Recent Tax Lien Public Record

[Anonymous]

I'm still paying on my 2006 taxes and my reports are clean. As far as I know the only way the IRS will put a tax lien on you is if you ignore the letters they send you or if you don't make your agreed upon monthly payments. I know a few people who have have made monthly payments to pay back taxes off and they didn't get hit with tax liens either.

[creditreformer]

Liens appear in several places-

 

(a) your credit report

(b) the county recorder’s office in your county- much like a judgment

 

after the tax lien is filed w/the county recorder, the irs often then files a levy against your real property (if you have any).  That gets recorded w/the county recorder.

 

Liens mean the irs has a claim against ALL your property, including property you acquire AFTER the lien is filed.  Did I mention liens are a nasty beast?  Yep, they are + that’s putting it mildly.

 

the irs is under a different (+ VERY loose) set of notice requirements re liens + re things like wage garnishments, bank levies, etc.  often times, the FIRST time the taxpayer finds out is bam, you have a lien filed against you (the irs has 5 days AFTER the lien is filed to tell you 1 has been filed- thought they ARE supposed to mail you asking for payment BEFORE the lien is filed) or bam, your check is now 25% less than what it should be (your employer inserts a notice from the govt explaining the wage garnishment) or woops, your bank balance just decreased by X.

 

releases-  NOTE- the release of a lien will NOT remove the lien from your credit report.  The lien can stay on your credit report up to 10 YEARS AFTER THE RELEASE

  consider the SOL- The IRS normally has a 10 year period to collect back taxes owed from the date that they were originally assessed.  STATE sols differ- ex., in CA, there is NO sol for the FTB to collect taxes

proceed w/caution + gl dealing w/this.

Message Edited by fused on 02-06-2009 09:57 AM

[ficonovice]

I've had intermittent tax issues over the years, and whenever anything negative resulted it was due to the fact that I ignored multiple requests. This time I paid my 2007 taxes and then a few months later received a fairly nice letter saying I owed back taxes, please remit payment or contact us, etc...

Then, nothing at all was received for a few more months, until I got a knock at my door with a certified letter. I assumed it was a final threatening letter saying I had xx amount of days, etc....but no, it was a big fat lien. I was kind of waiting for a final warning/threat before contacting them. Didn't work out too well, and now I'm planning on getting in touch with an expert. I really want to get the lien removed and I'm hesitant to pay anything until I get some good legal advice.

But, my original question was:

still with relatively decent fico scores (high 600's), are there any credit card companies that will likely approve with an open lien on my reports? I have a mortgage soon to appear on my reports as well, and don't know if I should apply prior to the mortgage reporting or after (if ever).

Any advice is as always much appreciated.

Thanks!

[creditreformer]

It is hard to say what ccs you can/will get, esp. now.  Ccs I got w/an open (but relatively old- 2003) tax lien, No baddies since 03, ficos were < 680 (ranged from 570s-mid 600s; these apps were done from 4/08-9/08), but i had NO mortgage Ba 99/500 (about to unsecure in 2 more stmts) Cap 1 x2 1.1k cl ea. Hooters- though people have said they’ve been denied b/c of NEW mortgages Best buy rewards zone mc (meant to app for store cc; hit wrong button) Target store cc 

Ccs I know WILL deny you JUST b/c of a lien (if unpaid)- Wells fargo Ccs I know are VERY unfriendly towards public records + from what I’ve heard (no personal experience), you’re more likely to be DENIED than approved b/c of the tax lien- GembCitibankUsbank 

If I were you, I’d check the credit pull sites that list who got what ccs w/what ficos.  Sometimes people will put their baddies in the comments, so you can often tell if a creditor is likely to be friendly to you w/the lien. 

Right now, it’s a tough credit environment + I haven’t apped since early sept, so can’t tell you how apps are nowadays.