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Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?

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Anonymous
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Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?

I have a judgement that was filed March 2010. Capital One loves Rubin & Debski here and they took me to court over a $500 card. The amount of the judgement is a little over $1400 and I'm willing to offer them a lump sum.

I'm curious as to what this will do to my credit. I have seen that judgments fall off in 7 years, 10 years, 20 years, never, renewed... I don't know answers for this. I know it can be marked as "Satisfied" on my report.

Since this is a little over 6 years old, will it benefit me to pay it? Will my score go up? Will creditors see me as credit worthy? Will it go away after sometime once it's paid? So many questions and I don't know!
Message 1 of 8
7 REPLIES 7
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?


@Anonymous wrote:
I have a judgement that was filed March 2010. Capital One loves Rubin & Debski here and they took me to court over a $500 card. The amount of the judgement is a little over $1400 and I'm willing to offer them a lump sum.

I'm curious as to what this will do to my credit. I have seen that judgments fall off in 7 years, 10 years, 20 years, never, renewed... I don't know answers for this. I know it can be marked as "Satisfied" on my report.

Since this is a little over 6 years old, will it benefit me to pay it? Will my score go up? Will creditors see me as credit worthy? Will it go away after sometime once it's paid? So many questions and I don't know!

Would they be willing to do a PFD?  Don't know anything about judgments, only had collections.  From the perspective of having had to deal with Midland, Asset Acceptance, and Cavalry Portfolio, just to be rid of them is good enough.  All my collections are gone, but one from Midland.  The only benefit I got out of it was that it stopped updating so that I could start to move forward.  I won't see any real jump until Midland falls off and the lates fall off.  All I can say is having these things paid seems to have enabled me to start getting some better cards, but haven't gotten into the top tier cards, but that's okay too.  Just having available credit when I need it is good enough.  Good luck in your endeavors.

Message 2 of 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?

My friend had a judgement. He offered a Full payment if they vacated the judgment. They agreed. He paid and they sent him the motion to vacate. He then called each CRA and faxed it over and they deleted it. His scores jumped up considerably because it was a major derogatory. So it's defiantly worth a shot. The most they can say is no.
Message 3 of 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?

Oh!! Nice!! I have a good letter written out to them but I only mention settling it. I'm going to try with the vacated. Thanks!
Message 4 of 8
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?


@Anonymous wrote:
Oh!! Nice!! I have a good letter written out to them but I only mention settling it. I'm going to try with the vacated. Thanks!

Always shoot for the best and work back from there. 

Message 5 of 8
RobertEG
Legendary Contributor

Re: Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?

You cannot do a PFD on a judgment.

The judgment creditor does not "report" the judgment, it finds its way to your credit report via a public records search done by the CRAs.

It cannot be deleted by the judgment creditor. 

To obtain deletion, you must get the court to vacate the judgment.

 

As for confusion regarding the exlcusion period/date, that confusion exists primarily because the CRAs have chosed to use a simplified and more favorable exclusion determination than that permitted under the statute.  The formal exclusion date of a judgment, as set forth under FCRA 605(a)(2), is in the alternative of either 7 years from the date of entry of the judgment, or until expiration of the statutue of limitaitons on enforceability of the judgment, whichever is longer.

Most judgments have an initial enforceability period of approx ten years, which can readily be extended upon motion to the court.

 

The CRAs, likely because they dont have easy facility to monitor the current enforceability period of each judgment, chose to exclude at 7 years from the date of entry of the judgement, regardless of whether it continues to be enforcable.

 

As for whether it is "worth it" to pay a judgment, you have a court order directing you to pay.

That order can be enforced by obtaining a writ of satisfaction, which is a fancy term for the act of actually taking property or money to satisfty the order, such as garnishemnt of pay. 

Message 6 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?

Well idk how my buddy did it. He called the lawyer who placed the judgement. Said I will pay it in full right now if your willing to vacate the judgement (he was on a payment plan). He agreed and sent him the documentation for the vacate after his payment cleared. He received the docs and we sat there and called and faxed the CRA's. 

Message 7 of 8
Anonymous
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Re: Will settling a judgement be worth it in the long run?

Oh, no worries about the paying back part. I understand that needs to be done. I do hate that I'm paying $950 in interest and fees on a $500 card but that's how it went. 
I meant more in the way of...can I get this removed at some point or will it up my score? It would just suck to finally get this "settled" and it be of no benefit to me whatsoever.

Message 8 of 8
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