I had a judgement filed against me from Target. It was a legit debt. I had mounds of other debt and a repo...lost my job, single mom, wah wah wah. I ended up filing bankruptcy 2/14/06. After the bankruptcy (7) was discharged in May I pulled a tri-merged from work. (I work for a mortgage company) A lot of things were still reporting as charge-off w/ balances owed. I had all updated to show a zero balance. Then, I noticed something. The judgement was filed 02/17/06. Three days after filing bankrupcty. So, I did some detective work and got the number to the lawyers Target used. I contacted them to inform them that they filed after I was protected under bankruptcy. The woman agreed it was a problem and told me to call the next day to speak to someone who knew more about what my options are. I did. Amazingly, she was helpful and friendly. She told me she would be filing an order to vacate the judgement. (Which I will definitely be following up on) My questions: Once the judgement is vacated can I get it removed completely from my CR or will it show as a vacated judgement? Even though the BK is like the mark of death on my score do you think the removal of the judgement (assuming it can be removed once vacated) will help a tiny bit in improving my score? Thanks for all the help and advice on this board!
I still have a lot to learn myself, and I know nothing about judgements, but, it seems to me that if they acknowledged a mistake and they have been nice to work with so far, and they will vacate the judgement, they will most likely contact the CRA's to have it removed. They know they made an mistake and said they would fix it - I think deletion is part of fixing it. If they don't, they may be in violation for reporting errors, and they probably know that, and wouldn't want to be punished for that. You also may get a letter or some written communication saying that they have vacated the judgement, and in that letter they may also state if they will remove from credit. (look for that info) However, don't assume anything. After you know the judgement has been vacated, check to see if it has been deleted off of your CR. If they have said in writing that it will be removed, double check to see that it is. I had a written letter from a CA saying it would be removed, and I didn't check right away, and 6 months later I found it was still there. I disouted and it was gone with no problem, but it had a neg. impact for 6 months more than it should have. If they haven't said they would remove, and after the judgement has been vacated and you check your CR and it's still there, you may want to contact them again to get it removed. Normally the advise is to not talk to CA, but put it all in writing, but you have built a good rapport it seems, and maybe they are being nice because there is a BK and/or they know they did something wrong (reported in error). But they still may try to get away with not removing, because consumers who are not educated don't know to seek their rights. If after all has been processed and it still exisats on your CR, I would suggest to either talk to them or write to them and ask for removal. You caould also just dispute and see what happens. If you talk to them, don't tell them you think they did something wrong and make accusations. Be nice, thank them for their help so far, but since the item was reported in error, you would appreciate it they would remove it from your CR. By saying that, they realize you are aware it is an error and may be more cooperative as to not have further trouble. I think that needs done in writing though, so you have a file of written steps, in case it is needed later. Keep the writing short and polite. If that step needs to be taken, come here for advise on what to write, if you'd like. Good luck, and hang in there. Perseverance, positive attitude. You'll get there.
