I need Help with a Judgment Negotiation

matiesse · 01-07-2007, 09:38 PM

I have an old judgment that I'm negotiating to remedy with the OC.

Here's where we are so far.

If I pay, they will do the following:
1. File a motion with the court showing that the Judgment has been paid.
2. Write a letter to the CRAs stating that the debt has been paid.

Questions:

1. Will the Judgment go away or will it show up as a PAID JUDGMENT with a new seven year clock?

2. Can I write the agreement with them to file a motion that the judgment has been VACATED? (I may be confused here because it may be that filing a motion that says I paid is the same thing as VACATING the judgment -- I don't know???)

3. Given the above can I request that the OC file a MOTION TO VACATE as part of the agreement. Does this make the judgment go away?

As you can tell, I want the judgment to come off of my credit report -- nothing negative like PAID JUDGMENT.

I would sincerely appreciate any help as to how I can frame the terms of the agreement to get the judgment off for payment by me.

I appreciate all of the help I'm getting here!

Pale Rider · 01-07-2007, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiesse

I have an old judgment that I'm negotiating to remedy with the OC.

Here's where we are so far.

If I pay, they will do the following:
1. File a motion with the court showing that the Judgment has been paid.
2. Write a letter to the CRAs stating that the debt has been paid.

How nice of them to agree to do what they are required by law. They haven't given anything to the negotiations thus far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiesse

Questions:

1. Will the Judgment go away or will it show up as a PAID JUDGMENT with a new seven year clock?

Payment never restarts the clock. The question is what is the obsolete date.

(2) Civil suits, civil judgments, and records of arrest that from date of entry, antedate the report by more than seven years or until the governing statute of limitations has expired, whichever is the longer period.

SOL is not a factor if it is paid, so I would say it should fall off at 7 years from date of entry. I'll see if I can find more on that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiesse

2. Can I write the agreement with them to file a motion that the judgment has been VACATED? (I may be confused here because it may be that filing a motion that says I paid is the same thing as VACATING the judgment -- I don't know???)

They will probably only offer to show the judgment as "satsified", which is there legal obligation anyway. Not sure if payment is grounds for vacating, and your state procedure may require motion to vacate in a certain amount of time after the judgment has been entered. It may be too late to vacate on any grounds.

Quote:

Originally Posted by matiesse

3. Given the above can I request that the OC file a MOTION TO VACATE as part of the agreement. Does this make the judgment go away?

As you can tell, I want the judgment to come off of my credit report -- nothing negative like PAID JUDGMENT.

I would sincerely appreciate any help as to how I can frame the terms of the agreement to get the judgment off for payment by me.

I appreciate all of the help I'm getting here!

I would try to get them to stop reporting in exchange for payment. The problem is, they may not be the data furnisher. It may be a company such as Lexis that is reporting to the CRA. You may have to look for violations and false reporting to leverage it off the report.

Pale Rider · 01-07-2007, 10:03 PM

2. Paid Judgments

Paid judgments cannot be reported for more than seven years after the judgment was entered, because payment of the judgment eliminates any "governing statute of limitations" under this subsection that might otherwise lengthen the period.

Here is the answer to the paid judgment. It can only be reported for 7 years from the time it was entered. If it has been more than 7 years, it should be deleted immediately upon payment.

matiesse · 01-07-2007, 10:35 PM

Thanks for the fast response 'Pale Rider'.

So, based on the approach that I'm taking I haven't received anything. As far as I can tell, once the Judgment is filed, the OC doesn't report anything. So if I dispute the judgment, it's really a matter of what's in the public record.

If the judgment was filed in 2001, can the OC file a motion to Vacate? I've read here about 'discretionary vacatur', anything there?

Finally, any ideas as to how I can frame the agreement to get the Judgment removed (it seems that something has to happen with the Judgment in the Public Record PLUS a letter from the OC to the CRAs).

Again thanks for taking the time to respond.

Pale Rider · 01-07-2007, 10:50 PM

One of the lawyers will have to answer about vacating the jusgment.

As for reporting. The minute it is paid, it will be reporting a balance, and that opens the door to dispute it. That may lead to violations that you can leverage toward removal. The only other possibility I see is a pay for delete. But, as I stated before, it may be a third party that is reporting.

hannah · 01-07-2007, 11:01 PM

Is there an OC tradeline associated with the judgment?

matiesse · 01-08-2007, 12:20 AM

Thanks for responding Hannah,

No, there is no OC tradeline.

drivel · 01-08-2007, 10:24 AM

Your'e not going to get the judgment vacated so forget about that. The judgment will be satisfied in the clerk's office and once it is picked up by the credit bureaus, it will show as paid on your report till it falls off. OC's and Ca's don't report judgments so it's out of their hands.

centex · 01-08-2007, 02:29 PM

A judgment holder is required to notify the Clerk when the judgment is satisfied. Thus the "offer" to do so, as Pale pointed out, is nothing offered on their part. Negotiations on a judgment have more to do with how much you ultimately pay, as the judgement probably contained principle, atty fees and post-judgment interest. Your goal then becomes one of limiting just how much gets paid before they would be willing to consider the judgment satisfied...