How Will a Judgement Affect Me?
Once your debt hits collection status, your credit score takes a hit. If you think that's bad, wait until you see what a judgement on credit report does to your credit score!
If you have just been served with a Notice to Appear in court for a judgement proceeding, be aware that your creditor may be done playing games. You should be given thirty days from your notice in which you can object to the filing. If you can prove the debt is invalid then you can have the court dismiss the lawsuit.
A judgement is your creditor's most powerful weapon! A judgement is a creditor's greatest ally to force you into paying back a debt.
On the other hand, if a creditor merely threatened you with a judgement, they may or may not be serious. In any event, in most cases it is a good idea to avoid going to court over a debt.
Effects of a Judgement
How to Avoid a Judgement with Debt Negotiation
Assuming the debt is yours (and legally enforceable - review your state's laws on statute of limitations), your first step is to contact the creditor. Again, check your local statute of limitations. Making an offer to pay a debt could re-start the clock to the beginning and nullify any statute of limitations claim you might have.
You nonetheless want to avoid entry of judgment if at all possible. Once the court orders you to pay a debt with an official court order your credit report takes a heavy blow.
If you can resolve the issue before entry of judgement, you can still avoid this bad credit item being placed on your credit report. Often a creditor will accept a portion of the amount over the hassle and fees associated with going to court. At this stage of the game, make every effort to resolve your situation.
Perhaps you offer a payment plan rather than pay a lump sum fee. If your creditor refuses to accept any offers, consider speaking to the attorney handling the matter on behalf of the creditor. If you can, through cash negotiation, persuade the creditor to dismiss the judgement, your credit report will not look as bad.
A dismissed judgement is reported "legally void," and is not nearly as harmful as a "paid judgement." A paid judgement remains on your credit report seven years from the time of payment. (Of course the ideal scenario is to negotiate for a full deletion of any negative information)
Any such agreement you strike should be confirmed in writing with signatures from both parties.
However, once the court gets involved, your ability to negotiate is nearly finished.
How to Check the Validity of a Judgement Debt
Have you always heard about how lawyers can get a case thrown out of court on a legal technicality? Well, some 'tricks' and loopholes can be employed to avoid a judgment. For instance, check your state's laws on the statute of limitations (SOL). A debt is not legally enforceable if it is beyond the statute of limitations. However, this does not stop creditors from trying to collect a debt. It is your job to research this critically important legality.
You can also seek a Motion to Vacate Judgment.
If you are facing a judgement and want help, now is the time. Don't wait until it is too late to explore every option. Often this is a great time to enlist a good credit attorney - making a small investment now can really save a lot in the long run.
"I just want to share with you my story about how my credit situation. If you are someone struggling with bad credit, then I was walking in your exact same shoes...
And today - if you look behind me - this is the house that I bought.
So, obviously my credit situation has changed.
Basically, while I was in college I ran up my credit cards and acquired a lot of unmanageable debt which destroyed my credit rating.
About a-year-and-a-half ago when I went to try to buy a house, the banks laughed at me and made me feel bad about what happened in college. (They basically implied that I was a deadbeat SCUMBAG even though it really wasn't all my fault).
I knew that I had to fix my credit, but didn't know how to do it myself so I went to Lexington Law.
Now, literally within several months, I was able to purchase a $300,000 new home without any trouble at all obtaining a mortgage.
So instead of going into banks with bad credit and being looked at as a scumbag, the banks were more than willing to help.
In fact, when I applied for my mortgage and the banker ran my credit, he came back and was saying...
"Wow! Sure thing sir. We'd love to help you out."
Lexington Law literally changed my life.
I went from being the person who has bad credit to being the person who is living in what I consider my dream home at age 29.
I had basically every kind of negative listing shy of a bankruptcy.
Lexington Law has raised my credit score at least 237 points. I just checked my FICO score which is now a 737. When I started with Lexington Law, it was below 500!"
I encourage anyone struggling with bad credit to pick up the phone and give Lexington Law a call.
It was super-encouraging to see my credit score improve each month as the negative items were deleted from my credit reports. I thought some of the bad credit was permanent since creditors misled me into believing that delinquent information would stay on my credit report for the next seven years.
However, through their dispute process and "goodwill interventions," Lexington Law proved it is possible to remove any questionable negative item. (it is the same as pleading 'not guilty' in a court of law).
Additionally, the paralegal assigned to my case showed me other credit rebuilding techniques such as:
Deleting the negative credit items like charge offs and the credit card judgment, combined with the credit rebuilding techniques, rapidly improved my credit score. In fact, in month two my score went up 74 points!
After living with bad credit for so long, it was really encouraging to see that I was making progress in the right direction.
Not only did the attorneys at Lexington Law show me results, they also provided excellent customer service along the way. If you are someone who enjoys that "personal touch", then you may like how Lexington Law assigns a paralegal to your case.
My paralegal (Stephanie) was always available to discuss the status of my case over the phone and email. Even though I didn't expect or ask for it, my attorney would also periodically give me a call to check in.
Here are some strategies Lexington Law used to delete the really stubborn bad credit - such as the credit card judgment:
You can also access you case online anytime you like. (I enjoyed logging in just to see all the deletions!)
If you are struggling with a bad credit score because of negative credit items, then I truly hope that you start repairing your credit today. I know how humiliating bad credit is and I know how easy it is just to 'sweep it under the rug' and pretend it will go away on its own.
I realize that your situation is probably a little different than mine, however, Lexington Law has already deleted questionable charge offs, a credit card judgment, late payments, collection items, and inquiries from my credit report and raised my credit score to a 737!
Here is a shot of my credit score online last month -:
To get started repairing your credit, call Lexington Law today direct at:
1-800-232-2903 (toll-free)
Or, if you want a Lexington Law paralegal to call you, click here.
