I have read many posts on this forum for sometime now and looked for the best way to proceed to take care of the judgements I have on my credit but have not really gotten the exact answer I was looking for. I am looking to buy a house in the near future and need to get the last few things on my credit cleaned up, I have already gone from a 505 up into the 650s but have been stuck there for about a year or so. I have been fairly successful at payment/removal of charged off accounts thanks to the resources on this forum but I know a judgement is a totaly different animal all together.
So here is my story:
I have a total of 2 judgements one from 2006 in Texas for $900.00 principal + $147.00 court costs totaling $1075 at a rate of 7.25% and one from 2007 in Florida for $3047.55 Principal + $275 court costs totaling $3322.55 at a rate of 11%. They are no longer showing up on my credit report as a collection account but do still show up as a public record and as I understand will continue to do so until they are satisfied.
The Texas judgement was to a landlord who had a misunderstanding about a pet deposit, so in that case I am dealing with an individual. The Florida judgement was for a Discover credit card that I had put into a drawer with a zero balance for emergencies that my wonderful ex-wife maxed out changed all the contact info to her and hid the bills from me. The first I heard of the debt was when I was served for the judgement. So in this case the is a law firm representing Discover.
I want to send a letter to the judgement creditor asking them to vacate the judgement either if paid in full or if paid in payments, payments would be preferable but I would think I am at the mercy of the collector at that point, please let me know if I am wrong.
My questions are as follows:
1. What exactly should I state in the letter so it politely, clearly and concisely states what it is I am trying to accomplish I want no confusion that I do not simply want to satisfy the judgement I want it vacated (any sample letters would be a great help)
2. By contacting these creditors am I opening up a bag of collection worms? What I mean is they are not and have not been actively attempting to collect on this debt but will my interest in payment possibly start the collection/account freezing/wage garnishment process. At the time these were filed I did not have steady work or an active bank account and I now have both. I would like to pay but want to make sure I am able to do so at my comfort level.
3. What amounts will I be responsible for paying? The interest rates these amounts have been sitting at for the past few years are pretty steep.
4. Should I contact the courts directly to try and work this out or is it better to contact the creditor directly?
5. Who will file the motion to vacate? I have read posts stating both sides as being correct, it makes sense that the person who filed the judgement be the one who requests its removal but I have learned that not everything in the collection process always makes total sense.
6. Any other information that anyone has that I have not specifically asked here would be grealy appreciated.
I would like to apologize in advance if all these questions have been answered in other posts on this forum. As you all know this resource is vast and when you are looking for specific information the total amount of information available can be daunting and somewhat overwhelming at times. Thank you for any and all assistance/information you may be able to provide me on this matter it is greatly appreciated.
