Judgment entered two days before my bankruptcy was filed. I was never served with summons.

[sbarrick]

Alright, like many, I am learning the hard lesson of how very difficult it is to have your credit bounce back after bankruptcy.  I found that I had 3 public records.  One is my BK, one is a tiny medical collection, the other is a judgment from Citi Financial that I was never served a summons for.  If I'd been served, I would have handed it over to my attorney, considering that was exactly why I hired her.  The default judgment was entered on June 28, 2011.   My bankruptcy was filed July 1, 2011, with a discharge entered on October 4, 2011.  The Citi Financial debt is clearly listed in my Creditors Holding Unsecured Non-Priority Claims.  How on earth do I go about handling this?  I'm positive my attorney would charge me, so I'd like to see if there is a way to take care of it myself.  Thanks so much!

[ezdriver]

The court would not have granted the judgement unless it had received proof of service. You can write to the appropriate cleark of the court and tell them that a judgement was issued without you having been served and see what type of response you get. Seems the judgement needs to be satisfied and then you might have a chance of having it vacated ... or withdrawn by the creditor.

[StartingOver10]

You can vacate it on your own. Go to the courthouse where the judgment was issued and speak to the clerks office. They will point you in the right direction. You will need a copy of your petition and your discharge. Each state handles this differently so you want to find out how to do it in your state. There is a time limit post BK so you want to jump on this right away.

[ezdriver]

Sorry ... I missed that the judgement was listed in the debt schedule and discharged.

Question ... how is that judgement being reported in your credit report? If it is being reported as included in the bankruptcy, I'm not seeing what the issue is. Can you clarify?

[sbarrick]

On one of my reports I saw something about the Chapter 7. On my credit karma, it doesn't. It shows as a public record.

[StartingOver10]

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@sbarrick wrote:
On one of my reports I saw something about the Chapter 7. On my credit karma, it doesn't. It shows as a public record.

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On your CR the tradeline should read IIB and zero balance. All tradelines should read that (unless you reaffirmed something). Since the judgment was issued prior to the BK - you can get it vacated. Do that because not only will it help your credit report - it removes the judgment from your public records which will help you if you ever go to buy a home or get a mortgage.

All judgments are public record. You can check that by pulling your own public records under your name. In my county you do that under the Clerk of Courts site. check your county's public records to see what shows under your name because there could be items there that don't show on your CR. May as well clear everything you can at the same time.