are appearing on your credit report right now?
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About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
Good Afternoon,
I am looking to possibly purchase a home in Connecticut in a couple of months but I need to get my credit score up a little to qualify for FHA. I have a few items on my credit report that is due to fall off my credit report by the end on the year 2014. I not sure what should I do. Should I attempt to pay them off because I would probably need to show them paid before I would be able to get approve by FHA? IF so what percentage should I offer on such an old debt.
Also I have a question about a debt letter I received. I got a letter in the mail from one of those attorneys who is looking to collect a debt on behalf of the credit card company. The letter said I owe almost 3500.00. I get served with some papers from the same attorney’s office that the debt was $1600.00 I called the attorneys office and setup payment arrangements. I pulled my credit report recently and I notice that there is a judgment on my account from this attorney. Can they file a judgment with me if I setup arrangement with them before any courts proceedings? We had already come to an agreement. I wanted to know is there a way to have the judgment removed because I already came to payment arrangements with them and the first letter they sent me was more than double the amount of actual judgment.
One last question for you, when hard inquires come off your report, does that improve your credit score.
Thank You very much for your time
Roman – Are you already working with a mortgage broker, or loan officer. Have you talked about these really old collections on your credit reports? Is there some reason you want to do this now instead of waiting for those negatives to fall off later in the year?
When you are sued, and agree to long term payments, you will typicality be asked to consent or stipulate to a judgment. That sounds like what happened with you. It sounds like this could have been explained better too. For instance, if you knew a judgment was going to appear on your credit report, you may have opted for some other resolution. When did you enter into this payment agreement? Who is the judgment creditor and attorney that sued?
Hard inquiries falling off of your credit reports may help your credit score a few points, but it is file by file. You may have other things happening on your credit report that would mean no score increase, or a better increase.
Hi,
I just pulled my 3 free credit reports and I found that I have public records on my report that do not belong to me but to my dad. The spelling of our names are very similar. My question is once I get that removed will it help my credit score go up? The public record is from 2009, I do have some late payments (student loans, credit cards & collections item) that are more recent but I am working towards improving my credit to buy a car and anything will help as my credit score is 553.
According to Credit Karma my score is 553. I really don’t know how accurate Credit Karma is…
Credit scores vary. A lender pulling your credit report to finance a car is going to look at, and score differently, than a lender looking at whether or not to open a credit card account. If you are looking at a free score through credit Karma, it might be a close estimate to what a lender would see, but free scores are known to be off by quite a bit too.
The more recent late pays are likely hurting your credit the most.
You will need to dispute the public record items as not yours with the credit agencies. I suggest doing that in writing, not online. Send your credit report disputes certified mail return receipt requested. Include a copy of their reports you are looking at, and even use a highlighter pen to draw attention to the item that is not yours.
Keep a copy of everything you send for your own records. If the stuff that is not yours does not come off of the report on the first effort, post an update and lets go from there.
I received a judgment note on my door for a credit card . If I call the number of the person that posted the judgment? Do you think i have a chance to make arrangement to little at a time ?
ana – Payment arrangements for debts in all stage of collection, including judgments, are common. Can you be more specific with what was put on your door? Was it notice you are being sued, or that a judgment already exists?
Hi, I was sued for $1500 almost 7 years ago. The amount was immediately paid in full within 30 days. It has never been reflected on my credit report. How can I get this off or at this point should I just wait for it to fall off? It’s supposed to come off Dec 2014. It was fully satisfied and frustrating that it keeps showing there!
Thanks!
Wendy
Wendy – I am a little confused. You say the judgment has never appeared on your credit report, but then leave the impression that it will fall off late this year. Can you provide more details about the history of this debt, and your concerns?
Hi. I have been having a problem with my mortgage company reporting my payments 30 days late as early as the 13th of the month, even though they already have the payment. I noticed that they held one of my payments in a “suspense” account before applying my funds. When I asked why, no answer was given other than to say it would be applied within one business day but more than one business day had passed since it had been received and it still had not been applied. I have been having this problem for awhile regarding my credit report even though I can show my payment history. No luck disputing with credit bureaus. When I spoke to someone at mortgage company, I was informed that they report a month behind so they report December’s payment in January spot on report but that is inaccurate anyway because I have not been late like they state. What can I do? Anything?
hm – You have some options. Who is your mortgage with? Is that who is servicing the mortgage? If not, who is the servicer?
Wells Fargo is who our mortgage is with and yea, they are servicing the loan as well. Thank you.
hm – If the inaccurate mortgage reporting from Wells Fargo was not holding me back from credit approval, or a better rate, for the next 60 to 90 days, I would file a formal dispute with all credit reporting agencies showing the late pay, and copy Wells Fargo on everything too.Send all mailed dispute items certified mail return receipt, with a copy of each for my records. If after the credit reporting agencies and Wells Fargo review of everything, any inaccurate reporting remains, I would then file a credit reporting and/or mortgage servicing complaint with the CFPB through their web portal.
If you are in a hurry, or a bit exhausted from calls with Wells Fargo mortgage servicing that lead nowhere, you could skip the credit reporting dispute with Wells and the agencies, and move directly to the CFPB complaint portal.
Mike,
I’m currently having issues obtaining an auto loan due to a negative reporting from an issue from 12/2007. In this instance it was a credit card bill (MBNA) that was bought by Mann Bracken LLP. I had an arrangement with Mann Bracken to pay monthly and the debt was to be settled a long time ago, however, Mann Bracken LLP went bankrupt in 2010 and I have not been contacted by a new agency in order to rectify this issue. The outstanding debt on for this instance is $8500.
What are my options at this point? Wait until 12/2014 and request it be removed from my report, or do I have other options?
Thanks for your time.
Taras
Taras – Were you sued for collection that led to a judgment in the court? Who are you trying to get auto financing through?
Thanks for the quick response! No I was not sued. The debt had been sold to this specific collection agency and a payment arrangement was in place and being paid on time for at least a year prior to them filing chapter 7 bankruptcy. I was attempting to get financing through my Credit Union.
At this point the debt is likely out of stat, or too old to sue in order to collect. What state are you in?
If you cannot get the loan direct from your credit union, you may have a better opportunity, and even a better rate, available from the dealer, or the auto makers own finance company i.e. Honda Finance etc.
You could also dispute the credit reporting entry from Mann Bracken as paid, or inaccurate if you see anything there to pick apart (balance, or DOLA is wrong).
Are you in a hurry to get this approved?
I’m in MN – statute of limitations is 6yrs (which we are beyond at this point). I was in an accident 2 months ago and am in dire need of a vehicle so I’m trying to get as much info as possible before trying to get a loan. My score is in the low 700’s but I was deterred after finding out this was still on my report and my CU wasn’t willing to look past it.
Thanks again for your help, I really appreciate it!
Taras
HI
I HAVE RECENTLY HIRED A COMPANY TO DO CREDIT REPAIR FOR ME ALONG WITH TRYING TO PAYOFF DEBT I HAVE SEEN AN INCREASE DUE TO SOME OF THE DEBT I PAID OFF AND IT BEING REMOVED. I RECEIVED BACK REPORTS OF THE CREDIT REPAIR IN REFERENCE TO DISPUTING ITEMS WHERE REMOVED FROM ONE REPORT BUT NO ANOTHER. MOST IMPORTANT JUDGEMENTS WHERE REMOVED FROM EXPERIEN AND EQUIFAX BUT NOT TRANSUNION THE TRANSUNION ONLY SAYS UPDATED AND THE JUDGEMENTS REMAIN DO YOU THINK IT ONLY GOT REMOVED FROM THE OTHER TWO AND THEY SHOW REMOVED AFTER THE DISPUTE BECAUSE THEY DID NOT RESPOND IN ENOUGH TIME AND IF SO WIL THEY MORE THAN LIKELY BE ADDED BACK TO THE OTHER TWO CREDIT REPORTS?
THANKS FOR YOU HELP
Meme – It is common for items that were reporting accurately, to be removed from some form of credit repair effort, only to show back up again. What are your credit goals over the next 6 months? How old are the items you are disputing (when was the last payment made)?
hi mike
im trying to fix my husbands and I credit we are interested in purchasing a home. we pulled up his credit and find that he has 2 judgment’s on his credit report. At this point he doesn’t remember what they are from. One is in Tennessee and on is in Utah we live in WA I have no idea where to start with this. Do you think its best to contact a attorney to settle this matter we want to maybe buy a house by the end of the year if possible. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thank you if you need any more information feel free to let me know. I will take any advice.
ingrid – Did he live in those states at any time? If so, what are the dates the credit reports show as the judgments were entered? Was he living in those states within those time frames? Who are the judgment creditors?
Hi Michael!
Thank you for all the useful information you post on this site. I have a question for you. I owed money to Cash Call back in 2008. The total was for about $1700. They took me to court, and I was unable to appear because I was living in a different city and was about a week away from giving birth to my son…I vaguely remember, but I think I sent a form that I filled out to the court, letting them know that I was unable to travel due to my health situation. Well, as anticipated, I lost the case and had a judgment on my record. I paid Cash Call directly, and got something from them stating that my debt with them is now done and over with. My husband and I want to purchase a home, however, my credit report shows the judgment. I was told that I need to go to court and get that fixed by bringing the proof that I’ve paid it off…Could you point me in the right direction at trying to get this fixed on my credit report? I’m in California, this happened in end of 2008, beginning of 2009…Everything was paid off by 2010. the judgment is in Los Angeles, however, I live in San Diego…any suggestions, comments or advice will be greatly appreciated!
Dalia – Is the judgment in the court record accurately reflecting the judgment is satisfied? Do you have a proof of payments made? Was there any written agreement or outline of payments that were agreed to?
Hi Michael!
The judgement on my record doesn’t say paid/or resolved. Under status, it says “judgement” I do have a letter that Cash Call sent me stating that I had paid them off, and my understanding was that they have to send something to the court to state that I’ve paid, but I don’t see it reflecting on the report…
Dalia – Check the court record directly to see what it says about the judgment. If it is a matter of the credit report not showing an updated version of the judgment as satisfied (if the court record is correct and showing paid), that will be simpler and quicker to fix. If the the judgment creditor never did do what they were supposed to, and the court record was never updated, you can call the attorney in the San Diego area I sent you contact details for, and find out if they can help you with filing the necessary docs with the court to get this corrected there, and update the credit reporting agencies.
Thank you Michael,
I will contact the court to see what they say. Will keep you posted!
I appreciate all your help!
Dalia
Mike,
I’m in an interesting situation at the moment — perhaps you have some advice?
I defaulted on a Bank of America credit card in 2006. At some point the debt was sold to a company called NCO. NCO obtained a default judgement in early 2011. I’m just now trying to satisfy the judgement. This is where it gets weird — I called NCO and they had no record of anything — they said that they “don’t deal with Bank of America anymore” and referred me back to Bank of America. I called Bank of America and they said that the debt was sold to NCO so deal with them. Finally, I called the law firm that obtained the judgement for NCO……they did have record of it, and the interest is still running at %12, but said that “NCO closed the file and won’t get back to them”.
This is in Wisconsin.
So, in a nutshell, I have a (about $20,000) judgement on me and no party involved will accept money so I can satisfy this.
What are my options here?
Thank you SO much for your help 🙂
Tony – What is your current ability to satisfy or pay the judgment? Your options are limited given what you shared, but you have some.
I cannot pay the judgement in one lump sum. I can afford to pay 30-40% in one lump sum.
If I somehow come up with the entire amount, does that change things?
Tony – No one wants to take ownership of the court judgment, so paying the court the full amount owed would get this all sewed up and satisfied. But you would need the full amount, and if you do take that path, working with your own attorney would be ideal (basic docs, but best to get everything right).
Without the funds to do that, you could file a debt collection complaint with the CFPB against NCO, Bank of America, and the collection attorney. See who wants to resolve the debt at that point. I suspect NCO would step up to resolve the judgment they got, unless they sold that debt off to another buyer. But you should be prepared to settle this rapidly. And 30 to 40% is not a gimme when settling judgment debt. If it were me, I may want to have 60% on hand, or readily accessible, before I poke everyone involved.
I have a question on this instance. If the debt owner cannot provide records of the debt, and you dispute it in your credit report, and no one responds within the given amount of time, don’t they have to delete it from record?
Generally, that is how it works. Based on your prior comment on a different page, is this about the Jefferson Capital account? It was not clear that your credit reporting dispute was sent directly to Jefferson Capital, but rather to the credit reporting agencies. From that comment it appears Jefferson may have responded to any investigation request you sent to Experian.
Yes. I’m working with a mortgage company. Thanks so much for your responses.
Mike,
Thanks again so much for the response. I live in TN. The co-signed loans are charged off accounts that linger on. I recently inquired about a mortgage and the lady checked out my profile and my student loans were really what showed up on the debt-income ratio for the payment. I make great money and not looking for much of a home in contrast to what I can afford. I can afford the payment on a $300K home but only looking in the $180K range. The 620 credit score and the 640 credit score bares seperate interest rates and the 640 is pretty significant with a .5% interest rate difference. I have a credit card from Best Buy that I settled for many years ago, but all three reports show it as charged off and not “settled.” When I requested information from Best Buy about this, their response to me in the mail was that they had no record of my account. Just changing it to “settled” from “charged off” would probably not get me much difference in a credit account that’s about 4-5 years old, but do you reccomend a strategy to have this account removed altogether since it’s 1. being reported incorrectly and 2. listed as an account that was charged off.
I have spotted some errors and hired Lexington Law (8 months ago) but they’ve not removed one thing from my credit yet and I’ve been on the phone with them monthly trying to see what they can do for me. I guess with the struggles I had back in 2008-2009, it’s about impossible to escape that suffering for another 2-3 years, but I really want to buy a home.
But to answer your question, I live in Tennessee (Nashville area).
Once again, thanks so much for your feedback.
Randy – If you have documentation to show the Best Buy account is settled, I would use that to get the account updated on your credit reports. You are just on the other side of the line you want to cross for the better credit score. That one account should not really be hammering your score all that much 4 years later, but I cannot see your credit reports to say much. The student loans are not helping either, and I suspect that is what is preventing your scores from recovering more rapidly.
So you are working with a professional on an FHA loan?
Mike,
I have a good one for you…..
So, about 5 years ago, I was given a warrant for a civil issue. I called the court and notified them that I was unable to attend that day and was out of town (death in the family). So the court in Campbell Co., VA mailed me a letter (not certified or warranted) saying the hearing was in two weeks. I was out of town this entire time and never heard back until I was served a form saying I had a judgment. So I paid this judgment of $3,000 in a couple of months fully. It’s been on my credit report for about 5 years now and I really want to buy a home. I have a few other issues that are hurting, like late payments and a co-signing gone wrong, but for now I am curious if there’s any strategy to get this judgment removed quickly since there was no real proof that I was aware of the hearing and by paying it in full so quickly, explains that I had the money to do so.
I hired Lexington Law 8 months ago and they haven’t really done anything at all to help me out. Letters sent on my behalf is obviously not the approach needed. I called the two car loans I had late payments on and pleaded for mercy in a nice way and both said to just write them a letter stating my plea and apology (basically) and they would remove 3 of the 5 late payment markers (ball park). The co-signing was with Sallie Mae so there’s probably not much I can do about that account.
Question 2 for you….. In my hard times back in 2009 (wife was very sick and living on one income and paying bills like crazy), I had to default on my 3 credit cards and pay settlement amounts in 2010. These are still on my credit report and it’s with big boys, lol (Chase, PNC Bank and Best Buy). Are there any strategies you have for removing these accounts?
So my question about getting Equifax and Experian to get this judgment removed from my account….. how possible is this and how bad is a five year old judgment affecting my score?
I think my score is about 615 and I need a 640 in about 4-5 months.
Randy Is the judgment on your credit reports showing as paid and satisfied, or does it still show as if money is owed?
The cosigning with Sallie Mae, are those private student loans, or government backed? Do you still have contact with the person you cosigned for? What is their intention with that debt – if you know?
Are the settled account showing zero balance owed on the credit reports?>
What are your main credit goals in the next 4 to 5 months?
I can offer more meaningful feedback with answers to those questions.
The judgment shows correctly as paid.
The sallie Mae is hard to deal with. The consigned person left the country and no PI can track him down. I can’t afford it now due to it being charged off. My credit goal in 4 months is to purchase a home. I have great credit accounts that I’ve kept active so that’s why my score is up to 615 considering all of the bad items on it.
It’s a bad situation because I’m making very very good money now but paying my wife’s med bills, outrageous health insurance payments, two car loans and cost of living for a family limits some of these. All of my bad debts trace back to 2009 when I was suffering badly with finances. I’ve brought my score from 440 to 615 in the last 3-4 years just from making consistent on-time payments.
Any advice at all would be very appreciated.
Randy – I would not put much time and energy into getting accurately reporting negatives off of the credit report. Lexington Law, like others offering the same service, are hit and miss, and sometimes the stuff that gets taken off, shows right back up again.
If you are working with an FHA lender, I like your chances at a home mortgage. Wells Fargo just announced how they are lowing their score qualifications for FHA loans to 620. What I am concerned about is how the Sallie Mae loan balance will be calculated into your debt to income and skew the new ability to repay rules. How long ago was the last payment on the Sallie Mae loans? What state do you live in?
I have a question, actually a few questions. I received a judgment but I didn’t even know I had one. My credit score is above 700 and this judgment comes from Midland Funding LLC. I am in Arkansas. I own my own home and have good credit however, this judgment is keeping my credit score from advancing. I paid the attorney $1875.00 so far and then got a notice of a law suit against Midland Funding LLC. The original debt was $800.00 and had now become 3800.00. The lawyer sent me discovery of a signature that is not my signature. If fact it looks like the servers writing. The time of the serving is different on the court documents and the servers document. I am about to get my PhD and am applying to teach at several colleges and this judgment is really going to affect me. Is there anything I can do to vacate this from my credit report? Everything else on my report is excellent. I also want to by a new home.
Debar – The judgment is appearing on your credit report as a result of the record in the court, which is public. Midland Funding, nor the attorney that sued, are reporting the judgment. Data miners scoop up the court records and sell that info to the credit reporting agencies. The surest way to get a judgment off of your credit report is to attack the source. That would be where vacating the judgment (not the reporting of a judgment) comes in. But I am not sure what argument you would have with the court for doing that – when you are paying money toward the judgment already.
How old is the judgment?
The first is Culligan Water and the second only says medical
Thanks. I sent you an email with contact info to one of the most experienced consumer law attorneys in Michigan I know of. Let me know how you progress from there.
My fiance and I recently went to our credit union to see about the steps we would have to take to qualify for a loan for a house. We got our credit reports back, and mine contains 2 judgments that do NOT belong to me. The first is a company I have never used, the second is a medical bill.. Both are by the same person..who has a different middle initial than myself. What steps do I have to take to clear this off my report?
Kristina – Let me just first say OUCH!!!
Who got the judgments (name of plaintiff)?
Sending a typical credit report dispute is not what you need here. You have to attack the source of the information – the judgments in the court record – and that will have some formalities.
First thing I would suggest is talking about this whole thing with a consumer law attorney that has experience with debt collection defense. This type of lawyer is going to have ready answers to questions about undoing judgments that should not even be there. Most of this type will consult with you initially for no cost. I can help you locate one if I knew the name of a larger city near you.
The judgments were for a Kristie (an alias I’ve never used) L. (mine is M.) Allen (which was my maiden name before 97.) I live near Mt. Pleasant, Michigan if that helps. Thank you for replying. I am lost. We want to buy a house, but those judgements are bringing my score down.
Kristina – Thanks. Who is the plaintiff in these cases?
Hi,
After extensively reading your thread, I have several detailed questions about judgements and the process of removing items from your credit report. I have also joined as a member, but I thought posting my questions rather than talking with someone one-on-one would help others who might have similar questions.
I have one judgement (initially $7500) that was granted in Feb2010 for a credit card account that was originally $6k. I defaulted on the card sometime in 2007 or 2008.
I have 5 other credit cards that went into default around the same time. I live in Nevada, so the 6 year statute of limitations (SOL) has either passed or is up on the other cards sometime this year.
Two months ago, I hired a company to dispute information on my credit report. They are disputing it both with the creditors and the bureaus. I am beginning to see derogatory items removed from my reports at all three bureaus.
However, I ordered a credit disclosure, a more detailed version of my credit report, from Experian, and saw recent inquiries from new collections companies (within the last 2 months). Could this, in any way, be related to the actions taken by the firm I hired to dispute my information? Have I possibly brought this new attention onto myself by disputing? How likely are these new creditors to take me to court for new judgements for the other credit cards this close to the SOLs being up?
Regarding my judgement, I would like to call and settle it. For the same reason that the SOL will soon be up on the other cards, I have not wanted to give any other creditor a reason to think I have any amount of money, lest they sue me, also. At your company’s advice, I got all of the information on the judgement from the county circuit court and found out that the woman in charge of the original law firm that sued me died two years ago. Should I stay under the radar with the new firm or would they be more likely to settle for cheaper than the original firm? The new firm has a reputation for being hard-nosed.
I have had my bank account garnished twice, once three years ago and once two years ago (probably before the original firm closed), but never my wages. They barely made a dent in the judgement. I have no assets and cash my work checks.
Do I need to worry about potential additional judgements until the SOL is up on the other cards, or is it probably okay for me to settle this judgement, take out new credit lines, and make a larger purchase like a car?
Nicole – It is possible to set alerts and/or monitor someones credit activity as a debt collector. If you are seeing a sudden increase in debt collector inquiries, it may be due to recent disputes sent in by the credit repair company. Recent hard pull credit inquiries can sometimes have the same affect.
It is difficult to comment about how likely it would be for the other creditors, and debt collectors, to want to pursue collection in the court. I only have your above comment to form an opinion. But that opinion is there is little likelihood of additional collection lawsuits being filed. Who are some of the collection outfits you are dealing with?
I would need to know more about your specific set of circumstances, and who the law firm and plaintiff are, in order to better offer feedback on settlement amount targets. There are indeed tougher firms, and less forgiving judgment creditors out there.
I do not see the other accounts holding you back from the further collections angle. It would be the credit reporting that is more likely hold you back. I would encourage you to resolve the judgment. It is not going anywhere; can be renewed; is likely growing from judgment interest; and getting it dealt with will mean no longer looking over your shoulder for bank levies and garnishment.
Mike,
Me and my husband would like to buy a house this year. We both have good jobs and I’ve been at mine for 9 years. Several years ago (5.5 years) we were in a rough patch and lost a house, vehicle and several items went into collections.
Currently, I have one judgement (credit card) on my account for just over $800 and some collections totaling no more than $2000, one of which is for $1500 for unreturned equipment that is 5 years old. I want to take care of my judgement and the collections but don’t want to hurt my score any further.
I have worked my way back and have several accounts in perfect standing, credit cards, student loan, vehicle, etc but the credit score is just above 600.
Can I do anything about that judgement which was filed in 2010 to have it removed and pay the collections (or partially pay) to negotiate a pay for delete and up my credit score significantly. I can pay off most with a cc but that will up my used credit and lower my score.
What would you suggest would be the best course of action?
Thank you in advance for any advice.
Jennifer – What state do you live in? What is your current debt to income ratio calculating all debts (paid and unpaid)?
Pay for delete is not an option with public record items like judgments. But that does not mean you cannot accomplish your goals. You will likely want to settle that debt and get the record updated as a satisfied judgment, and it would be good to have the credit report updated as soon as possible in 2014.
How many collection items total are there?
Thanks for getting back with me Mike.
I’m in Ga and the judgement occurred when I lived in a different county and I was served. I was told to answer the complaint which I did by taking my reply to the courthouse.
This stems from a $300 balance card that I couldn’t pay due to hardship, and now we are talking over $800 which is ok if court costs etc. But I’ve been reading some of the other posts here and can’t comprehend why in the world they would go to court for that little money.
Neither here nor there I understand I just need to settle it all along with the 6 collections.
Since the highest collection for $1500 is so old is it possible to ask them to settle for much less? And what are the steps if so?
My DTI is around 27.5%. I added some for the outstanding judgement and collections so it may actually be lower. We rent a house also but I’m only using debt that’s in my name. Please let me know if there is anything mentioned that should be added to that.
Thank you again.
Thanks Jennifer. Are you already working with a loan officer? It can help to get a head start on what you need to do to qualify for different loan products.
I would prioritize the judgment debt in order to get it to show satisfied first. Then tackle the larger collection. You may see a slight drop in your credit score from the recency of updates to these existing negatives on the reports, but you may not. You would potentially be in good shape within 6 months of the update, or a bit later.
Your DTI is in line, and your credit score is near FHA ready.
Hi,
You have lots of interesting info on this site. Thank you for trying to help so many people understand how all this judgement stuff works.
My husband has a judgement that was issued a year ago in Feb. It is for a little over 7,000. It is legitimate, however, he was not served papers. I am so upset that we can’t buy a home even though he is making 80,000 a year. It is hurting us bad.
My question is: If we pay this judgement and get it as a satisfied debt showing on our credit reports, can we then try again..with hopefully better results…with a lender? They frowned on this last month when they saw it. What do you think our chances are with a lender working with us when we pay it, and show it as satisfied on our Credit reports? Btw…a credit repair company did have it removed from Transunion. How, I do not know. But, they did. They are now trying to remove it from the other two. I don’t think we will have that much luck with the others. I am angry with my husband, and upset that because of this, we can’t buy that home I have waited for my whole life. (He got this judgement before I met him, when he was going through a divorce). NOW I find out about it. I have cried my eyes out. The home we were going to try to buy was my dream home. 🙁
Phyllis – If I were in your shoes I would first look to getting the judgment unwound if there was lack of proper service, or some other deficiencies. I too would doubt the credit repair company is going to have much luck, especially with keeping the judgment off the credit report. Judgments are part of the court records. Credit repair firms do not impact that with their dispute letters. Once a data miner gobbles up your courts public records and spits them out to Equifax, TransUnion and Experian, the judgment is likely to appear again.
I can help you locate an experienced debt collection defense attorney if I knew the name of a nearby larger city.
You can also look to settle the judgment for less, or pay it off in full. The judgment will still be on the credit reports, but will get updated to show as satisfied. You can still get approved for a mortgage with a paid judgment on your credit reports. What are your mid credit scores today?
Mike,
I would definitely like for you to send me the name of a defense attorney. I live in Baton Rouge La. We thought about paying it, and getting it off that way, but since he was not served the papers, we feel they should remove it. I have heard that they can mail these things in some states. We lived in Indiana at the time. We did not get the papers in the mail, but I suppose they can say they did mail them. Seems it would have been certified mail?? Yet, there wasn’t any mail that came to him certified, or any other way. They can’t prove that he was served with these papers at all. So, I believe we should contact an attorney about this.
Thank you for any help you can give us with this. It is most certainly disturbing, and hopefully an attorney can help.
Regards.
Phyllis
Oh and his middle score is 570, because of this judgement, and a failed business, and marriage. Mistakes…and he has learned a lot from them. But, it is frustrating at this time in our lives, because of our ages, and the hopes of having a home. He has a lot to do to fix this. The judgement is only a part of it. 🙁
Phyllis – I sent you an email with contact details to 3. If you are up to it, post what the other issues on the credit report are for additional feedback.
First, does one have to be informed when a debt becomes a judgement debt? I am in the process of purchasing a property and a debt came up in my name. The bank still has to confirm whether it is in fact me. I do not recall incurring this debt. This debt is dated 1987. By the way whoever owes this debt I am curious , does a judgement debt go on forever? What about the statute of imitations? Does it apply to judgement debts?
Anthony – Generally yes, you would be informed that a judgment is entered against you. The first sign is that you are served or receive lawsuit documents that initiate an action.
Depending on the state where this issue is ongoing, and sometimes the type of debt/judgment, it can live for a very long time. But not typically on your credit report (also can depend on the state). State SOL for judgments vary. Many last 10 years with the ability to renew for another 10. Some a bit shorter, and some for longer.
Post an update with what you learn.