topic Re: Highest score with judgment(s)? in Understanding FICO® Scoring

Highest score with judgment(s)?

jdogi — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:00:26 GMT

I know this restricts the pool of potential responders, but I'm wondering if those of you who have been so afflicted could share your highest score attained with a judgment reporting. My report is completely clear of baddies (and has been for some time), with one exception, a pair of judgments (6yrs and 6.5yrs old).

AAoA: 5+yrs

Oldest: 16+yrs

Still, my FICO scores are stuck in the 690-700 range. My utilization is enerally in the 10% to 20% range, but it doesn't seem to change these scores much.

I've pretty much resigned myself to this range for another year until the judgments are gone, but I'm interested in hearing other observations.

Anybody been able to get over 720? 750?

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

GregB — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:10:30 GMT

A judgement puts you in one of the major derogatory scorecards, sometimes called buckets. One falling off probably won't help much. I can tell you that when an erroneous judgement appeared on my reports it dropped my score from almost 800 to just below 700. This makes me think your score won't go up much until those are gone. How much the judgment affects your score might depend on the age but it seems they hurt a lot until they are gone. The one that hit me for 100 points was new. My score returned when I had the report corrected.

This is referring to FICO 04 based scores like the EQ FICO provided here. I believe FICO 8 based scores, more likely to be used on Auto or CC applications, ignore one judgement for less than $100.

As long as your FICO is good enough to get you through the first part of an application, an old judgement that is paid might be OK if the report is reviewed manually. This might help depending on what type of loan you need.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

vanillabean — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:40:16 GMT

Yes, various threads seem to indicate a cutoff of ~700. There's often a small scorecard drop when the judgment is gone, then the bright sky ahead.

Interestingly enough, this article doesn't mention "judgment" or "court" or "public record":

FICO reveals how common credit mistakes affect scores

It should be noted though that I have no personal experience below the FICO mean score of ~723. The following terms are like a drawer of tossed tax-related receipts to me:

30/60/90 day lates, negative accounts, bankruptcies, charge-offs, collections, public records, judgments, settlement, derogatories, charge-off, collection, liens, trade-off, short-sale, foreclosure

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Imhotrodcrazy — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:03:57 GMT

@jdogi wrote:
I know this restricts the pool of potential responders, but I'm wondering if those of you who have been so afflicted could share your highest score attained with a judgment reporting. My report is completely clear of baddies (and has been for some time), with one exception, a pair of judgments (6yrs and 6.5yrs old).

My
AAoA: 5+yrs
Oldest: 16+yrs

Still, my FICO scores are stuck in the 690-700 range. My utilization is enerally in the 10% to 20% range, but it doesn't seem to change these scores much.

I've pretty much resigned myself to this range for another year until the judgments are gone, but I'm interested in hearing other observations.

Anybody been able to get over 720? 750?

I have a 4 and a half yr old Civil Judgment against me on my TU and EQ reports. Other than that, all of my reports are spotless. As you can see my TU Fico score is 729, and has been stuck there for about a year now. I still continue to fight what I feel is a "wrongful" judgment against me. More than likely it will remain on my reports for the remaining 2 and a half yrs. Hopefully, when it drops I will see a substantial bump in those 2 reports.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

jdogi — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:37:44 GMT

Well, I now have my answer, at least to some degree. My EQ report has always only listed the older of the two judgments and it just vanished today. My EQ FICO just popped from 691 to 765. The "filed date" just turned 7 years old, but I didn't pay it off until a year later. I thought that the clock started ticking when it was satisfied. I guess not. Woohoo!

EDIT: I guess didn't really answer the question that I posted, but it did answer another fundamental question that I had. AKA, where will I be once these bad marks are gone.

That 691 was just pulled two weeks ago and really nothing else has changed on the EQ report except for the judgment dropping off. Geesh, it sure is nice to know where I stand without these public records weighing on my score. I really wasn't sure if I my scores would stay the same, or jump to 800. Now I know. Finally!

I would like to thank everyone for their responses to this post and others...

...the academy...

...MyFico.com for hosting our fine community...

...and everyone else here that is so helpful...

...and I don't want to forget the little people...

...without them none of this would be possible...

In case you can't tell, this new development has me pretty geeked. ;-)

Many of you know first-hand how this works and how it feels when you're finally nearing the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been a long time in the making, but finally the mistakes of my past are nearly behind me. Look out high achievers, here I come.

Background: At the depths of my credit nightmare, my scores were in the 530-540 range. Loaded with collections and other assorted baddies. That was probably 8 or 9 years ago, maybe longer. It sure does take a long time to fix a mess like that.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Booner72 — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:28:30 GMT

Congratulations!

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:53:55 GMT

@jdogi wrote:
Well, I now have my answer, at least to some degree. My EQ report has always only listed the older of the two judgments and it just vanished today. My EQ FICO just popped from 691 to 765. The "filed date" just turned 7 years old, but I didn't pay it off until a year later. I thought that the clock started ticking when it was satisfied. I guess not. Woohoo!

EDIT: I guess didn't really answer the question that I posted, but it did answer another fundamental question that I had. AKA, where will I be once these bad marks are gone.

That 691 was just pulled two weeks ago and really nothing else has changed on the EQ report except for the judgment dropping off. Geesh, it sure is nice to know where I stand without these public records weighing on my score. I really wasn't sure if I my scores would stay the same, or jump to 800. Now I know. Finally!

I would like to thank everyone for their responses to this post and others...
...the academy...
...MyFico.com for hosting our fine community...
...and everyone else here that is so helpful...
...and I don't want to forget the little people...
...without them none of this would be possible...

In case you can't tell, this new development has me pretty geeked. ;-)

Many of you know first-hand how this works and how it feels when you're finally nearing the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been a long time in the making, but finally the mistakes of my past are nearly behind me. Look out high achievers, here I come.

Background: At the depths of my credit nightmare, my scores were in the 530-540 range. Loaded with collections and other assorted baddies. That was probably 8 or 9 years ago, maybe longer. It sure does take a long time to fix a mess like that.

Dude. You are there!!!!

Congrations and a big woot-woot to you!!

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

jdogi — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 01:33:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Dude. You are there!!!!
Congrations and a big woot-woot to you!!

Thanks! I'm still only considering myself kinda/almost there.

I may (or may not) have also succesfully disputed the remaining judgment on my TU. Which may (or may not) have raised that score from 690 to 750. Since I may (or may not) have disputed a legitimate baddie, I don't want to say for certain. ;-) If I did commit such a heinous act, I promise, it was an accident.

The problem is that even with two clean reports over 750, no manual review (mortgage) is going to miss that remaining judgment on EX. So, aIthough I can probably work my way into a 760+ mid score over the next month (or two) via additional ageing, dropping INQs, and lower util, I'm still going to have that one BIG black eye for another year.

Perhaps I'll just decide not to build or buy for another year. I bet I can be tickling 800 by then. :-)

Thanks again for sharing in my celebration. I may only be 'kinda/almost' there, but it still feels damn good.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

MattH — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 12:05:33 GMT

Some years ago I was worried at the prospect of having a judgment on my credit history: in a lapse of attention behind the wheel I rear-ended the sister-in-law of a lawyer. Of course one should ALWAYS drive safely, and usually I am a safe driver, but if you DO rear-end somebody in stop-and-go traffic, do NOT hit somebody married to the brother of a lawyer! It took forever for her to settle with my insurance company, and for a while it looked like she would hold out for a trial. Her hubby's lawyer brother was a very tough negotiater and only settled a few days before I would have had to appear in court. As you can well imagine, I was very relieved to learn they finally reached agreement with my insurance company.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

poops — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 14:05:18 GMT

This is a case where YMMV applies to the extreme... I had a Judgment fall off my EQ report last month after 7 years. I was expecting my EQ Score to jump. Instead, it dropped 13 pts, from 691 to 678. They only thing that changed on my report was an increase in utilization of approximately 4%. From 39% to 43%.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

jdogi — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:30:22 GMT

@poops wrote:
This is a case where YMMV applies to the extreme... I had a Judgment fall off my EQ report last month after 7 years. I was expecting my EQ Score to jump. Instead, it dropped 13 pts, from 691 to 678. They only thing that changed on my report was an increase in utilization of approximately 4%. From 39% to 43%.

And it is stories like yours that still had me wondering. I've essentially spent the past 6+ years waiting for my troubled history to clear and avoiding anything new that would anger the FICO gods. About 3 years ago, the last of my negatives dropped off, except the judgments. This put my scores in the 670-675 range. At that point, there really wasn't anything I could do but pay everything on time and get some new, better CCs.

Last year I decided to bring my balances down to see how high my scores woud go and was disappoined to find a glass ceiling around 690-700 (my FAKOs at the time were ~770). I was really hoping that I could lift them over or around the 720.

In about six weeks, I will have paid off most of the holiday damage to my utilization. I'm thinking the better util, car loan turning one, and some CC CLIs will give me another 5-10 points. So, I'll have two scores ~760+ and one ~700. I hate that ONE ;-)

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:31:45 GMT

i had the same question, too....how much will my score change when a judgment falls off? My judgment was filed in Dec. 2005, satisfied (PIF) Aug. 2009. So, it will fall off this December..I hope I get the big increase that jdogi got! but, with my luck, i'll get a decrease like poops did.

I'm so confused about my score. On my WalMart card, my January score was 725 and this months is 726. I got a new Discover card about 3 weeks ago (CL $5K), and per their disclosure info, they pulled TU and it was 726. Today, I got my quarterly report from MyFico, and it says my TU score is 688. I thought Myfico was the most up-to-date report but the balances reporting for my various cards do not reflect payments made after Dec. 31, 2011. I paid off holiday debt last month, but it's not reflected in today's report.

I'll keep plugging along, and continue to pay down the rest of my debt. I've been a reader on these boards for about 3 years, and can say without hesitation that this site is one of the best! I like the fact that people are truthful with you. some are a little too harsh, but at least you know you will get good, solid info from people that "have been there". Thanks again!

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

MarineVietVet — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:27:29 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
i had the same question, too....how much will my score change when a judgment falls off? My judgment was filed in Dec. 2005, satisfied (PIF) Aug. 2009. So, it will fall off this December..I hope I get the big increase that jdogi got! but, with my luck, i'll get a decrease like poops did.

I'm so confused about my score. On my WalMart card, my January score was 725 and this months is 726. I got a new Discover card about 3 weeks ago (CL $5K), and per their disclosure info, they pulled TU and it was 726. Today, I got my quarterly report from MyFico, and it says my TU score is 688. I thought Myfico was the most up-to-date report but the balances reporting for my various cards do not reflect payments made after Dec. 31, 2011. I paid off holiday debt last month, but it's not reflected in today's report.

I'll keep plugging along, and continue to pay down the rest of my debt. I've been a reader on these boards for about 3 years, and can say without hesitation that this site is one of the best! I like the fact that people are truthful with you. some are a little too harsh, but at least you know you will get good, solid info from people that "have been there". Thanks again!

Sadly the TU score you get here is the older TU98 version which is still used by many lenders but it's being replaced by the newer TU04 and the most recent TU08 version. The score WM gives you is the TU08 version.

Edited for a typo.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:55:37 GMT

thanks for the response, marinevietvet. I appreciate it....I was hoping you would respond. When you reply to a message, you are much nicer and succient than some others responders!

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

MarineVietVet — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:29:49 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
thanks for the response, marinevietvet. I appreciate it....I was hoping you would respond. When you reply to a message, you are much nicer and succient than some others responders!

I appreciate that but I'm afraid there are several members who would not agree with your opinion.

I also think my sons would take you to task for saying that.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

jdogi — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:03:23 GMT

EQ FICO just jumped to 780 due to one INQ falling off and utilization dropping from 22% to 18% (AMEX CLI). Util will be under 10% in a week or so, should be inetersting

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Oct 2014 03:47:04 GMT

It's an old thread but looks from your sig and the post date as though your scores made it to the 800s with the judgements just having dropped off now. What was the highest you got to with the judgements? Was it a substantial difference once they dropped off?

Edit to add: This was to poster Imhotrodcrazy but it doesn't seem to have posted as a reply to you. But if anyone else wants to wade in I would appreciate it.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Anonymous — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 04:31:11 GMT

2 Judgements 6.5 yrs old on 2 of 3 credit reports (these are the only items left that are negative):

738, 739, one without the judgements is 758. I figure at this point it takes off about 20 points. Ready to finally be rid of 2008, though.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

CS800 — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 22:12:35 GMT

I can tell you for a fact that whn I had a judgement years ago, I noticed an instant 30 points drop all across. It was a stupid judgement for $500 that the company could have just told me and I would have paid but instead, they initiated a smalls claims and then I paid it the same month without going to court. it still reported. But the drop was a big one to swallow. A full 30 points drop.

I'm not sure I can even have it taken off.

Re: Highest score with judgment(s)?

Shann0n_marie — Thu, 07 May 2015 01:18:01 GMT

@jdogi wrote:
I know this restricts the pool of potential responders, but I'm wondering if those of you who have been so afflicted could share your highest score attained with a judgment reporting. My report is completely clear of baddies (and has been for some time), with one exception, a pair of judgments (6yrs and 6.5yrs old).

My
AAoA: 5+yrs
Oldest: 16+yrs

Still, my FICO scores are stuck in the 690-700 range. My utilization is enerally in the 10% to 20% range, but it doesn't seem to change these scores much.

I've pretty much resigned myself to this range for another year until the judgments are gone, but I'm interested in hearing other observations.

Anybody been able to get over 720? 750?

BUMP -- anyone else have experience with this & tax liens on your credit? How long until it ages off? Satisfied or UnPaid? Credit Scores? I just got a civil judgement from my HOA association from when my home went into foreclosure updated to show satisifed & also a state of CA tax lien for $6700 updated to show satisified/released.

TIA! (I still have 2 more years until the tax lien will drop off & the judgement is more like 4 more years.)