Hello, I have a civil claim judgement that I defaulted on and it's listed on my Experian report but not on Equifax or Trans Union. Along with the court address, ID nbr, and plaintiff it lists the following... Date filed: 10/8/98, Date resolved: n/a, Claim amount: $3,039 and Liability amount: n/a How do I find out what I actually owe on this judgement including accrued interest? What does the liability amount mean and why is it "n/a"? Shouldn't there be an amount there? Does the date resolved show "n/a" because it hasn't been paid yet? Do I make payment to the court or to the plaintiff? Can I possibly settle with the plaintiff for less and they tell the court that it's paid in full? Right now I don't have any assets they can go after. For what it's worth this happened in NY where I broke a lease agreement and I'm now living in TX. I want to take care of as much outstanding debt as I can as I hope to buy a house this year. I realize that I can dispute this (and I am .. should have the results in a few more weeks) but the SOL for collecting on a judgement in NY is 20 years and the interest is just adding up. Would appreciate any feedback on this.
Yes you can contact the Judgment creditor and settle for less. Tell him or her that they can take a smaller amount as paid in full now, or wait until you can one day pay them back in full. This will all depend on your angle and negotiation tactics. I would make sure you get it in writing in the form of a contract or write the terms of cashing the check on the check. The Judgment creditor will then have to file a â??Satisfaction Of Judgmentâ? with the court, which lets the court know that the judgment has been satisfied and all records will then be updated. As far as buying a house goes, you will need to have no bad debts (with balances owed still) on your reports. You can call the court clerk in the city of the awarded judgment and they can answer your question about the interest rate and the additional money owed if any. Here in California it's 10% APR. If the judgment creditor is well informed then they could in the future garnish your wages and or attach a lien to any real property you may have (This is why mortgage lenders want no outstanding bad debt on your reports).
Assuming the plaintiff is willing to negotiate, the best way to approach it is to offer a partial/ full payment right now, and in return the parties would agree to file a Joint Motion To Vacate Judgment. That way the plaintiff gets the money, and you would have a legal right to have the judgment removed from your credit file. Saar
Hello Tracy and Saar, Thanks for answering. That's great news. I didn't think it was possible to offer to settle for less than the judgement amount although I was hoping that was the case. Of course, I don't know if my creditor will want to negotiate or not but at least now I know that's an option. Right now I'm living in Texas so they can't garnish my wages. So far there hasn't been any attempt to cease my piddling bank balance or any other attempts to collect on the judgement. I'm not familiar with a Joint Motion To Vacate. I've read some past posts about filing to vacate the judgement based on not being served notice correctly. I was given proper notice so that wouldn't apply to me. As far as a Joint Motion To Vacate Judgment what would be the legal grounds for doing that and would my physical presence be required in NY where the orginal judgement was filed? Linda
would recommend calling the courthouse where the judgment was filed, they probably have an advocate staff (free phone help) that can accurately answer your questions. they were very helpful here in California...
