debt validation, dispute, send in the document...what's best way to go?

[Anonymous]

Hi guys

I have a judgement on my credit report for a state tax lien that doesn't belong there. I paid it years ago. I called the state tax office, and they said that I am in satisfactory status, that I had owed them money once upon a time, but paid it. Which I knew. And as far as I knew, I paid it without it ever needing to get to the point of them requesting a judgement, so I don't know what happened there. I asked them to mail me something reflecting that it was paid, and I didn't owe them anything, and they said that they would. Then I called the courthouse, and they agreed with the tax office, they said that they have it on file as paid as well. I asked them to notify the credit reporting agency of that, and they said that they don't notify the reporting agencies of anything in the first place, that the agencies send reporters to investigate. Which I thought was really annoying, because that makes it sound like the agencies just go looking for derogatory things to stick on our reports. So she told me to come to the courthouse, and I can get a copy of their records indicating I don't owe that debt.

So now how to I best proceed after I have documents from both of those agencies? It's only TransUnion that has it on there (well I guess I shouldn't say that, I havent pulled my Experian report or got a FICO score from them (not sure how to get a FICO score for them?). So do I send TransUnion a debt validation, or dispute it, and do I need to send copies of these documents, or just let them investigate on thier own?

I know that my credit and income aren't ideal, but I just found a house (HUD-manufactured house-on land) that they only want $55,000 for, and I have about 20-25% down payment I can put down. So that would make my mortgage loan balance and payments peanuts, so I'm going to try for it. So I need to know how to best proceed to get rid of that judgement asap, without looking bad to a potential lender.

Thanks

Cathy

[rckstrscott]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi guys

I have a judgement on my credit report for a state tax lien that doesn't belong there. I paid it years ago. I called the state tax office, and they said that I am in satisfactory status, that I had owed them money once upon a time, but paid it. Which I knew. And as far as I knew, I paid it without it ever needing to get to the point of them requesting a judgement, so I don't know what happened there. I asked them to mail me something reflecting that it was paid, and I didn't owe them anything, and they said that they would. Then I called the courthouse, and they agreed with the tax office, they said that they have it on file as paid as well. I asked them to notify the credit reporting agency of that, and they said that they don't notify the reporting agencies of anything in the first place, that the agencies send reporters to investigate. Which I thought was really annoying, because that makes it sound like the agencies just go looking for derogatory things to stick on our reports. So she told me to come to the courthouse, and I can get a copy of their records indicating I don't owe that debt.

So now how to I best proceed after I have documents from both of those agencies? It's only TransUnion that has it on there (well I guess I shouldn't say that, I havent pulled my Experian report or got a FICO score from them (not sure how to get a FICO score for them?). So do I send TransUnion a debt validation, or dispute it, and do I need to send copies of these documents, or just let them investigate on thier own?

I know that my credit and income aren't ideal, but I just found a house (HUD-manufactured house-on land) that they only want $55,000 for, and I have about 20-25% down payment I can put down. So that would make my mortgage loan balance and payments peanuts, so I'm going to try for it. So I need to know how to best proceed to get rid of that judgement asap, without looking bad to a potential lender.

Thanks

Cathy

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Couple things. Is it listing as a judgment or simply as just a tax lien? When did you pay it? Is it showing as open with a ballance or satisfied? A tax lien will report 7 years from the day you paid it, not the day you received it.

Also, on that 55,000 purchase price, from my understanding most lenders will not give a sub-50k mortgage, it just isn't worth it to them. You might have to choose altermate financing.

-scott

[Anonymous]

The first thing you need to do is confirm that it actually went down as a judgement, the court has record of it so it would seem that it did. If that is the case, you can get it updated on your report to say paid or satisfied but it waill stay on there for a certain amount of time just like any paid collection does under normal circumstances (my DH has one so that's how I know). We did have to file a dispute on his to finally get it to report as satisfied and it's still possible to get a mortgage even with it on there as long as your scores are good enough.

[Anonymous]

On the report there's a section that says "Public records". It shows my BK (discharged in '08), and this other thing. Has a docket # and says "Type: State tax lien" "Responsibility: Individual debt" and "Amount:$1,300" and it has a date filed, and a date it will be removed from the report, but nothing indicating it was paid or anything.

So do I send documents to TU, or just request debt validation, or dispute it??

Scott- If they don't want to finance that low, then what...?? Do I only do a $5,000 deposit, so that it's a $50K loan? I don't know what alternate financing I could get?

Thank you

[Anonymous]

They're records indicate it was filed with the court in 8/08, and it was paid in '09. Like I said, I can't remember when I paid it, I just remember I paid it, and I don't recall it being sent in for judgements or anything, and I would have thought I'd have been notified of something like that??

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[Anonymous]

weird, don't know how I managed to make my last response be in a quote box? LOL

[rckstrscott]

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@Anonymous wrote:

On the report there's a section that says "Public records". It shows my BK (discharged in '08), and this other thing. Has a docket # and says "Type: State tax lien" "Responsibility: Individual debt" and "Amount:$1,300" and it has a date filed, and a date it will be removed from the report, but nothing indicating it was paid or anything.

So do I send documents to TU, or just request debt validation, or dispute it??

Scott- If they don't want to finance that low, then what...?? Do I only do a $5,000 deposit, so that it's a $50K loan? I don't know what alternate financing I could get?

Thank you

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To me, it just sounds like the satisfaction never was sent from the court on public record.  That is not a judgment, that is a standard tax lien listing. Tax liens list in public records.

Go to the courthouse listed on the credit report and get the documentation, then you can send it to the CRA and they will update it. Well, they did in my case at least.

Once it is listed as satisifed, it will be ignored by the underwriting department at a mortgage lender. Your score will still suffer as it is a public record, but since you have a BK on there anyway, I don't think it really will matter if it is removed or not, as you will still have a public record.

In regards to mortgage, its YMMV. Speak to a loan officer. They will tell you if it is avail or what you will need to do to get financed for it

-scott

[Anonymous]

Thanks Scott

[Anonymous]

Hi again

My letter came today showing that I'm paid in full (that was super quick)

So TransUnion is the one that's showing it incorrectly. Do you have an address of where I should send this to?

Thanks!

Cathy