I have a judgement that was filed in 05/2007 for $4413. So, it's 4 years old. I'm in Michigan, so if I'm not mistaken--it'll be on there for 7 years. Question, can they re-file the judgement....or will it actually just fall off? I'm debating if I should pay this. It makes me crazy, cause the original debt amount was around $2000. What should I do with this?
Ok, after doing more searching on this forum, it looks like it's difficult to get a judgement off of your record. So I will pay the stupid thing. As it gets closer to the end of the year they start sending settlement letters...so I'll just plan on paying it when I get one that is good enough. I've seen them as low as 70% off. Any ideas on how settling this account will affect my fico? I imagine that it will drop my score initially (bringing the past current?) Or does that not matter with a public record? Any imput appreciated
I'm sure your FICO scores have already taken a big hit due to the unpaid judgment. Paying it at this point probably won't do much of anything for your scores. An unpaid judgment is essentially just as bad for your FICO scores as a paid judgment, although paid judgments will certainly look better to potential lenders in the future.
Hi Jupiter I am also from mitten and I can say that the judgment is renewable so look for heavy activity about 2016 â?? I am surprised that you havenâ??t been garnished yet, MI follows Federal guidelines so they can get up to 25% of wages. Josh is most likely correct the biggest hit was the month the judgment got entered 2007 because judgments are not â??updatedâ? monthly itâ??s not like the score went down due to the judgment alone. While you wait for your â??perfectâ? offer be careful of you funds â?? bank levy, wage garnishment, property liens and as of December 2010 Michigan is the only state that allows State Income Tax Refund garnishment for private debt such as credit debt and they can come out of nowhere. Brush up on MIâ??s exemption rules, donâ??t keep more money than you can afford to lose in your bank account, adjust your tax exemptions so you are not getting a large tax refund both Federal and State; once that Federal Income Tax Refund hits your bank account its garnishable. Writs of Garnishment hits the courts heavy in the 1st Quarter of year - #1 reason Tax Refunds. Good Luck.
I am self employed, so I don't get a refund...I pay in quarterly. So they can't get me there. They did find one of my accounts a long time ago because I, like a dummy, gave them my banking info over the phone. I closed that account. Hopefully I can get this resolved this year. Thanks for the info. I guess my biggest concern is what it will do to my score when I pay it...I imagine my score will drop...most likely temporarily. It doesn't matter...I need this monkey off my back.
Your credit scores may drop, but probably not much further than they already have. I wouldn't worry to much about your scores at this point. They will improve with time, so it's best to just take care of this and then start moving on and trying to rebuild positive payment history once again.
Once the judgment is paid, make sure the satisfaction is recorded every place the judgment is recorded (in many jurisdictions there is a county registrar or the like in addition to the court) then give it some time to get picked up by the CRAs. Do NOT mail the satisfaction to the CRAs yourself. Once it shows as paid, dispute the PAID judgment with the CRAs for one reason or another. CRAs are skippy about investigating PAID judgments, and they often just delete them, making paid judgments much less "sticky" than unpaid judgments. If you have other debt problems, hold off on removing the paid judgment, and if possible get the satisfaction in hand without it being recorded anywhere at all, the idea being you wait to record it until you have resolved your other problems. If you pay A and still owe B, then B will come at you all the harder if he knows you paid A. If B thinks A is still unpaid, B is much more likely to negotiate with you to get whatever he can rather than basing his decisionmaking on knowledge that you have already paid A.
IF MI follows Federal Rules: Rule 60. Relief from a Judgment or Order (b) Grounds for Relief from a Final Judgment, Order, or Proceeding. On motion and just terms, the court may relieve a party or its legal representative from a final judgment, order, or proceeding for the following reasons: (5) the judgment has been satisfied, released, or discharged; it is based on an earlier judgment that has been reversed or vacated; or applying it prospectively is no longer equitable; or
