Paid judgments

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I read on here recently that the impact collections have on your credit score isn't different if the collection is paid or unpaid. 

Does the same hold true for judgments?  If someone has a judgment that shows unpaid and they pay it and get it reported as paid to the credit bureaus, will having it updated to paid impact their score positively at all?

thanks,

Christian

[Anonymous]

No, judgments (and tax liens) are uglier and I think, scored more negatively.

Pay it off, if you can. Then file a motion to vacate with the originating court. If you're motion is successful, the judgment will be deleted and you'll be sweeter smelling, credit-wise.

But if you try to file a motion to vacate without the judgment being paid, the plaintiff can object and it will stay. And you'll p*ss off the judge for wasting the court's time.

'Sides that, if you're up for a loan or credit, PAID judgments look prettier to human eyes if you have to go to a manual underwrite or approval/recon.

[fused]

The following have an equally negative affect to scores...one is not worse than the other from a FICO scoring standpoint:

90+ day late or worse

a charge-off

a collection

a repo

a foreclosure

judgment

tax lien

deliquent child support

[Anonymous]

---

@fused wrote:

The following have an equally negative affect to scores...one is not worse than the other from a FICO scoring standpoint:

90+ day late or worse

a charge-off

a collection

a repo

a foreclosure

judgment

tax lien

deliquent child support

---

Ah. Gotcha. I thought that since WE had a tax lien (and the resulting "judgment") I thought it was the worse you could get!! At least, it FELT that way!!

OP: I'm sorry to have led you wrong!!!

[fused]

outside of scoring, I think the tax lien is the worst. They can stick around for 15 years if unpaid, and they are a real PITA to get deleted.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. According to our law, state tax liens stay on 7 years AFTER being paid. Until they're paid, they're supposed to stay on indefinitely.

But we had a deal with the comptroller's office (since they couldn't prove we still owed it and we didn't have the energy or time to search through 7 years of crap) that they'd delete them off the CRs if we disputed as "paid, agreed to delete."

So far, TU has updated with this. EX and EQ are still investigating. :/

[nmorton79]

Is it possible to get a paid judgement vacated if you don't live in the same state anymore?  I have one unpaid and one that I am working on.  The one that is paid was filed and paid in New Jersey.  The second one was filed in NJ even though I was (and still am)living in North Carolina.  Any ideas to how this could work?  Any advice is greatly appreciated.  Thanx!!!!

[Anonymous]

Yep, you have two options to vacate. You can file with the originating court (in NJ) ... most likely, you wouldn't have to appear UNLESS the plaintiff fought the motion. If it's been paid, and you were on good terms (AKA, the plaintiff wasn't a total jerk), they won't appear or contest the motion. The "hows" and "how much" depends on the state ... some states promote and encourage "self-help" and some don't. Give me a sec and I'll see what the statutes say!

Your other option (trickier, more of a PITA, and more $$) is to file a motion to domesticate the judgment in NC and THEN file a motion to vacate the judgment. That's not guaranteed to work, though, since you've got two court jurisdictions that will have to play nicely with each other (and the plaintiff would be more likely to contest it).

I'd honestly call the plaintiff and make sure that they have no objections to vacating (since you don't want to expend the trouble only to have the plaintiff be a jerk and appear to contest), and then file the motion. Even if they object, file the motion anyway (you'd spend anywhere from $20-100 to file, depending on the procedure and court fees) and cross your fingers!!!

I wish you the best of luck!! And I'll be back with a few statutes on filing!!

{{{{Hugs!!}}}}

[makeynik]

What kind of score adjustments do you think will be made when the paid lien ages off???
I am hoping to adjust my scores quite a bit in the next few months before I get too screwed over with the rate on a car loan... I have a paid tax lien that I did not know should have aged off, just disputed it with cra (THEY pointed it out when I opened my credit file recently) so am sitting here everyday, waiting for it to work its magic with scorewatch....