Judgement/SOL Question

[Anonymous]

Love the site, tons of information already absorbed in only a couple of days lurking.

So here is my scenario:  I have 2 judgements against me.  Only 1 is showing on my Credit report (pulled in December),  These are debts with a DOFD in 2008 so as far as the OC goes, they have already fallen off.  Trans union is showing 1 of the judgements, and Equifax/experian is showing the other.  So none of the reports are showing both which I thought was strange, so my question there is how does that happen?

Secondly, Since the OC has already fallen off, should the judgements that are still showing fall under the same DOFD?  Or will the judgements fall off after 7 years of them being filed with the clerk?

Thirdly, since they do have judgements against me, (one is scheduled to fall off cr in Sept of this year, the other in 2019) should I leave them alone?  Offer settlement?  And how long does a judgement last for?  Can I be open for wage garn or bank garn forever if I do not settle/come up with an agreement to PIF?  (From my understanding on this forum, if I do settle/pay, the only benefit to me will be the peace of mind/moral win, as my credit won't really improve until it falls off after the 7ish years correct?)

Kind of off topic, but why is the SOL in Kentucky 15 years?  seems insane compared to other states.

Thanks for any and all input!

[RobertEG]

The credit report exclusion periods for each type of adverse item of information are detailed in FCRA 605(a).

The DOFD is only used for determining the exclusion of a charge-off or collection.  It is not relevant in determining the exclusion of a judgment.

The exclusion of a judgment is is the later of 7 years from the date the court entered the judgment, OR the expiration of the period of enforceability of the judgment.

For paid judgments, that results in their exclusion no later than 7 years from the date of entry of the judgment.

However, if a judgment remains unpaid, the exclusion period does not expire as long as the judgment remains enforceable.

In most states, judgments are enforceable for an initial period of ten years, but can routinely be extended upon motion to the court, showing unsuccessful attempts to obtain payment.

While a judgment can thus be retained until its period of enforceability has expired, the CRAs commonly will exclude at 7 years from date of entry, ignoring the extension of the exclusion period for unpaid judgments that remain enforceable.  Therefore, it is common to see unpaid judgments excluded at 7 years.  However, there is no basis for a dispute if they are not.

As for why some judgments find their way into credit reports and others dont, judgments are not "reported" in the normal manner by a "furnisher."

They are not reported by the prevailing plaintiff or the court.  They are discovered by individual CRAs based on their own commissioned searches of public record information.  Some searches are more thorough than others, so some judgments either fail to be entered into credit reports, or are entered long after their iniatial posting by the court to the public record.