Judgement

[IllinoisNative]

Hello,

I want to go for a mortgage but had a judgement against me 22 years ago for a car loan. They garnished my wages and then they stopped collecting. I've never been contacted since then...and truthfully, forgot about it. It was a loan for an Oldsmobile. They are now out of business. 

Will this prevent me from getting a homestead loan in Florida? The judgement was in Illinois. 

Thank you!

[JoeRockhead]

Being 22 years ago, it is long gone from any reports so it's like it never happened. Best of luck on your loan.

[IllinoisNative]

Thank you! I was concerned because I was reading how the lender can renew the judgement every seven years possibly lasting up to 27 years...lol. 

I appreciate your feedback!

[JoeRockhead]

In some states they can go on (be renewed over and over) forever. If it was renewed, they are required by law to inform you/serve notice of it. Otherwise, if they failed to renew it, they forfeit the right to enforce, or collect on it... I'd hope you've verified it's not on your credit reports.

In Illinois, it's true that it has to be renewed within 7 yrs but, their law says instead of expiring with no recourse/revival, it goes dormant and can be petitioned to be revived up to 20 years from the date of it's entry. If you've heard nothing by now, I'd say it's long forgotten as I said originally.  

[IllinoisNative]

Awesome, thanks! I have a mortgage lender that wants to do a title search, etc. Found a house. Just panicking. Thanks again!!!

...and it's not on my credit report.

[pizzadude]

Agree with the others that you should be fine moving forward with the mortgage approval process.

However -- there is always the possiblity that you might be contacted by a junk debt CA attempting to collect on this zombie debt.   If that happens you should be good to ignore them, send a no-contact letter, or C&D.   Credit reporting wise, nothing should hit your reports related to this as it is waaaaay past the CRTP. 

[IllinoisNative]

Thanks, pizzadude!

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

If it was me I'd contact the county clerk's office the judgment was recorded in and asked if it was renewed/revived.

[IllinoisNative]

Thank you, everyone. I actually paid for a service to check my history. Everything came back clean. 

I went  ahead with the mortgage and everything is good to go. They just completed the title search. I'm waiting for the appraiser's report today. We're scheduled to close on 12/20/23. Yay!

[dawnaree]

What service did you use?