I had a credit card which I lost track of after moving around every semester...with a $500 balance. 6 years after graduating, I get a knock on the door from a guy serving me with a lawsuit for $2500, I hadn't heard a thing about it the whole time. I settled with the lawyer before going to court, and as I have been told 3 times now by the firm that sued me, that it should not appear as a judgement on my credit report. However it does show up on my Equifax, not the other, and has absolutley killed my score. They investigated and claim its correct...any suggestions? Can I dispute a second time? Should I check with the county first to see what status they have?
2007-08-16 13:27:00 · 8 answers · asked by Mike 1 in Business & Finance ➔ Credit
it depends what you mean by settling before you went to court. Did you pay money and did the credit cards lawyers dismiss the lawsuit? Or did you stipulate to judgment as well as agree to pay. In the first case there is no judgment. In the second case there is a judgment. A dismissed lawsuit is a matter of public record but may or may not show up on your credit report. A dismissed lawsuit shouldn't cause that much harm to your credit score. If you stipulated to a judgment, a judgment will show up on your credit report and that will have a more substantial impact. You need to clarify what you mean by settling before you went to court
2007-08-16 13:35:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Not paying a credit card on time can show on your credit report no matter what happens after that. Even if they had not sued, not paying would show.
I believe that there is a law that they have to tell you their source for the information, if you ask. If their source is the firm that is saying that it should not be on the report, write to the firm or the lawyer saying that you intend to sue the firm for reporting something that they admit should not have been on the credit report.
You can dispute more than once, but, unless you have some compelling documentation to show them (the court record of the suit being dropped would be best), the result will be the same as the first time.
2007-08-16 21:23:27 · answer #2 · answered by StephenWeinstein 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You say it is reporting as a judgment, but does it say that it is satisfied or still open? If it is reporting as open, you simply need to send Equifax documentation that you paid/settled the case. The creditor should have provided you something to that effect once you paid whatever was settled on. If not, or if you can't find what they gave you, you are probably out of luck since as you say you already disputed it, which means that Equifax contacted the creditor and the creditor documented that it was a valid judgment.
It can be a real pain to clear up credit, but if you can manage to obtain something to show you've settled the debt, and if you still have difficulty, call Equifax and plead (if necessary) to speak to a supervisor and appeal to their sense of fairness. If you get a "human" on the phone, you very well succeed.
Good luck!
2007-08-16 20:43:29 · answer #3 · answered by hoa_craig 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
First off - never send the settlement papers to EQ. It will do nothing but cement it to your reports.
I totally agree with bdancer - it sounds they took your money(or your signed agreement) and then continued with the suit getting a default judgment against you and showed the court "nothing" about your agreement with them.
Go to your county court clerk (if you had moved since then, go to the county where the suit was filed) and see if they went ahead and got a default judgment against you after you made the settlement agreement. If they did and also if they failed to file the settlement papers, request a complete copy of the file. Then take a copy of the court file, a copy of your EQ report and a copy of the settlement papers to an attorney that is well versed in consumer credit laws. (that collection agency may now owe "you" money)
Unfortunately many people find that if they don't file those papers with the court themselves, they don't get filed at all and they suddenly have a default judgment against them
2007-08-16 22:27:39 · answer #4 · answered by echo 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Check with the court. If you settled before you went to court, there shouldn't be a judgment.
If you do in fact have a judgment, it sounds like the lawyer took your settlement, send you on home, and went before the judge and got a default judgment.
2007-08-16 20:42:48 · answer #5 · answered by bdancer222 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Every time you dispute something on your credit report it just restarts the 7 year time clock. Contact the original creditor and explain you paid the debt and would like it removed from your credit report. Good Luck if they delete it. If you want email me at fort_bragg_girl@yahoo.com and I can mail you a couple of sample letters to send to them.
2007-08-16 20:35:27 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 3⤋
You can call equifax or experian and they should remove it for you with the proper paper work.
2007-08-16 20:50:17 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, the claim IS correct - you had an upaid bill for 6 yrs - you'll just have to wait for the score to recover
2007-08-16 20:32:26 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋