How To Remove Civil Judgments From Your Credit Report
In my recent experience, its not hard to remove judgments from your credit report as long as you follow the proper steps.
Many readers assume its impossible to have the credit bureaus remove civil judgments because they involve the court system.
In reality, the National Consumer Assistance Plan has made it more difficult for the credit bureaus to include civil judgments in your credit history.
Its still possible you could see a judgment pulling down your credit score. If so, removing the judgment shouldnt be too big of a hassle.
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.
Always Confirm The Removal Of A Court Judgment
Once youve got the court judgment disputed, get a free credit score check to make sure the major credit bureaus removed the negative item as required.
You can check your credit score for free once a year at annualcreditreport.com. Or you could check your FICO score with any of your current credit card or personal lenders.
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Civil Judgments Can Last A Long Time
Civil judgments have a life span provided by state law. In Washington, a judgment lasts for 10 years and can be renewed at the end of that period. Therefore once you have a judgment entered against you it can last a long time and incur a large amount of interest.
As you can see getting a civil judgment entered against you can have huge consequences and it should be avoided at all costs. If you live in Washington state and have additional questions about civil judgments, give Symmes Law Group a call at to learn about your options.
How Much Will A Judgment Affect My Credit Score
Today, the three major credit bureaus are no longer allowed to include judgments on a consumer’s credit report. As a result, a judgment may not hurt your credit score.
However, if a judgment manages to make its way to your credit report, you can expect your score to drop by up to 150 points. Unfortunately, the higher your credit score is to begin with, the more significant impact a negative item such as a judgment will have on your score.
Along with potentially impacting your credit, a judgment may also hinder your financial opportunities in other ways. Civil judgments are a public record that any future lenders, employers, credit card companies, or other organizations can view at any time. If a lender evaluates your financial responsibility as part of an application, it can view your judgment and decide not to approve you.
As a result, the negative effects of a judgment on your public record may make it challenging for you to receive financial opportunities that you could use to repair your credit score.
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Get Your Judgment Removed Today
If youre looking for a reputable credit repair company to help you remove a judgment from your credit report and repair your credit, we HIGHLY recommend Lexington Law.
Call them at for a free credit consultation. They have helped many people in your situation and have paralegals standing by waiting to take your call.
Have Credit Repair Company Remove The Judgment
If youre unable to find inaccurate information or just dont want to deal with the court system yourself, the easiest and quickest way to remove a civil judgment is to have a professional work on your case.
work with credit reporting agencies on your behalf removing inaccuracies and disputing negative items from your credit history.
Within a couple months you could have your credit score back where it belongs.
These firms do charge monthly fees and a set-up fee. But for many consumers, this is a small price to pay for the peace of mind you get with a pro on your team.
I often refer readers to , a credit repair company staffed by helpful and friendly advisors who know credit repair inside and out. Check out their website.
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If You Pay The Debt Within 1 Month Of The Date Of The Ccj
If you pay the debt in full within 1 month of the date of the CCJ, you can apply to the court have your entry in the Register removed. Youll need to get a certificate from the court to prove youve paid off the debt.
Youll have to pay for the certificate but the fee can be waived or reduced if youre on a low income.
If your entry is removed from the Register, the credit reference agencies will be told and details of your CCJ will be removed from your record.
You might be able to get credit again once the CCJ has been removed.
After You Pay The Judgment Small: Claims: Selfhelp
File an Acknowledgment of Satisfaction of Judgment
But creditors can renew judgments, so you may be on the hook for a long time. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act , a judgment can show up on your
Jan 15, 2014 There are only 3 ways to get rid of a judgment: 1) Vacate it 2) Satisfy it, or 3) Discharge it. In your analysis of which approach is best for
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How To Get A Judgment Removed From Your Credit Report
Generally, you should contact the three credit agencies Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion either by certified mail or by phone, to dispute the judgment.
How to Remove a Judgment from Your Credit Report · Step 1: Get the Court to Validate the Judgment · Step 2: Confirm Any Information from the Court · Step 3: Get
Continue Improving Your Creditworthiness
You might not have to worry about removing judgments from credit reports for the time being. But other negative marks, such as late payments and charge-offs, could be hurting your credit and holding you back.
As you work on improving your credit by making on-time payments and paying off debts, you could hire a credit repair company to review your credit report. Federal law gives you the right to dispute items on your credit report, and if something isnt correct, timely, or verifiable, the credit bureaus must remove that item.
After discussing your specific situation and credit history, a credit repair specialist may be able to spot mistakes that you didnt notice when reviewing your credit report.
Credit Saint has an A+ rating with the BBB, five-star reviews on comparison sites, and offers a money-back guarantee if you dont see anything deleted from your credit report in the first days. There are also different packages available to consumers based on their budget and needs.
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How Long Does Negative Information Remain On Your Credit Report
Other information that may appear on our credit report includes:
- Trace. A trace alert is placed on your credit report by a credit provider who has been unable to make contact with you and has asked to be notified when any updated contact information is loaded on to your credit report.
- Consumer remarks. You can ask that TransUnion include an explanation of facts or conditions that affect you on your credit report. For example, if your identity document has been stolen, you may want this information included in your credit report to try and prevent your identity being used fraudulently.
If you believe there is any information on your credit report that should not be there, or that should have been removed, you should immediately lodge a dispute with the credit bureau. The bureau is obliged to investigate and respond within 20 days.
Dispute It With All Three Credit Bureaus
You have the right to dispute any inaccurate information on your credit report. This includes even the smallest detail on a judgment.
Look closely at dates, name spellings, dollar amounts, and payment dates. If anything isnt right, appeal the information to the reporting credit bureau and ask them to remove it from your credit report.
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What Are The Different Status For A Judgement
Unpaid Judgement The Judgement has an outstanding balance and remains unpaid.Paid Judgement The Judgement has been paid and there is no outstanding balance.Released/Satisfied Judgement The Judgement has been paid and the court has processed paperwork to show that the obligation has been removed.Vacated Judgement The previous judgement has been voided and overturnedDismissed Judgement The court dismissed the case entirely
Credit Firm has helped thousands of clients delete Judgements from credit reports. If you have a Judgement reporting on your credit report contact to improve your credit report and boost your credit score.
Lenders May Still Consider Tax Liens And Civil Judgements
A tax lien or civil judgement can still impact you even if it no longer appears on your credit reports or affects your credit scores. This may be particularly true for those trying to get a mortgage.
LexisNexis Risk Solutions, an aggregator and seller of information that commercial organizations, government agencies and nonprofits use to evaluate individuals, businesses and assets, found that mortgage borrowers who have a judgement or tax lien are 5 ½ times more likely to go into pre-foreclosure or foreclosure.
Mortgage lenders, therefore, may still want to see this information when reviewing an application.
For example, Fannie Mae, a government-sponsored organization that buys mortgages from mortgage lenders, requires its approved lenders to follow its selling guide.
The Selling Guide specifies that borrowers must pay off delinquent credit, including judgements and tax liens, at or before closing.
How will mortgage lenders find out? LexisNexis now offers a LexisNexis RiskView Liens & Judgements Report, which was created specifically to fill in the tax lien and judgement information for lenders.
When you apply for a mortgage, the mortgage lender will pull your credit from the big three credit bureaus and could also pull the LexisNexis report and make a decision based on the combined information.
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Get A Copy Of Your Credit Report
You can get a copy of your credit report from a credit reference agency to see if you have a CCJ against you. Youll have to pay a small fee for the report.
Its a good idea to check your credit report regularly to make sure your information is up to date.
You can get your credit report from credit reference agencies like Experian, Equifax and .
A Civil Judgment Creditor Can Use Local Law Enforcement To Collect
After winning a judgment, the creditor can file a write of garnishment and garnish wages, bank accounts or put a lien on your property. Additionally the creditor can schedule a supplemental hearing where they can make you show up in court and testify about your assets and their locations. If you dont show up for this hearing post judgment, a bench warrant can be issued for your arrest.
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Confirm Any Information From The Court
If you do receive information back from the court verifying the details of your civil judgment, take the time to make sure that its all accurate.
All of this information goes through so many different touchpoints that theres a good chance some of it was reported inaccurately.
Everything must be error-free. That includes your name, balance, account numbers, dates associated with the account and judgment, and your account and payment statuses.
If you find anything thats incorrect, you can send a dispute letter to the credit bureaus and request that the judgment entry be updated or removed altogether.
The Types Of Judgments:
- Unsatisfied Judgments: If a judge orders you to repay and you havent done so, the judgment is unsatisfied. Unsatisfied judgments wreak significant havoc on your credit score!
- Satisfied Judgments: If youve made arrangements to pay off the court-ordered debt or have paid it off already you have a satisfied judgment. This still hurts your credit because you had an account go into the legal system before paying it very costly for the debt collector.
- Vacated Judgments: If youve successfully appealed a judges decision, youll have a vacated judgment which is a great outcome. The credit bureaus will have to remove it from your credit history.
- Renewed Judgments: If you get a judgment vacated and the debt collector decides to sue you again, you may have a renewed judgment on your credit report.
- Default Judgment: If you dont appear in court after being sued, a judge could issue a default judgment that looks bad on your credit. Be sure to answer all court summons to avoid this kind of judgment. You could ask a judge to remove the default after the fact but its a tough sell.
Once again, the NCAP changes have made civil judgments less likely to stick to your credit reports public records section. But if you cant get the negative item removed through invalidation, try to get a satisfaction of the judgment or a vacated judgment.
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Aug 19, 2019 How to Correctly Dispute Errors on Your Credit Report or legal loophole that forces the credit reporting agencies to remove certain
Mar 30, 2017 Dismiss and/or dispute the judgment. Vacate the judgment. Remove the judgment from your credit report. We have already written articles relating
What Is A Default
A credit provider, such as a bank or retailer, can elect to list a consumer as defaulting on a credit commitment, if they have repeatedly not met the agreement terms. Typically defaults are listed for credit accounts overdue by 90 days or more. There are two types of defaults: an enforcement default where enforcement action is taken such as bad debt written off or handed over, credit card revoked or repossession of goods takes place and subjective default which entails the classifications of consumer behaviour resulting from delinquency, slow payments, absconding or not being contactable.In terms of the National Credit Act, a credit provider must give you 20 days written notice, warning you that your default will be reported to the credit bureau. A default stays on your credit report for 1 year, or until you bring the account up to date. Nearly 19% of credit active consumers have missed three or more instalments.
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When A Judgment Lapses
If a judgment creditor doesn’t renew a judgment on time, then that judgment lapses. A judgment may also lapse if the creditor doesn’t do anything to execute on that judgment for a certain period of time.
When a judgment lapses , the creditor can no longer legally enforce it. So, a creditor can’t:
- make you appear for a debtor’s examination.
Dispute The Judgment With The Credit Bureaus
If appealing the judgment with the court does not work, you can also try disputing it with the three credit bureaus. Again, credit reports must contain only accurate information. If you find any inaccuracies in your credit history, you can request that the credit reporting agencies remove the incorrect item altogether.
We recommend obtaining a copy of all three of your credit reports and scanning them closely for any inaccuracies, illegitimate items , or clerical errors. Be on the lookout for mistakes such as:
- Inaccurate dates
- Misspellings
- Wrong dollar amounts
If you find any of these clerical errors or other inaccuracies, your next step is to send a dispute letter to the credit bureau through certified mail. Your letter should detail the errors you found and the changes you would like the credit bureau to make.
The bureau will need to prove that the information on your report is correct within 30 days of your dispute. If it cannot validate the information, it must remove it from your report.
As a result, if there are any inaccuracies on your report surrounding your judgment, you may request to have the judgment removed from your credit report.
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New Public Record Policy
In the past, there were three types of public records that could appear on your credit report: bankruptcies, judgments and tax liens. In recent years, however, there have been major changes that have reduced the number of public records added to credit reports to one.
While its still common today to find bankruptcies on credit reports, you typically wont find a judgment or tax lien.
The reason judgments and tax liens have gone missing from credit reports is because of new policies adopted by the three major credit reporting agencies Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian stemming from a 2015 settlement between the CRAs and 31 state attorneys general.
The landmark settlement resulted in the creation of the National Consumer Assistance Plan , an initiative designed to make credit reports more accurate and make it easier for people to fix any errors.
As part of the consumer-friendly changes, the credit reporting agencies agreed to implement new standards related to public records. Namely, for any public record to be included on a credit report, it has to satisfy the following criteria:
- The public record has to contain, at minimum, the consumers name, address, plus a Social Security number or date of birth.
- The public record information must be updated/verified at least once every 90 days.
Bankruptcy records already met these stricter requirements. Many tax liens and civil judgments, however, did not .