I borrowed money to do some real estate investment deals while the market was good. Since then, I've had some problems with our payment agreement, which ended up in default. She sued (don't blame her) in my county. Before the court date, I received a notice from the courts saying the action was cancelled. I thought she was giving me another chance. No, her attorney cancelled the action and requested a default judgment saying that I didn't respond (thought I had til the court date to respond). Anyway, she has a default judgment against me and we've since been working out payment arrangements until I can get a loan to repay her. Well, that judgment is sitting on my credit like an anchor. Is there a way that I can get her to agree to remove the judgment from my report, since we are back on friendly terms again? I think if the judgment were not there, I could qualify for financing. I have 2 other properties that she had a lien on but she agreed to have her lawyer remove the lien so that I can try to sell the properties. (selling is not an option in this market now). But, how about a lien on one of the properties in lieu of the judgment so that I can get financing? Is this something that's do-able? If so, how would we go about doing this?
Sounds like a real pickle. I have no advice except to talk to her about all of this, if you're on friendly terms like you say.
She has an attorney who knows how to work the system. I think you need to do the same--get an attorney to help you.
You might try the noegotiating tactic that the judgement they placed on your credit reports is blocking the loan needed to repay her. She wants money, not to damage your credit reports. Try to work something out where she is "motivated" to remove the judgement.
That's what I'm thinking. She is willing to work with me to get her money back. I guess I just need to know if this is something that can be done and if so, what am I asking for? Am I asking for the judgment to be vacated? And what is the process for that. She's back away from using her attorney because neither of us want the added expense. I'm hesistant about bringing an attorney in because it might antagonize her. I appreciate all the feedback that I'm getting. Could you guys keep it coming? Help me nail down a strategy to take to her. I AM actually trying to pay her back. And, I really want that judgment off my record.
If she's backed off using the lawyer, then I agree that it might antagonize her if you brought one in. It's just that she had the lawyer enter the default judgment after you thought it was going to be dropped, so you never showed up. If she would vacate the judgment, that would probably help. The judgment is on your report because it's a public record obtained from the court, so getting it off isn't going to be easy.
I wonder if you could get a letter from her saying that if she receives $XXX, then the judgment will be satisfied. Perhaps you could then negotiate with the mortgage company that they will make the check for that amount payable to her, and when you sign the mortgage papers, they will mail it and that way they know the judgment is satisfied. When I had my really bad problems because of divorce, I had to refinance my house (at an obscene rate) to pay off bills. The company doing the closing had to make the payments to the creditors. They didn't give me the money and trust me to pay them off. Maybe something like that would help.
I think that is what you are wanting to be done. The process varies from state to state, but dependent on the court, it may be something the two of you could do together. What state, and what court was it issued in? Are you trying to refinance property to get her paid? Have you been told the judgment is what is stopping you?
The judgment is in Cobb County GA. I'm actually trying to develop a piece of property that I own and am getting funding for that. I'm planning to add the judgment amount into the project cost. I have not been told the judgment is stopping me but, checking my credit before applying for the loan, the judgment is weighing heavily.
The problem here is that even if the judgment is vacated, it will remain on the reports. Lexis Nexis is who reports these civil actions and they do so frequently even with the action is dismissed pre-disposition. Right now, your efforts should be two-fold: 1) working with the judgment creditor to satisfy it; and 2) with the credit reporting agencies for deletion.
Suggestion: If you would be willing to give her a Mortgage to replace the Judgment, see if she would file a satisfaction of the judgment in exchange for a Mortgage on the property to be paid out on terms or until property is sold.
The CRAs do not decide the appropriateness of baddies repported to them. Regardless of the legal machinations underlying this entry into your credit report, you cant get it off unless the creditor who put it into your report contacts the CRA and requests its deletion. You thus need to get her to go back through whatever source she used to initially report this info to the CRA, and have them contact the CRA and request its removal.
It's a public record that is reporting--the judgement. It's not a creditor that is reporting. As Apex mentioned, Lexis Nexis gets this information from the courts, and removing it can be extremely difficult.
