General Credit Topics

[overwhelmed]

I am reading about judgements and it's freaking me out. how do you get one... what do you do that causes the CA's to file the judgement? If you are past SOL, can you get one?

[George2037]

"... what do you do that causes the CA's to file the judgement?"

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Not paying your debts.

"If you are past SOL, can you get one?"

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Yes, if you don't show up to court.  Or if the CA can prove you paid or did anything to extend the SOL.

[overwhelmed]

how come some people get them and some don't? Is there an amount that they use to initiate a judgement?

[George2037]

It depends on the amount.  If you owe $500 I doubt they will file for a Judgement, Lawyer fees will exceed that unless a Collection Agency buy's it cheap then it will be worth it, but by the time a CA buys it chances are it's out of SOL.

Sometimes CA's don't have the right info and they can't find the person who owes the debt.  Hense the Some do Some don't Judgements.

[HappyDays]

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overwhelmed wrote:

I am reading about judgements and it's freaking me out. how do you get one... what do you do that causes the CA's to file the judgement? If you are past SOL, can you get one?

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Judgments are very bad on any CR....do whatever is needed to not get one..

In most states you will receive a summons to appear in court......ALWAYS GO....if you do not appear they will get it by default. A judgment stays on CR 10 years!!!

If you are past SOL a CA can file for judgment BUT will not get it IF you appear with proof that SOL is past

CRTP and SOL

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/fico/board/message?board.id=generalcredit&message.id=17466

KNOW YOUR SOL

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/cc/20040116b2.asp?caret=8

[overwhelmed]

It scares me b/c I am sending out PFD's for items I know are past SOL and were originally $200 and now are over $1,000 b/c of interest - and I don't want to get sued. Especially for a horrible verizon account that went to CA and it's not past SOL. They keep harrassing me.

[George2037]

As long as you don't pay anything and the PFD clearly has the fact you dispute the debt and just want to pay it to have the TL removed from your credit you should be fine.  The CA can't extend the SOL unless you make a payment less than the amount due, meaning if you pay it off there is nothing to file a judgement for.

I belive that PFD has a possibility of waking a sleeping giant if you don't word it correctly, make sure it is clear that you completely and utterly dispute the TL.

OH don't sign your name to anything!  Not even the PFD letter, just type in your contact info and leave it be.

[Pointer]

I have a $5000.00 Judgement against an individual.  I don't have his SSN.  How do these things end up in an individuals credit file w/o a SSN.  How do the CB's police these records?  Also, I don't even know where the indivdual is.  How do CB's get this information to put on someones file?  The SSN is not on the public record.  Can I get the information into the file?

[Moobs]

To the OP-

You can get a judgement on your reports when anyone takes you to court.

For example, I attempted to sue my landlord in college. He took our $1300 deposit and didn't return any of it. We didn't do that much damage to that house in one year and we wanted the money back. He counter sued and said we owed more than what was covered by the deposit. The judge pretty much said we were both stupid and threw out both cases. However, since it was written into our lease agreement (as is in most leases), that if we took the landlord to court for any reason and did not win, we were responsible for the cost of his lawyer. His lawyer pointed this out and the judge ruled in favor of him for $1,000.

So now it looks on my credit report like someone took me to court for $1,000. It sucks and has really hurt my credit over the years. Every time I apply for something big (car, new apartment, etc) I have to show the letter from the lawyer saying it has been paid in full. Only 2 1/2 more years until it's gone. In the future, I will do anything to keep from going to court again. It's not worth it.

[sidewinder]

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Pointer wrote:

I have a $5000.00 Judgement against an individual.  I don't have his SSN.  How do these things end up in an individuals credit file w/o a SSN.  How do the CB's police these records?  Also, I don't even know where the indivdual is.  How do CB's get this information to put on someones file?  The SSN is not on the public record.  Can I get the information into the file?

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Companies, like LexisNexis, gathers public record information and transmits it to the CRA. SSN is not always required.