Hi all, I've been lurking for awhile but I wanted to share that I took a giant leap today in the rebuilding of my credit (and eventual dream to own a house) by filing all by myself to have an old judgment vacated.
Mine is a cautionary tale where I trusted "legal types" to do the right thing. Naive little me wasn't as always as vigilant about checking my credit report either so there's a reason this has been floating out there for 10 plus years without my knowledge. My divorce screwed up my good credit so badly that it made me sick to even look at my credit reports. A couple of years ago, the past came back to bite me in the rear.
Long story short, I was sued by my ex husband's creditor many years ago after he filed BK. I eventually prevailed after fighting it for 3.5 years and even was compensated by the CA for the suit being filed in the wrong venue, multiple trial errors, and unfair debt collection practices. In the course of the case being jockeyed around between 4 different courts (it went to the Court of Appeals and 3 different trial court venues) the original trial judge granted a summary judgment to the CA that was later reversed by the Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, apparently no one told the Clerk of Courts to vacate the judgment.
A couple of years ago, I looked at my credit report and noticed it on TU and thought "hey, that's not right, I won that case" and disputed it as not valid. It was removed from CR and I thought that someone had just inaccurately reported it originally and this was making it right. WRONG ASSUMPTION.
Because of this board lately I have been obsessively DVing, doing public record searches, etc. in my hopes of rebuilding my credit and saving for and buying a house in the next few years. I searched the Clerks of Courts for all the places I have ever lived as an adult and low and behold, there IT was. STILL.
So, today, armed with 26 pages of court rulings including voluntary dismissal orders from the CA and a mutual settlement agreement between the CA and me holding me harmless, I filed pro se for dismissal while I was at the courthouse doing my research. I didn't even have a word processor but instead wrote the motion by hand! The judgment was for almost $10,000 so I was very nervous about getting it wrong but knowing it's not mine to pay, I was more annoyed by the thought of having to hire a lawyer just to move the court to do what they should have done years ago.
I owe my new found self confidence to all the MyFico members who have been so brave and willing not only to rebuild their own lives, but to share their stories with others. Thank you everyone for all you do and I'll keep you posted on my progress.
I did this same thing a couple months ago. I even wrote my motion to vacate by hand on a piece of notebook paper. The judge was very understanding and granted the motion to vacate and the oppossing attorney dismissed with prejudice. It felt wonderful!
Good luck to you!
