How to Handle 2.5 year old judgment?

[Geppy]

I have a public record "default judgment" that appears on my credit report.

A couple years ago, I left my month-to-month lease.  My landlord claimed I owed another month of rent because I didn't give a full 30 days notice.  However, this was not a requirement in the lease.  I refused to pay another month of rent.

She ended up filing a small claim against me.  Foolishly, I did not go to court and deal with it.  I admit, I was dumb here and regret not giving the issue the attention it deserved.  

I now want to take care of this judgement.  I've contacted my landlord, but she refuses to have a direct convesation with me.  She forces me to talk to an attorney instead.  The original judgement was for $550 and the attorny is now saying that with fees and interest, the amount is something to the tune of $1,400.  

If it was $550, I would just pay it and be done with it.  My credit is worth more than that.  But I can't pay $1,400... I just can't.  Furthermore, I have an issue paying this when I don't feel like it's lawful in the first place.  Again, I was not required to give 30 days notice.  I gave 2 weeks notice and I wasn't required to give even that much.

Do I have an recourse here?  I've looked up vacating a judgement, but it doesn't seem like that's really an option.  The attorney doesn't seem to be willing to work with me on paying a lesser amount either.  He keeps writing me and reminding me that the judgement can be renewed for another 10 years after the first 10 years expires.  I really just want this off my credit report.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[hdrider07]

How much does the judgment reflect on your credit report?  States are different with how they handle payment, interest and different fees.  I would probably contact the courthouse and see what they can tell you.

[Geppy]

How much as in the monetary value?  It shows as the original amount of $550.  

[Nvr2L84Gr8]

I'm in the exact same boat, same scenario, even same age of the judgment. Are you me? My circumstance is slightly different in that the apartment sent my debt to collection and I recently paid it off; but the judgement on my CR, I'm not sure what to do with that because the apartment was purchased and under new management since then.

[Geppy]

I wish mine would be sent to collections. Then at least I could try for a PFD.

[hdrider07]

OP, I would contact the court house.  If the judgment on your credit report reflects 550 the court house may let you pay it through them to satisfy it, some states allow this and some dont, all you can do is ask.  Once paid it will show as satisfied, this status will not help your credit score.  You will need to have it vacated or ride it out, if the attorney isnt willing to work with you then you may want to ride it out if possible.

[Geppy]

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@hdrider07 wrote:

OP, I would contact the court house.  If the judgment on your credit report reflects 550 the court house may let you pay it through them to satisfy it, some states allow this and some dont, all you can do is ask.  Once paid it will show as satisfied, this status will not help your credit score.  You will need to have it vacated or ride it out, if the attorney isnt willing to work with you then you may want to ride it out if possible.

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Thanks hdrider.  I actually called the court about paying the judgment late last year.  They said I could pay them and they'd send the check to my old landlord.  However, I didn't do this because I couldn't get a clear answer on two things:

• Would this actually remove the judgment from my credit? (I've learned now that it won't)
• Will this actually satisfy the judgment? 

My fear on #2 is that my old landlord won't sign off on it because I'm not paying the alleged $1,400 the lawyer is now saying I owe.  

I did some digging through online court records and found the following attachment.  It's a list of all actions taken with this case, and I'll admit I don't understand a lot of it.  I'm trying to recall the entire timeline (it's a bit hazy), but things went something like this:

• I did not appear for the original court date in Contra Costa County
• Default judgment was awarded
• I didn't pay & was living in San Francisco
• I moved out of state
• My old roommates contacted me and said I had received something that said I had to appear for court in San Francisco
• I calle dthe court, explaining my new residence and I BELIEVE they cancelled the court date

That's about all I can remember.  I'm hoping someone can help me make more sense of this list of actions, what I could/should do next, etc.  

What a mess!

[hdrider07]

Ok so what I can see from that is this.

The orginal claim was for 550, however every few months the attorney updates the claim with interest and also the cost for them to update the claim.  So basically the 550 is now what the attorney is telling you, to confirm this you just need to get the court records sent to you but you will owe the 550 plus all interest and all costs.  It looks like the maximum in the orignial order was 1500, so that would be why they havent added interest or costs on lately because I believe the cap is 1500 (could be wrong on this one).

If you pay the 550 the judgment will not be satisfied, at this point you will have to work with the attorney.  If you are able to make a payment plan with the attorney make sure you get an agreement that no more interest or claims costs will incur while you are making payments.  If you dont do this they may be able to keep adding interest when you pay enough down to keep it close to the 1500 (not sure about this one either but better to be safe)

Hope this helps

[Geppy]

Thanks rider,

Do you think it'd be possible to negotiate a PFD in this matter?  I know those can work well with collections, but I don't know about judgments.  In my mind, this is simply a collection with the lawyer acting as the CA.  

Does that sound right to you?

Thanks again!

[hdrider07]

You may be able to negotiate a pay for vacating the judgment.  It will cost the attorney to file the paper work to vacate the judgment, so you can offer to pay them to file the motion to vacate.  That is the only way you are going to get it off at this point.

I wish you luck!