Settle a default judgement

[Anonymous]

A while back I had an issue that resulted in a default judgement.  I was young and stupid, didn't know what to do, and it resulted in a default judgement.

The amount is around $6000.  It shows in the Public section on my credit report and shows as coming off my report in September of this year.

However I'm considering buying a house before then.

The judgment was never paid and I still feel I don't owe the money (this wasn't a credit card), but my neglect was my own fault.

Should I try and contact the lawyer and settle for less than amount of the judgement?  Or should I consider waiting this out until it comes off my report the end of this year?

Thanks!

[RobertEG]

Personally, I would attempt to satisfy the judgment.

Even after the reporting of the judgment is excluded from your CR, the public record is still available.

CR exclusion puts a bit of a shield over the discovery of unpaid, delinquent debt by way of a simple pull of the consumer's CR.

If a lendor does a public records search, they can still find it.

If a lendor simply asks if you have any unpaid, delinquent debt, CR exclusion would not be basis for answering no.

Your call.

[rckstrscott]

---

@RobertEG wrote:

Personally, I would attempt to satisfy the judgment.

Even after the reporting of the judgment is excluded from your CR, the public record is still available.

CR exclusion puts a bit of a shield over the discovery of unpaid, delinquent debt by way of a simple pull of the consumer's CR.

If a lendor does a public records search, they can still find it.

If a lendor simply asks if you have any unpaid, delinquent debt, CR exclusion would not be basis for answering no.

Your call.

---

This +1 -- Credit report isn't nessiciarily the only public record seach they will do. The exclusionary time frame for the judgement to report on a credit report doesn't mean it went away forever; now. That isn't to say it WILL come up when you apply, but you need to be careful. If you feel strongly you don't own the money, and your ethics allows you to say NO when you have outstanding debt, that is understood. But if they do a search and it comes back as you have a 6k judgement, the bank might immediately refuse to work with you going forward if they feel you fabricated any part of your application.

-scott

[Crossdivided]

If im not mistaken, judgements are kind of tricky. Its my understanding that the plaintiff can actually request it be reinserted (or perhaps maybe not removed at all) if it is not satisfied. I could be wrong, or it may just be an individual state thing...but theres SOMETHING along those lines out there concerning unsatisfied judgements,

[guiness56]

---

@Crossdivided wrote:

If im not mistaken, judgements are kind of tricky. Its my understanding that the plaintiff can actually request it be reinserted (or perhaps maybe not removed at all) if it is not satisfied. I could be wrong, or it may just be an individual state thing...but theres SOMETHING along those lines out there concerning unsatisfied judgements,

---

No, once removed for age it cannot be reinserted.  What you are talking about is renewing the judgment for collection purposes. It just gives another 10-20 years to collect depending on what state you are in and their laws.

Tax liens on the other hand can stay forever if not paid.

[Andrew22]

Be careful.

If you settle, you could add a new account to your CR.

And, it will be all about HOW you settle. This was a default, and you said you had some doubts about the debt. If it was me, I'd get the case file and see what's in there. Perhaps you do owe a debt, but it does not mean you owe the debt to people who won the default judgment. I'd make sure they can prove ownership of the debt in accordance with state law, that the amount is correct, etc.

I would start from the perspective that you are going to move to vacate the judgment first, and work toward a settlement, if appropriate that way. At best, you find the people who wont your default are not the legal owners of your debt, and you can have it tossed, at worst, you give yourself a little room to negotiate.

Also, if you do settle, two key things: make an agreement that the creditor will move to vacate the judgment once paid, wipe it entirely from the court records; and be prepared to pay in a lump sum...

good luck!

[Jeeper44]

I am in a similar situation with a judgement that's over 8 years old. It has come off my credit however its still affecting me. I am looking to build a new house on my property but found the old judgement also included a lien on my property. I can't do anything until I can get this cleaned up.

One thing to keep in mind is that judgements typically have a lot longer SOL. Where I live the SOL on consumer debt is 6 years, however with a judgement that extends to 20 years. That means if its not taken care of, 19 years later they can come back and try to collect. I would say you're better off trying to get this cleared up sooner than later. I'm having issues now because I can't find out who I need to talk to to get mine cleared up, because its been so long. As other's have mentioned, the CR is clean but it would still come up on a simple public records search showing that I owe the money.

Last spring I bought a camper. Although my credit has risen enough to allow me to purchase it, I still had an unpaid judgment on my CR. The bank specifically asked me if I had any documentation showing that I had paid it. They gave me the loan, but at a much higher interest rate than if I had been able to show I had satisified the judgement.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the replies!  I have a few more questions.  I definitely want to pay and have the judgement vacated and showed as paid.  Should I begin with the law firm that represents the company or contact the company directly?

Without going into too much details about the issue I have, the company is a merchant account provider.  They processed credit cards for my business.  I'd love to dispute it, but I lost that chance so I just want to move on and not have this affect my credit any longer.

So I don't know where to begin now to settle on payment... with the lawyer they hired or the merchant account provider?  It was a Civil Judgement and the company is listed as the plaintiff and the law fir is listed as the plaintiff's attorney.

Thanks again for the help!

[rckstrscott]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Thanks everyone for the replies!  I have a few more questions.  I definitely want to pay and have the judgement vacated and showed as paid.  Should I begin with the law firm that represents the company or contact the company directly?

Without going into too much details about the issue I have, the company is a merchant account provider.  They processed credit cards for my business.  I'd love to dispute it, but I lost that chance so I just want to move on and not have this affect my credit any longer.

So I don't know where to begin now to settle on payment... with the lawyer they hired or the merchant account provider?  It was a Civil Judgement and the company is listed as the plaintiff and the law fir is listed as the plaintiff's attorney.

Thanks again for the help!

---

Well, you should talk to your clerk at the courthouse about vacating after its paid. In illinois, you can have a judgement vacated after you pay it.

Many jurisdictions allow this, many don't -- you should look into that

-scott

[Anonymous]

OK.  Andrew22 had mentioned about to "make an agreement that the creditor will move to vacate the judgment once paid"  Is that actually possible?