Serious Question???

[NAMC80]

What is the best way to handle a judgement.  I just found out that my husband stopped paying on a judgement that he had been paying on for 2 years because he said that the balance was not changing. 

They never went to court because they settled for a payment plan before it went to court.   At any rate he was paying 100.00 a month but I guess it kept gaining interest.  Im so afraid that they may try to garnish his wages or something.  They haven't contacted him yet but Im sure that it's just a matter of time. 

We want to buy a new home later this year and Im sure that this is going to come  up.  How should we proceed.

[Anonymous]

Someone went to court or there wouldn't be a judgment.

As for garnishing his wages, depending on the amount, they may very well do so.

As for the mortgage, it will be up to the LO/underwriter whether it must be paid and will likely depend upon the amount. Based on what I've read, they are almost always required to be PIF before you get approved.

Could you come up with a lump sum to try and settle? Either for the original amount minus interest or a percentage?

What was the date filed? Unless vacated by the courts, it will remain for 7 years from date filed.

[NAMC80]

It was filed Dec 2004.  We can use are savings to possibly come up with a settlement for the original amount.  Should we do that before meeting with a LO are just wait to see what they ask us to do. We are assuming that we  would have to pay them off as a condition for closing.  Im just wondering if it will help his credit if we PIF before going to the LO. The OC is still reporting it as an amount owed which shows as a revolving credit balance even though it was charged off and now a judgement.  The DOLA for the OC is Sept. 2003.

All of his current credit cards have 0 balance, but this one is reporting a current balance from the OC which is killing his Debt to Credit ratio.

[Anonymous]

Having the balance on the regular TL reported by the OC down to $0 may help his score. However, a judgment going from unpaid to paid is not supposed to increase score at all, although some has stated it did. YMMV.

Whether you do so now or wait until meeting with the LO would be up to you.