Two years ago a lawyer took my husband to small claims court for his Sears acct, they settled outside of court, no papers were signed atty sent them through the mail, my husband never signed Sears is still showing as a charge off. We are trying to purchase a home FHA and all collections have to be taken care of if I send settlement letter for deletion will the atty then place the judgement on our credit? I am not sure how to handle this one, we really need a home!
so you paid it? have you tried just disputing it with cra's? but probably at this point, you need a contact at sears who could send you a letter and update cra listing>>>>
no we have not paid it as of today, I am afraid to pay it because I do not know at that point what the atty will do with the pending judgement papers, also sears has done a soft inq, on hubby's cr every month since nov2001
This is definately confusing. Your husband was taken to court but was the case dismissed or did the court enter a judgement? Your husband made an agreement to pay, never paid, but the attorney never took action to garnish wages or take bank accounts? Their is no notation on the CR other than the Sears account?
The atty was late so never went before a judge, the atty drew up some papers mailed them to my husband (husband never signed them) atty sent another set of papers one year later ( husband still did not sign) and no further action has been done. Atty is not reporting in any way as of now, scared to wake them. SOL isn't up for another 2 years, but hoping to buy the house this summer.
First I would dispute it with the CRA's. Then if it comes back validated. I would call sears direct and try to work out a settlement. If they have sold the account to this attorney/CA. You will have to contact him for the settlement offer and hopefully you can get deletion. I wouldsay there is no need to validate it through the CA / Sears again, since you know it is yours. and all that would do is lengthin your waiting period to get this handled which I know is something you can not afford to do. One question, Why didnt your husband deal with this either time they sent him the settlement offers. You see they were not joking as you were standing outside of a courthouse, you verify the debt is yours. Was it just a case of money or lack there of? What type of deadline are you looking at on closing? Also if you contact this CA/OC dont tell them you are trying to close. You have alot less wiggle room when they know you have to settle the account
Thanks Buckethead, I am not sure why my husband did not handle it sooner. I know this is a silly question, but without his signature on the papers from the atty (I should tell you that in the papers it states judgement not a settlement) can they place the judgement on his CR, I am not too familiar with judgements, knock on wood have never had one! We are still building so at least 4 months till closing.
They have to go before a judge to get a judgement, but we are still skipping over something. There was a hearing. Your husband showed up but the other Attorney did not? What action did the judge take? Did he enter a judgement? Did dismiss the case? Did he hold it over or grant a continuance? It should be one of those three. How big of an amount is this? It is going to be hard to get Sears removed without th opposing Attorney being notified.
Believe it or not when your dealing with everything that you do has a thirty day time allowance (validation, ,acceptance, removal of the tradeline) 4 Months isnt that long. Cant really comment all that much on the judgement as I have not had any expeirences with them. But I am sure there are people here that can help you with that one. If I were you, I would send a settlement offer to the attorney. If you can , pay the bill in full, this will make him more willing to do the deletion or the tradeline. Which I know isnt the number one goal, just paying if off for the mortgage but if you have to pay, might as well get a deletion to boot. Send off a letter the the attorney, that you will pay X amount of dollars for a full deletion from all three CRA's of the tradeline. Not a UPDATE or PAID AS AGREED notation but a DELETION. THis has to be spelled out. Tell the lawyer to draw up his own paperwork for the settlement including thos stipulations and that you will pay the amount ASAP once the agreement has been recieved. Keep a copy of the letter and a copy of the bank check or money order. Which is all the proof the Mortgage company will need. I would also make sure to send it Certified mail or overnight. Jusr to play it safe.. The letter isnt even needed for the mortgage company just a payment record on my part was good enough for them at my closing. But your may be different so double check with them. The reason I am saying go for the deletion is that you are going into a brand new home, and will want to buy some things, some of which may be on credit you have or some you will need, and having the collection on there wont allow you to get the rate you both deserve. Best of luck.. and I am sure people are here that can help with the Judgement question you have
Get copies of whatever is in that court file. See where it stands. There is probably no judgment. See where that attorney is, also. Perhaps he is retired or deceased or living in Venezuela or something.
I think everyone here is jumping the gun a bit. It sounds like you have not pulled all three of your credit reports, otherwise you would have known if there was a judgment or not because it would be on your reports. I'd suggest pulling your reports first and seeing where you stand. It may be wise in your case since you have a possible judgment to use your parents or a relatives address when you apply to get your reports, and then change the address on your drivers license to match. The reason behind this is judgments do not usually report social security numbers when they verify to the credit bureaus for privacy purposes. If you have the address you were sued at removed from the credit bureaus it makes it harder for the credit bureau to verify. And you don't want to give the credit bureaus the address you were sued at to begin with when you pull your reports, because it could make it harder to remove the offending address listed on your credit reports later. If you manage to get the judgment off your credit reports or else there isn't one there, don't go waking up this attorney. Let him sleep until you get your house, then go tie up loose ends.
After reading your first post, it almost sounds like the deal was the attorney showed up expecting to get a default judgment and didnt have the paperwork proving the debt was your husbads and then the attorney folded.
If it was a stipulated judgment,also called a mediated setlement, in all the cases I know of, if no action is taken for 1 year, the case can be (may already have been) dismissed. What State are you in? Was this a regular Sears store account?Or a Sears credit card you cold use elsewhere.
The typical Sears MO seems to be that they assign the debt to various CA's (including atty's) for a year or two. After that they sell it to RMA. Of course, this may vary depending on the size of the debt, phase of moon on charge-off,... 0
I have pulled all three Cr none of them are showing a judgement, it never went before a judge, so no papers were signed the balance showing for sears is 1286 it was a credit card he could use at any of the sears stores, the amount the atty wants is almost 1800 court fees, but there was no court! The only thing showing on his credit reports for sears is sears charge off in the amount of 1286, there is no other collection agencies or this atty showing for this acct, that is my question is if i agree to settle with sears is it going to waken the atty to out the judgement on my husband's cr?
Re: Re: Sears filing judgement? Please let me know what State you are in. You may be beyond the time for the judgment claim to be REFILED. They cannot "put on" a previously filed claim for a judgment that has lapsed for lack of prosocution. If you are beyond the time for refiling, all you need to do is have the court records cleared by getting a dismissal with prejuidice of the previously filed claim due to lack of prosocution for over a year. Then you have the lawyer who has filed this motion for you send a copy with the judge's signature to the CRAs requesting deletion of the account. A dismissal of a claim is legal PROOF sufficient for the deletion.
Re: Re: Sears filing judgement? Why Chat, I am in Texas do I need to go to the courts even though they never went before the judge, I am sorry for my stupidity, but I have never been faced with judgements before. Okay I am holding the two sets of papers in my hands and they say... By signing and returning this settlememt letter, the Agreed Judgement, and your first payment of $100.00 to my office, you will confirm that we have settled this lawsuit by agreed judgement..... One is dated Feb 27,2001 and the other is dated Feb5,2002 no further communications since then, again my husband did not sign so, and the cr do not show as judgement, could we have if we settle? Thanks so much for all of your help!
Re: Re: Sears filing judgement? From what you say you do not have a judgement. Beyond that listen to the advice Whychat gives.
Re: Re: Re: Sears filing judgement? You had the paperwork to agree to a stipulated judgment, it wasn't done,the lawyer can not refile if your orginal debt to Sears defaulted over 4 years ago. Call the court and ask if there has been an automatic dismissal of the filed claim. If there has not been, get a lawyer or a paralegal to file for a dismissal with prejudice. If it hasn't been 4 years since your first delinquency (late payment) then DO NOTHING until that date has passed. Anything you do now to try to "settle" will backfire as you are either completely out of danger of any legal action, and therefore can get a deletion, or still within SOL and can get sued for the whole amount plus interest and costs.
