How to handle closing of Judgment

[Anonymous]

I have horrible credit. Trying to rebuild, new to myFICO, this is step 1.

I had a civil case where we immediately went to mediation (past due rent from past) and were able to work out an agreement on amount to resolve and payments. I made the last payment on Sunday. The plaintiff and I are on reasonable terms now, and we're trying to figure out how to close this out. We were told that Plaintiff needed to file an "Acknowledgement of Satisfaction of Judgment". 

I was told that this would still show as a judgment against me.

What affects will that have against my already bad credit? Is there any benefit of requesting a full dismissal from the Plaintiff/Judge and hope that it goes through?

How long will this affect my credit?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

/alr

[RobertEG]

This is a pre-trial settlement?

[Anonymous]

Yes. We never discussed the details of the issue with the judge. He immediately referred the case to Mediation and said that if we didn't resolve it there, then we would move to trial. That's why I was a bit confused when they said we had to complete a Satisfaction of Judgment considering there was no judgment, unless that's what you would consider the result of mediation, since we did come to an agreement between us.

[RobertEG]

It would be a pre-trial settlement.

A judgment is rendered as the outcome of a trial on the merits.

It should show as a settlement if paid for less.  The public record will not post as a judgment.

[Anonymous]

Thank you.

So just to confirm, the course of action is fine with the standard "Satisfaction of Judgment" being filed to close this out since it won't post PR as a Judgment?

[StartingOver10]

If you are forced to file a Satisfaction or more accurately, have the creditor file a Satisfaction, see if you can get the judgement vacated. The public record will contain the whole trail: judgement and then satisfaction. If you get it vacated it is as if it isn't there. Not all jurisdictions will vacate a judgment if it is paid.

No one can guarantee what will be picked up or not picked up in the public records section of your credit report. If the judgment is vacated there is nothing to pick up.