I have judgement from 4/2002 for a dentist. I don't really recall being served but I knew I owed the money and the attorney had been making threats. The thing I do recall is my checks started bouncing, because there was a garnishment put on my checking acct for the amount owed to the dentist so they deducted that from my account and he got paid in full that way. (they must have had a copy of a check from a payment I made before and got my bank account info that way) The judgement is now on Equ and Tu and just shows the amount of the judgement. It does not show as paid even though it is. Here is my plan to attack this: Today I went down to court and filed a motion to vacate judgement. Due to the fact that I do not recall being served AND because of the fact that when the judgement was paid in full the other side failed to file a release of satisfaction which has caused me a great deal of trouble in obtaining a mortgage. I have a court date in the next couple weeks for this motion. Since it is paid I wonder if the attorney will even show up for this, if not I assume this helps me. I elected to serve the other party by mail (they dont require CRRR which made me wonder how the judge will even know I sent it) When I go to court I will tell the judge that I cant remember ever being served, however I was aware of the money owed so when it was garnished from my account I knew what it was for. I will provide him with a statement and letter from my bank showing it was paid and ask him to vacate the judgement due to improper service and failure to file a release. In the mean time I am also setting up a paper trail with the CRAs to force them to delete if this fails. Any advise, thoughts etc from you guys ?????
Advice? DONT DO IT! LOL "The same "technique" of service by mail, WITHOUT having to prove receipt, you used to serve them, IS THE SAME "STORY" they can use to PROVE you were served! "The judgement is now on Equ and Tu and just shows the amount of the judgement. It does not show as paid even though it is. " -There is a simple judgment debtor remedy for this. YOU FILE THE "SATISFACTION OF JUDGMENT" - Check while you are at the court house -Failure for the judgment creditor to file a satisfaction, IS NOT LIKELY A REASON FOR A JUDGE TO VACATE A DEFAULT JUDGMENT. -Chances are you are too late to file a motion to vacate. -Because the COURT is the "furnisher of information", the judgment is easily verified. -A better route, is to FILE the satisfaction of judgment, get a copy "court stamped", and SEND A COPY OF IT to the consumer reporting agencies ALONG WITH A DISPUTE to the "status" of the judgment. -DO NOT SEND A "not-mine" dispute. -Because you can EASILY show otherwise, if the reporting agency re-verifies the judgment as UNPAID, then you might have yourself a case of a violation of FCRA 623 (b)
You wrote Because the COURT is the "furnisher of information", the judgment is easily verified The court does not furnish info to any CRA. There are 3rd party CRAs that look up public records and sell those lists to the big 3.
