Hello, I have what I think should be a straight forward question. Background: I was involved as in a lawsuit ~3 years ago and lost. A judgment was entered against me in October 2006. Even though I appealed the District Court's decision to an appellate court, the judgment was immediately reflected on my credit files. Half a year ago I lost the appeal. The judgment was recalculated to include additional interest accrued during the appeal and was re-entered in August 2008. I have paid the new amount in full. My credit report, however, still only shows the October 2006 judgment. It does not show that the judgment has been re-entered in August of 2008. Nor does my report show that I have satisfied the judgment. Question: Will my credit score likely rise or fall if I ask the credit agencies to update my report to reflect that the judgment has been re-entered and paid in full. I ask the question because, on the one hand, I assume the score should increase if the judgment is shown as paid. On the other hand, will the fact that the entry will become more recent pull the score down? In other words, am I better of letting the credit agencies continue to report an unsatisfied 2006 judgment or should I ask them to update their information and have them show a judgment that was satisfied in 2008? Thank you in advance for your answers.
Get a copy of the satisfaction dated in 2008 and send it to them. They will change the date, but will not remove the entry from the credit report until 2013. Anything negative will stay on your report for 7 years.
The judgment shouldn't become newer. There was not a 2nd judgment. It sounds like the court merely calculated how much you owed from the entry of the original judgment to the date of payment. Not unlike would have happened if you never appealed and just paid it in 08. Make sense?
Thanks for the reply. My concern is that if I do what you suggest, (a) my score will go down, (b) the item will stay on my report not untill 2013 as you suggest, but untill 2015 (2008 + 7). Am I wrong?
Yes this does make sense. Let assume the judgment does not become newer. I think my question still remains. For the sake of making my question clear, let me try to describe the following hypothetical situation: Joe has a judgment issued 6 years ago. The credit agencies will continue to report it for one more year. Because the judgment is six years old it's effect on the credit scroe is somewhat diminished. Joe just paid the judgement in full. As a result this action will the judgment now remain on his credit reprot for seven years instead of one? Will his credit score be reduced because the "last update date" becomes more recent? Thanks!
