So, since my credit rebuild is well on it's way (was just approved for a 12K auto loan at 3.99% APR one year after scores being sub-600), I have decided to take a look at DW's credit situation. Her file is pretty thin currently, just a few tradelines where she is an authorized user, all of those are current with no lates. However, she does have a couple of baddies. One is a medical collection, marked as paid - I plan to look into following WhyChat's HIPPA process for that one. She also has a collection entry from EOS CCA, collecting for AT&T mobility, in the amount of $310, as well as a judgement recorded in May of 2009 for that exact same amount. This is a valid debt, but we had absolutely no idea a judgement was entered for it. May of 2009 was 2 months before she moved to Kansas, she was not served a summons or anything for this.
The odd thing about this judgement is, we did an annual pull of her credit last year, and this judgement was not present.
I've never dealt with a judgement before, so I'm not exactly clear on what to do. Finding this out also concerns me, as she was just offered a position as a part-time teller at a bank, and we would *NOT* want this judgement to jeopardize that position. Even tho the judgement pre-dates our marriage, I would happily pay it right now, if it would save her new job. I have enough in savings to pay the amount in full right now, and we could easily replace that amount with her future income.
So first, I guess, what's the process to take care of this? Pay the collection agency and notify the court that it's been paid? Pay the judgement thru the court?
Second, any suggestions on how we can minimize the possible damage for her new job. This was the second time she applied with this bank, the first time she was interviewed but not offered a position, This was her second time interviewing, and was just offered the position Monday afternoon, and did her pre-employment drug screen today. Should she perhaps take the initiative and reach out to the manager at the bank, be proactive in letting them know we will be taking care of this? From the inquiries shown on the 2 reports we were able to pull, it does not appear that the bank checked her credit for either one of the applications, so maybe that's not part of their employment screening process, or maybe it is still coming.
Any advice any of you can give would be greatly appreciated. I thank god every day that I found these forums, as they have been a HUGE help in my own rebuild, and I hope you guys can help us deal with this!
Just as a further comment to this, it would appear this is now beyond the SOL for debt collection in the state of Washington, but the judgement may impact that, I do not know. Also, it would appear that a different collection agency holds this debt than the one that originally obtained the judgement. The initial judgement was filed in May 2009, in favor of "Quick Collect, Inc." However, the collection agency listed on the report is "EOS CCA", date opened August 2012.
Again, this was all before we were married - so ultimately I have no liability for this debt. However, I would like to clear the issue up. I honestly do *not* care about PFD or anything like that - The judgement and collection record are both scheduled for removal before May of next year, and we have no real intention of applying for major credit before that time. I just want to get it reflected as settled on the report as soon as possible.
Not super-worried about the delete. Both the CA and court records show deletion by May of next year, and we have no intentions of making any major credit applications before that time (only thing might be to get her a secured card after she starts the new job just to get some real tradelines on her file). We just want to make sure this is marked as paid.
I will have her try to contact the court to get information about the judgement.
@Anonymous wrote:Congrats on the great auto loan rate... and luck to your wife re. the judgment. :-)
Thanks, RiverGal! I was actually quite surprised at what they gave me! I was expecting, and ready to suffer with 5-6%, considering I'm still only part-way done with the rebuild. I'm basically at the point where only time will help improve things. I do have most baddies gone at this point, but my utilization is still rather high. That's part of the reason we want to try to make sure this thing won't interfere with the wife's new job. She hasn't worked since she moved here due to some medical issues that made it next to impossible to hold down a job, and with her rejoining the workforce, we can get the utilization down that much faster!
I thought I would post a follow-up on this with what happened. After getting the court documents, it turned out this was actually a medical collection, and she was "properly" served. The paperwork was given to her dad, who neglected to tell her about it. It was in early 2009 (before we even met). The attorney of record on the case was actually deceased, but from our research, it would appear that he was an in-house attorney for the collection agency holding the debt. So, we had to resort to talking to the collection agency themselves. We ended up finding out that the original $310 debt had grown to over $500 with them. We made an initial offer to settle it with them for $400 in exchange for vacating the judgement. They would not agree to vacate under any circumstances, unfortunately. So we said $400 to consider the account paid in full, and judgement marked as satisfied. The agent we spoke to took it to her management, and countered at $475, which we together decided to accept.
So yesterday we got a cashier's check from our bank for that 475 amount, and sent it priority mail, return receipt requested to their office in Vancouver. Also included was a SASE, as they said this was the ONLY way we could get a receipt showing the account was settled. We also included a letter that basically says "Per our phone conversation on xx/xx/2015, enclosed is a cashier's check for the agreed upon amount to settle this debt." The letter also said that we expect Satisfaction of Judgement paperwork to be filed with the court as part of this settlement. In a month or so, we will check the court documents online to ensure the settlement has been paid, and will make sure the entry on the credit reports shows that as well. If by the end of Jan it does not show as such, we will dispute with the CRA''s.
We still need to get ahold of the wife's reports from one bureau - we were unable to get them online, and have to mail off some documents.