How to Dispute Judgments

By Lisa Phillips on Jun 3rd, 2010 in Credit Repair

Judgments on a credit report are very negative but not many consumers know they can be disputed and deleted from a credit report for factual errors or inaccuracies.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows judgments to remain in your credit report for 7 years. But, they can be renewed, if unpaid, at the judgment creditor’s discretion.

A judgment can be re-inserted into your credit report by the creditor or debt collector and be left in your reports for up to 20 years depending on the statutes in your state.

There are a few ways to dispute judgments. Look for factual error disputes such as incorrect amounts or dates. If the credit reporting agency verifies the dispute as accurate you can always ask for the method of verification. Dispute a judgment much like you would dispute a bankruptcy. See “How to Dispute a Bankrutpcy.”

Vacate the Judgment

If a judgment has been awarded by the courts there is still an opportunity to deal with it and settle with the creditor. The legal procedure is called “vacating a judgment” You can negotiate with the creditor or debt collector to vacate or dismiss the judgment in exchange for payment of the debt.

Another way to have a judgment vacated is if you can prove you were never served with the lawsuit or there was improper service. Many unscrupulous debt collectors will serve lawsuits at former addresses or never serve the lawsuit at all. They are actually hoping you will never find out about the lawsuit in order to get a “default judgment.”

In July 2009, New York Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, sued 35 law firms and two debt collectors in the state of New York in order to vacate an estimated 100,000 default judgments that were improperly obtained against New York consumers.

His investigation found that thousands of consumers were not properly served with lawsuit and the firms hired to serve the lawsuits were unable to provide the courts with any evidence proper service had been made.

Many process servers falsified affidavits to the courts stating proper service was done. While consumers had never been served and were totally unaware of judgments against them until their bank accounts had been frozen or their wages garnished.

Each state varies when it comes to vacating judgments. Go to your state court’s website and search for a “Motion to Vacate” form. It may be worth pursuing if you can prove you were never served.

Negotiate with the Judgment Creditor

Negotiate with the judgment creditor in exchange for vacating or dismissing the judgment. If you are unable to pay a lump sum then set up a payment schedule and request the judgment creditor dismiss the lawsuit upon payment in full of the judgment. Never allow a judgment creditor tell you they cannot dismiss a matter or have it vacated. That is a lie.

Make sure to get all negotiations in writing and insist you get a dismissal or vacated judgment in return for payment. Your primary goal is to clear up your credit and you do not want a “satisfied” or “paid” judgment on your credit files. You want the judgment deleted.

Call Lexington Law at (877) 587-4574 they are a trusted leader in credit repair and have extensive experience removing negative credit from consumer credit reports.

2 Responses to “How to Dispute Judgments”

1. H Haas says:

   November 24, 2010 at 1:34 pm

   I was served back in 06 from creditor. The amounts were highly inflated from the last amount owed on a retail credit account that had been closed for several years. I responded to the court and denied all charges. The judge referred the case out of the courts into mediation. We were contact by a mediation company; however, the plantiff never (creditor) never responded, and the case was closed with no judgement being passed in 07. However, this creditor is reporting a judgement on me to Experian. It is 2010
2. Lisa Phillips says:

   November 24, 2010 at 5:26 pm

   Since there was no judgment entered, the creditor should not be reporting a judgment to Experian. But more importantly, Experian is reporting inaccurate information. Dispute the judgment entry with Experian. It should be removed; however, if the judgment dispute comes back as verified you can Request the method of verification. Requesting the method of verification makes Experian tell you how the information was verified and who verified the information. There is also the option of disputing the entry directly with the creditor under the Direct Dispute Rule.