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Court Ordered Judgement

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honeybunnygal
Regular Contributor

Re: Court Ordered Judgement

Wow...sorry to hear about your situation! Smiley Sad

 

I also had a (default) judgement entered against me from Discover (IL) from 2004 (DOFD was in 2002). I was able to show, however, that I was not served properly & the judgement was vacated. We eventually settled out of court (lump sum payment that was less than the original amount).

 

An interest rate of 20% seems very high. If you haven't already done so, you may want to check your state & local government statutes to see if there is a cap on the amount of interest you can be charged for a judgement. For example, the interest cap where I live is 9%. A 20% interest rate just seems ridiculous.

 

I believe (and I stress that I'm NOT a lawyer) if you fail to meet the requirements of a court-ordered payment plan on a judgement, they can drag you back to court on it. Also, if your state statutes allow for a judgement to be renewed, it might re-appear on your CRs. IL allows for judgements to be renewed after 7 years up to a maximum of 20 years. If I hadn't taken care of it when I did (this past spring) the plaintiff would've had the option to renew it by 2011, which might've caused it to sit on my reports another 7 years (based off renewal date). Again, this is the case for where I live. Your state of residence may have different rules and statutes.

 

Overall, my advice is to become very familiar with the rules and statutes regarding court judgements in your state\county\etc. Go over your judgement docs from court to see what exactly was entered in with the court.

 

Also, and I hate to say it since you've been paying for so long already, if there is no legal recourse out of the agreement, you may want to see if they would be willing to consider settling for a lower amount lump-sum in exchange for dismissing the case. If they will, try getting a loan for the amount (with a lower interest rate) to pay them off. I would be concerned about having the judgement just appear as "satisfied", since the satisfaction MIGHT lead to the judgement re-reporting to the CRAs.

 

Again, I'm not a lawyer, but some of our more "legally inclined" members might have more/better insight.

 

Good luck!

 

ETA: Okay, did I blink or did it take a REALLY long time to post? I didn't see all the other great posts to this thread originally...*sigh* must've forgotten to scroll further down.

Hard work & patience can go a long way!
8/2009 (myFICO): TU - 599, EQ - 656
7/23/2010 (LO pull): TU - 738, EQ - 801, EX - 785
4/12/2012 (myFICO): TU -778, EQ - 791
Message 11 of 15
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Court Ordered Judgement


@honeybunnygal wrote:

 

An interest rate of 20% seems very high. If you haven't already done so, you may want to check your state & local government statutes to see if there is a cap on the amount of interest you can be charged for a judgement. For example, the interest cap where I live is 9%. A 20% interest rate just seems ridiculous.

 

Also, if your state statutes allow for a judgement to be renewed, it might re-appear on your CRs. IL allows for judgements to be renewed after 7 years up to a maximum of 20 years. If I hadn't taken care of it when I did (this past spring) the plaintiff would've had the option to renew it by 2011, which might've caused it to sit on my reports another 7 years (based off renewal date). Again, this is the case for where I live. Your state of residence may have different rules and statutes.

 

I would be concerned about having the judgement just appear as "satisfied", since the satisfaction MIGHT lead to the judgement re-reporting to the CRAs.

 


Just a couple of observations:

 

1.  In MA the interest rate on judgments is currently capped at 10%.

 

2.  This is an often overlooked area.  Whether or not the judgment can reappear when renewed depends entirely on your state's method for renewing, if at all possible, judgments.  If your state's renewal method results in a completely new judgment being entered, that new and improved judgment can then be reported as a new judgment for 7 years.  If, however, your state's renewal method simply results in the extension of the old judgment, then it may not be reported beyond the original 7 years.  One way you can often tell the difference is a judicial vs. administrative test.  If a judge needs to redecide the issue and a new hearing is held, that often means the decision is judicial and can indicate a totally new judgment is entered.  If the judgment renewal process is handled mainly by the court clerk who merely updates the judgment book, then you're probably looking at a simple administrative process that extends the initial judgment.

 

It is important to note, however, that very few judgments are actually ever renewed and, even when they are renewed and eligible for reinsertion on one's credit report, very, very few of these "new" judgments make it back to one's credit report. 

 

3.  This is not possible.  If the judgment itself is past the CRTP, it cannot reappear.

Message 12 of 15
honeybunnygal
Regular Contributor

Re: Court Ordered Judgement


@Anonymous wrote:

@honeybunnygal wrote:

 

An interest rate of 20% seems very high. If you haven't already done so, you may want to check your state & local government statutes to see if there is a cap on the amount of interest you can be charged for a judgement. For example, the interest cap where I live is 9%. A 20% interest rate just seems ridiculous.

 

Also, if your state statutes allow for a judgement to be renewed, it might re-appear on your CRs. IL allows for judgements to be renewed after 7 years up to a maximum of 20 years. If I hadn't taken care of it when I did (this past spring) the plaintiff would've had the option to renew it by 2011, which might've caused it to sit on my reports another 7 years (based off renewal date). Again, this is the case for where I live. Your state of residence may have different rules and statutes.

 

I would be concerned about having the judgement just appear as "satisfied", since the satisfaction MIGHT lead to the judgement re-reporting to the CRAs.

 


Just a couple of observations:

 

1.  In MA the interest rate on judgments is currently capped at 10%.

 

2.  This is an often overlooked area.  Whether or not the judgment can reappear when renewed depends entirely on your state's method for renewing, if at all possible, judgments.  If your state's renewal method results in a completely new judgment being entered, that new and improved judgment can then be reported as a new judgment for 7 years.  If, however, your state's renewal method simply results in the extension of the old judgment, then it may not be reported beyond the original 7 years.  One way you can often tell the difference is a judicial vs. administrative test.  If a judge needs to redecide the issue and a new hearing is held, that often means the decision is judicial and can indicate a totally new judgment is entered.  If the judgment renewal process is handled mainly by the court clerk who merely updates the judgment book, then you're probably looking at a simple administrative process that extends the initial judgment.

 

It is important to note, however, that very few judgments are actually ever renewed and, even when they are renewed and eligible for reinsertion on one's credit report, very, very few of these "new" judgments make it back to one's credit report. 

 

3.  This is not possible.  If the judgment itself is past the CRTP, it cannot reappear.


See? This is why I defer to those that are "legally inclined." I learned something new. Thanks!

Hard work & patience can go a long way!
8/2009 (myFICO): TU - 599, EQ - 656
7/23/2010 (LO pull): TU - 738, EQ - 801, EX - 785
4/12/2012 (myFICO): TU -778, EQ - 791
Message 13 of 15
ios1000
Member

Re: Court Ordered Judgement

Thanks everyone for the excellent advice/information Smiley Happy I looked at the paperwork I had gotten from the court last night and I have two pieces of paperwork, one is the warrant (I think) for me to appear in court as it says something to the effect "Whoever it may be for this county/state has the power to serve this notice blah blah blah" and it has my name as Defendant and Discover of Ohio as the one serving the notice. The other paper is what I got from the court in 2008 and it says my name, a docket number and the ORDER: To pay $40 a month starting May 1, 2002 and every first of the month thereafter. That's about all it says, on the bottom it has a Judges name as the person who issued the ORDER and the clerk of court signed it. So it sounds like to me that this is a Judgement. I don't want to jeopardize my credit at this point, worked awfully hard to get it to 780. I will keep paying the $40 a month for 12 more years lol. I will call and ask those loan sharks what is the % rate they are charging me because I am alsmost positive it was over 10%. And I will offer them a grand to settle, see if they bite. If they don't I will just keep making the monthly payment but it won't be with a smile.

Thanks again everyone, your all awesome!

ios

 

Message 14 of 15
happy0510
Established Contributor

Re: Court Ordered Judgement

Hope it goes well for you! I sincerely believe you can do something about this!!


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Message 15 of 15
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