topic Judgment missing from public record? in General Credit Topics

Judgment missing from public record?

Dreamweaver737 — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 19:15:29 GMT

This was a typical LVNV lawsuit. Sued on an already stale $600 debt from 2018 and a seemingly rubber stamped judgment. I showed up to court and provided ample evidence to dismiss the case. A judgment was eventually handed down in October of last year.

Since then I have been unable to locate the judgment online. I have found numerous judgments before and after my case. Is it possible this was never officially entered? I've searched high and low and still can't find it.

LVNV has just recently quit reporting the debt to all 3 bureaus. It's coming up on the 7 year reporting SOL. The last payment was in December 2018.

Re: Judgment missing from public record?

JoeRockhead — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 20:05:40 GMT

It can happen (or in your case, not happen) for a number of reasons. If you've searched the clerk of courts records for that jurisdiction and it's not there... As they say, let sleeping dogs lie.

Edited to add:

You are likely eligible for EE (early exclusion) from TU and EX, EQ is 30 days, but if your last payment was in December 2018, your DOFD was likely well before that so you could be eligible for EE at all three bureaus.

Re: Judgment missing from public record?

fnfunkin — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 01:41:19 GMT

@JoeRockhead fnf wrote:
It can happen (or in your case, not happen) for a number of reasons. If you've searched the clerk of courts records for that jurisdiction and it's not there... As they say, let sleeping dogs lie.

Edited to add:

You are likely eligible for EE (early exclusion) from TU and EX, EQ is 30 days, but if your last payment was in December 2018, your DOFD was likely well before that so you could be eligible for EE at all three bureaus.

I’m pretty new to all this, and I’m having a hard time figuring it out — if the judgment doesn’t show up in the public record, does that mean it was never finalized, or could it still exist somewhere even if it’s not listed online?

Re: Judgment missing from public record?

JoeRockhead — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 13:41:43 GMT

@fnfunkin wrote:

@JoeRockhead fnf wrote:
It can happen (or in your case, not happen) for a number of reasons. If you've searched the clerk of courts records for that jurisdiction and it's not there... As they say, let sleeping dogs lie.

Edited to add:

You are likely eligible for EE (early exclusion) from TU and EX, EQ is 30 days, but if your last payment was in December 2018, your DOFD was likely well before that so you could be eligible for EE at all three bureaus.
I’m pretty new to all this, and I’m having a hard time figuring it out — if the judgment doesn’t show up in the public record, does that mean it was never finalized, or could it still exist somewhere even if it’s not listed online?

@fnfunkin No, just because a judgement doesn't show up online doesn't mean that it wasn't finalized, or signed off on by a judge, or doesn't exist. Judgements themselves don't generally just go away unless they were paid/settled, vacated/released by the judgement holder, or time-barred from being renewed. In many states they can be renewed over, and over (every X number of years) essentially following people around for the rest of their lives. Many courts don’t post all records online. Especially smaller county courts or older cases that may only have paper files.

Contact the court clerk’s office directly: ask if a judgment was entered against (insert name here) in a given time period.
County or municipal court records (physical or electronic)
State judgment registries (some states have a centralized system)
County recorder or public records offices

Re: Judgment missing from public record?

TrapLine — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 09:58:52 GMT

My first reaction is "don't poke the bear" ...

Re: Judgment missing from public record?

RobertS2 — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 22:53:17 GMT

Civil judgements aren't on credit reports anymore.