Remove a Judgment From Your Credit Report
A judgment insurance qoute essentially a court order that acknowledges that you own a debt and it gives the creditor the right to seize certain assets in repayment of that debt. Not all assets can be seized and the judgment might even specify what assets can be seized. The best way to deal with a judgment is to avoid one at all costs. Typically, you will have sufficient warning to know that a judgment is on its way. You should receive notices from court or letters from the creditor stating that they are attempting to place a judgment against you.
If this has happened you need to do your homework! Who is the creditor in question? What is the debt they are trying to collect on? Is it yours? Sometimes it is hard to say as collections and charge offs are constantly changing hands as they are bought and sold as a commodity. Junk debt collectors will buy older collections and charge offs for what amounts to pennies on the dollar. They will then do their best to collect on the alleged debt by sending you letters threatening you with judgments etc.
The first thing that you should do once you find out what the debt is from is to figure out your states statute of limitations. This is the length of time that your state will allow for a contract to be enforced. More than likely the date of last activity on the account will be the starting mark and not when the account was originally opened but again check with your state's statute of limitations. The date of last activity is the "date of the last mutual activity on the account" typically this would be the last time you made a payment on the account. If your states statute of limitations is three years and you haven't made a payment for five the collector will not typically have a cast against you.
Once you have done your homework and you have figured out if the debt is or isn't with in the statute of limitations you should write a letter to the collection company. You need let them know one of two things. Either let them know that the debt is to old to collect on in your state or tell them that you are disputing the validity of the account (i.e. you don't know who they are and what they are trying to collect on). If you make a copy of this letter and send it certified return receipt you will have some proof to a judge that you attempted to rectify the situation if the collection company doesn't respond.
If they do respond and you do owe the alleged debt you should attempt to settle with them before court! You will save court fees and you will not have a judgment placed on your credit report. Usually on an older debt you should try and settle for around 50% of the balance along with the complete removal of the item from your credit report. Make sure to get everything in writing so you will have proof of the terms you have agreed upon before you send any money to the creditor.
To learn more or to my-credit-storyjudgment/remove a judgment from your credit reports please visit my consumer my-credit-storycredit report repair blog.
Shayne Sherman is the owner of several consumer credit repair blogs.