Hi blue,
I know it's confusing. There are TWO ways to get a judgment removed. A vacatur of judgment is one, and a motion to vacate is another. They sound similar, but they are completely different.
Vacatur of Judgment - The creditor agrees to remove the judgment as if it didn't happen. This would be out of the goodness of their hearts, because it doesn't say the judgment was entered in error. It says they remove or cancel it. (Which is different from being paid or satisfied.) This is more likely, I imagine, with local situations where you can talk to a human who can make a decision. It's probably harder with a judgment from a CA or a big corporation.
This is a one page form letter, signed by the plintiff/creditor and filed with both the court in which the judgment was made (small claims, city, supreme) and with the county clerk, which is the office that records and usually reports all judgments and liens to the CRA. You do NOT need to talk to a judge for this.
Motion to Vacate - You are asking a judge to actually look at the case because you are saying it was entered in error in the first place and should be vacated (canceled, removed) on that basis. The most common reason for such an error is improper service. There's been some research that says that purposeful improper service in order to obtain judgments is rampant with collection agencies and some legal service firms. They will sometimes serve the papers at an old address, or say they gave it to you when they didn't. Another reason might be the wrong identity, etc. In any case, if you want a judgment vacated because it's in error, you must make a MOTION, which is a legal word meaning you request the judge do something, and you are in effect re-opening the case to be heard again. That is a more complicated process, and is certainly worth it if there was improper service or something. But if the judgment is accurate, and you pay it, then any motion to vacate may not get you anywhere, except in a case like mentioned above, where the judge chooses to be nice. They don't have to.
This procedure is probably better handled by a lawyer for most people, depending on how comfortable you are with the legal process. If you do it yourself, go to the clerk of the court the judgment was ordered by and ask them where you can find forms for a motion to vacate. You can also sometimes find forms on line, and probably at most public libraries.
Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and every state has different laws and some have different terminilogy, so you have to investigate it a bit for each state. My experience is with NY law.
