Auto Accident Law 101
What Can You Do To Get A Judgement Off Your Credit Report?
Everett Cook
If the court issued a judgement against you for a debt you owed, you will most likely have to pay this debt if you ever want to get rid of it. Judgements are court-ordered debts and will appear on your credit report until you pay them off, and even then they will not automatically fall off. If you currently have a judgement against you and want to get it off your credit report, here are the steps you will need to take.
Pay off the judgement
The judgement will be for a certain amount, and you will need to pay this in full if you want the debt to go away. Without paying it off, a judgement will never truly be gone unless you file bankruptcy. Filing bankruptcy will eliminate the debt you owe, in most cases; however, this will not cause the judgement to fall off your credit report.
If you are not planning on filing bankruptcy, the best thing you can do is pay off the debt and get a receipt for it. Once you do this, you should make sure your credit report is updated with a "paid" status for the debt.
Look for a mistake and dispute it
One way to get a judgement off a credit report is to find an error with it. If there is any type of error with the judgement, the credit bureaus must remove it from your report. As you look at the judgement, look carefully at the date and amount. If the date is not correct or if the amount is wrong, you can dispute it. When you dispute something like this, the creditor must prove that the item is valid. If there is an inaccuracy, the item will be considered invalid and will be vacated. This is the easiest way to get a judgement off a credit report.
If there is nothing wrong with the date or amount, you could still dispute it. When you do this, you can dispute it on the basis that it is paid. While this is not a guarantee that the bureaus will remove it, there is always a chance they will.
Having judgements on your credit report can bring your score down, and you can be liable to pay them at some time in the future. If you are currently facing a judgement, you may want to talk to a lawyer, such as Sinsheimer, Stuart J, to find out more options.
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After being involved in a serious auto accident with a drunk driver, I struggled heavily with getting the driver's insurance company to open a claim. When the insurance company started pushing back, I knew I needed to do something. I spent a lot of time digging through the laws surrounding auto accident claims so that I knew what my legal rights were. I even talked with an auto accident attorney. I created this site to teach others about what I learned, including my court experience. I hope it helps you to determine how you should proceed with your auto accident case.