Judgment Question - please help! Thank you in advance to those who can help me understand and make the best decision! 1) We live in CA. 2) My husband has judgment filed against him back in 2007. His name was on the lease where his girlfriend at that time lived. Anyway, there might be more to the story but I have no interest in digging up the past 3) We are looking to buy a house and of course his credit report is damaged by Transunion (only!) reporting the judgment Here are my questions (sorry Iâ??m a bit confused): 1) Is there a chance to remove it from a credit report? His credit report reports $3400. However, the court records state the following: Principal: $1,700.00 Holdover: $1,700.00 Atty Fees: $440.00 Costs: $479.00 Total: $4,319.00â? 2) Where can I get a judgment settlement offer letter? 3) Is there are chance to push for â??vacate the judgmentâ? deal? Shouldnâ??t be there a valid reason for the motion to vacate the judgment? Based on the discussion with his previous landlord â?? she wants the full amount paid with the interest, etc. which is a lot of money considering interest at 10% for the past 5 years. Please help!!! Olga
Hi Olga Welcome – hopefully we can help. Here are some harsh facts: No, you can’t have it removed UNLESS it is reporting incorrectly. Once a judgment is entered by a court, the court and court alone reports to the CRA not the judgment creditor and the courts usually only report initial judgments and satisfied (paid) judgments. You might want to research the SOL on civil lawsuits in CA – because while you don’t want to dig up the past; IF and ONLY IF his ex-girlfriend breached the lease he could sue her for her share of the lease which could offer relief to the 4.3K debt your husband owes. If your household chooses to take the high road and not sue – be prepared to offer a settlement. A motion to vacate a judgment is based on actions prior to judgment, was he served correctly, was the debt discharged in a BK, was the debt settle prior to the judgment being ordered etc. So unless you can prove any of these, this action will not help. The landlord is within the full legal right to demand full payment what you need to work toward a settlement and accept a satisfied judgment on his TU, which most brokers and/or mortgage companies will accept. Please understand we can and want to help but he is either going to have to demand payment from the ex or settle.
Thank you Desdemona! I guess we’ll be settling then - suing the ex is too much past bringing into our lives, I believe in karma and totally feel for the landlord since I was one at one point in my life. The sucky part is paying the interest for all these years, I’m hoping to settle with the landlord on this item. Does satisfaction of judgment boost up the credit score? If it does – how much? Thanks Olga
Satisfying the judgment won't give his FICO scores a boost. Satisfied or unsatisfied, it's still a judgment and is considered a negative mark by the FICO credit-scoring model.
