Tips For Removing Judgments From Credit Report
A judgment report on your credit record means that your debt has gone to the collectors and your creditor has filed a lawsuit against you. Such a negative item on your credit report can ruin your credit. If you have been served notice regarding a debt that has gone to collections, you need to address the problem immediately. If the debt report is erroneous, then you have 30 days to dispute the item. However, if the debt is valid, then you have to contact your judgment creditor at once and negotiate for the settling of the debt out of court. It takes years before the statute of limitations on a judgment expires, and creditors have the option of renewing some judgments. This being so, a judgment can remain forever on your report. Here are some tips on how you can have them removed from your report.
First, find out how long judgments are legally allowed to be on your credit report and if they are allowed to be renewed based on the statute of limitations in your state for the collection of delinquent accounts. If they have exceeded the maximum time stipulated in the statute of limitations, write a dispute letter to the credit bureaus for them to verify with the court if the item is legally valid. If the credit bureaus are unable to verify the item with the court within 30 days, then they would delete it from your report.
However, if the item was verified by the court to still be legally enforceable against you, negotiate with your judgment creditor for the settlement of the debt in exchange for the creditor’s dismissal of the judgment. You must have the agreement in writing before you hand out the agreed upon payment. Do not settle for a ‘paid judgment’ notation as this label would still have a negative impact on your credit rating. Your judgment creditor would then have to fill up a form for the dismissal of the judgment which would then be filed with the court. This public record would then be reported to the credit bureaus. You can expect your credit rating to improve within the next month and a half.
