I have a judgement entered against me for a deficiency balance on an auto I surrendered. I did not receive service and did not know about the judgement until 2012 when I ordered my credit report. At the time I was pretty much destitute and had no means of even trying to unravel this mess. I was now trying to see what was the best way to get this PR off my credit report and would most like to settle for less than the balance especially since this has been accumulating interest since 03/2010. In looking into this, what I read said to first look for reasons to vacate this judgement. I am wondering if I have grounds to vacate based on improper service as I was never served. I moved out of state immediately after surrendering this auto which is why I believe I was never served. My mother still lives in IL so I have asked her to go and get copies of all documents pertaining to this case but in the meantime I have pulled the case summary online. Case Activity is as follows:
10/19/2009 Detinue Complaint filed - This confuses me because I believe they already had the vehicle back at this point
11/13/2009 Summons Returned - N.S Reason: No Contact
11/17/2009 Alias summons issued and Returnable
11/17/2009 Appoint Special Deputy - Allowed
12/15/2009 Execute or Perform- Allowed - I have no idea what this means as it pertains to the case; does this imply that there was process service?
12/15/2009 Judgement for plaintiff
12/15/2009 Continuance-allowed
12/15/2009 Order Final and Appealable
12/15/2009 Order for Possession - again, they already had the vehicle
01/19/2010 Continuance- Allowed
02/23/2010 Continuance- Allowed
03/12/2010 Certificate of Mailing Filed
03/12/2010 Exhibits Filed
03/12/2010 NoticeofMotionFiled
03/12/2010 Motion Filed
03/23/2010 Assess Costs - Allowed
03/23/2010 Judgement for plantiff
03/23/2010 Order Final and Appealable
Twice during this case it has said Judgement for Plaintiff and Order Final and Appealable and I am unsure why. If they were unable to serve me does that mean that they showed due diligence in trying to serve me so the case was allowed to continue or does this mean they manufactured some type of service and it should be in the court file? I never received any notice of the sale of the vehicle so that means I didn't have the opportunity to redeem the vehicle. I also don't have any records of sale to have proof that the deficiency balance is calculated correctly. I am completely green but does this look like getting a motion to vacate would be a long shot? My best case scenario wish is that filing this would prompt the creditor to agree to settle for less than full payment that removes the years or interest that have accumulated and a satisfaction of judgement or having the original creditor file to withdraw the judgement so that it doesn't remain on my credit report for years and years after payment.
