snailboy wrote:
My biggest credit fiasco was a judgement from Discover for $3192. I paid this in November 2005 in full. However, scrutinizing my reports, I now find that only Experian marks this judgement as "satisfied." TransUnion and Equifax both state "filed" under status. Should I do anything about this? Does this mean that both TU and EQ are claiming the judgement is unpaid??? Also, as a minor sidebar, I noticed that the reference numbers are the same for EX and EQ but different for TU. Does this mean anything?
Sounds like you are right -- TU and EQ are not reporting it as paid. So do dispute it as "paid." Just be aware that you won't get a big score jump once it's reflected as a paid judgment. Once an account has gone into collections, the damage is done. However, on a manual review, a potential lender will want to see that all collections and judgments have been paid/satisfied.
Reference number -- sometimes these are scrambled for security. I wouldn't worry about it, provided the other info (creditor, amount, etc.) is correct. Some people will tell you that you should dispute it as "not mine." I think the safer course of action is to dispute as "paid."
