I recently got a copy of my credit info and there is a common pleas civil judgment in the amount of $423. I know what it is from, but what happened is an amazing story and the bottom line is they tricked me. Anyway, my question is simply this: "Why doesn't it say that I paid it?"
tracy-- credit bureaus get information from courts as well as creditors. if the judgment has been paid, the creditor should have filed a satisfaction of judgment (or whatever it is called in your state) with the court. one of two things happened, either the creditor did not do this or the credit bureaus did not pick up the nformation from the court that the judgment was paid. You can dispute the credit bureau record by askig for an investigation. The credit bureau will check with the court and correct its records. This could take 30 days. A faster and better way to handle this is for you to get the record of payment from the court yourself and send it to the credit bureau with a dispute letter. If the creditor did not file a satisfaction with the court, you should demand that this happen right away and that be copy is sent to you. Creditors who fail to do tell the court that a judgment has been satisfied are breaking the law and may be sued for penalties and any damage caused to your credit.
