Having Issues with a Credit Report Dispute

[SoopremeBeing]

Good morning everyone! I need some preliminary assistance, as the reporting agency I am having the issue with has not opened for business yet.

Back in 2006, I defaulted on a Capital One credit card. It went to collections and eventually to an attorney's office. After I received my subpoena, I contacted the representing attorney, and was able to enter a payment plan without having to go to court. I completed my payment plan, and I never heard from the attorney again. And luckily Capital One gave me a second chance in 2011, and I now have 2 credit cards with them, both of which I have worked diligently to keep them active and in good standing.

Now here is Problem #1: The judgment is still on my credit report. My local court is still reporting the item as Pending, even though no action has been taken on that case since 2007. I was able to successfully have the judgement removed from my Trans Union report, but not from my Equifax report(do the reporting agencies not share information anymore?).

Problem #2: I contacted the attorney's office last month to get proof that the account was satisfied. Even with a SSN, the court case number, and the name of the creditor, they could not find my information. They transferred me to two other companies they do business with, and they could not find my information either. I finally contacted Capital One directly, and spoke with a rep in their Collections Department. They have on file that the default was satisified, but whoever was working on my account at the time never sent the final information to the courthouse The rep said that the information would be re-sent to the courthouse, but as of today, the information has not been updated. Equifax sent me a notification this morning about my re-investigation, and said that this judgement is being reported correctly. it is not.

Now my question is: if I receive paperwork from CapitalOne directly saying that I paid off this old debt in full, can I send that document to Equifax? The issue is that it's not CapitalOne reporting the judgment, it's the actual courthouse. Will the courthouse accept the document from CapitalOne if I send it to them or will they need something from the attorney's office(who apparently cannot find my files anywhere)?

I'm on the East Coast, and the reporting court is in California, so I can't call them just yet. Any help/assistance would be appreciated before I start making more phone calls. This judgement is really hurting my chances for further credit.

[guiness56]

Welcome to the forums.

Normally, if you enter into a payment plan before the court date there would be no judgment.  In order to get the judgment,  the attorney had to show up in court on the court date, and you didn't, so they appear to have gotten a default judgment.

If the had cancelled it when you made payment arrangements, the court date would not have happened.  If neither you or the plaintiff showed up it would have been dismissed.

The paperwork from Cap 1 would need to go to the courthouse so the judgment could be shown as satisfied, then the courts would need to have that recorded.

Once this goes to EQ all they have to do is update it to satisfied, they do not have to delete it.

[SoopremeBeing]

Thanks! Well after numerous phone calls and a bit of Google-ing, here's an update (it's a real fluster-cuck):

I found the original attorney that was working for Capital One at the time: Eskanos and Adler. These are the attorneys that I made the payment plan with in the beginning.

Now sometime after I paid in full, Eskanos changed their name to Mann Brackens, whom I've never heard of. Then Mann Brackens goes out of business completely. So somehow my file ended up under a 3rd attorney named Fulton, Friedman, and Gullace. When I reviewed my case on the court website, this was the attorney that was listed. I called their office, and they also looked at the court docket on the website, and acknowledged that their name was on the case, yet they do not have my case on file.

The original associate attorney worked for Eskanos and Adler, and later went to work for FFG. She no longer works there now. So I do not know how my case was transferred 3 times, yet no one bothered to send the "paid in full" information to the courts.

So now I have to contact Capital One and demand that they file a Satisfaction of Judgment, which they were supposed to do 15 days after I paid in full...3 years ago. I can also file on my own, a Declaration of Judgment Debtor Regarding Satisfaction of Judgment. I will do this as soon as I receive the confirmation letter from Capital One, stating that I paid in full.

[Dapper_Dan]

Report Equifax to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CPFB) for failing to properly investigate you dispute.  They need to verify accuracy of information by law.  If there's no case, no judgement could have been entered.  Conversely, how did a judgement get filed in the first place?  I suspect someone at that Cap1 attorney office jumped the gun and Cap1 violated some laws.

If you have a settlement agreement from Cap1, forward that with your complaint to the CFPB.

[guiness56]

There is no complaint against the CRAs.  They did what they are supposed to.

I would file a complaint with the bar association in your state for the attorneys not filing the satisfaction with the courts in a timely manner stipulated in your statutes.