kissinger99 Posted December 24, 2004 Report Share Posted December 24, 2004 Let me first apologize if this is the wrong forum to post this question, but it would help my credit to get this cleared up!I have two old judgements on my credit report. One will come off in a few months and the other in 2006. Neither of them had ever been satisfied and I haven't heard anything about them in ages.However, I am wanting to buy a house now so I need these to be paid off or vacated. First thing I tried was to contact the plaintiffs listed and offer up a settlement. No reply to either. One letter was returned with incorrect address stamped on it.My question is, can I have these judgements vacated if I am unable to reach the plaintiff to pay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fozzle Posted December 26, 2004 Report Share Posted December 26, 2004 Just chiming in here, but I think if you want a judgment vacated, you have to prove that you have contacted or attempted to contact the plaintiff at their current or last known valid address. For the one that was returned to you -- if that was a company -- you may have to track down the owner or former owner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flacorps Posted December 26, 2004 Report Share Posted December 26, 2004 Check corporate records in your state to see if the corporations still exist and where they are (if they're corps). You could try a paid search service if the judgment creditors are individual people. If you don't get lucky finding them, you have two alternatives. If you have even the thinnest of grounds for getting them vacated, give it a whirl. It could save a lot of money.Otherwise, the court may have a mechanism where you can pay your judgment and interest into the registry of the court and have the court itself issue a satisfaction. One benefit of this approach is that if the monies go unclaimed, you may actually get them back after a few years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinger99 Posted December 26, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2004 One is for a former landlord and the other is for a "Payday" loan company that went out of business after our state or local laws changed to say that they couldn't charge so much for their "loans" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flacorps Posted December 26, 2004 Report Share Posted December 26, 2004 One is for a former landlord and the other is for a "Payday" loan company that went out of business after our state or local laws changed to say that they couldn't charge so much for their "loans"Was the landlord an individual or a business entity (Corp or LLC or LP or what-have-you)?As for the payday loan company. When a company goes out of business, its former owners are the ones who jointly own any remaining assets, provided creditors got paid. Or, the bankruptcy court may have disposed of its assets for the benefit of creditors. Point is, someone somewhere owns the asset that is that judgment (whether they realize they own it [or still own it] or not). But if you can't find 'em, the court should be able to provide you a solution, either by vacating or letting you pay into the registry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinger99 Posted December 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 Any idea of how long it would take (if ever) to get the money back if I paid it to the clerk of the court and it was never claimed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flacorps Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 Nope. Depends on state law. It might escheat to the state rather than get returned to you. Figure on a couple of years though at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
virtualpara Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 From another point of view . . . I have a judgment against someone. I moved since I got the judgment and filed a Change of Address with the Court, so you might check with the Court Clerk to see if something like that exists. Also, the "payday" loan company might still be doing business in a neighboring state as the laws may allow them to operate there. Check with those states and see if there is a "corporate office" in another state you could contact. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gdouglaslee Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 I think you are going to be in for a big suprise. Judgments don't just "fall off" your credit report.Judgments stay on your credit report the longer of 7 years or the statute of limitations for the judgment, which can be 10 to 20 years depending on your state. If you live in a state that has a 5 year SOL on judgments, you might be able to dispute and get it off after 7 years. Otherwise you are going to have a heck of a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordanmorganusa Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 If you were not properly served or the affidavit of debt was incorrect (or fraudulent-cough-ASSet-cough)on the paperwork you should be able to get the judment vacated. Check the rules of the court in which the judgment was entered. You might have an easier time than you think. They usually have people that help you free of charge and tell you how to get a hearing, fill out paperwork, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinger99 Posted December 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 I realize the judgements stay on for 7 years regardless of whether they are paid or not. But I need to pay them off or have them vacated to buy a house. Now would they still stay on my report if they were vacated?And really, I have no grounds for vacating the judgements if they don't vacate them for not being able to contact the plaintiffs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordanmorganusa Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 Were you served? Or did you find out about this by looking at your reports? Start there. It may be a lot easier than you're making it. Improper service can be used to have it vacated. There are alot of things that can cause a judgment to be vacated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinger99 Posted December 27, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 Both of them say served by the sheriff on the court paperwork. I don't remember how I got them. (too young and dumb to worry about that kind of stuff then) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flacorps Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 If you've moved around a bit since the judgments were rendered, you might try disputing the addresses where you lived at when they were rendered off your credit report, then waiting a couple of months and disputing the judgments themselves as "not mine". Just keep in mind that judgments have a life independent of whether they appear on credit reports, and they can still cause problems buying a home, either by virtue of a "full factual" (RMCR) credit report being run for a home loan over $150k (not always done over $150k, but it can be), or at the title insurance stage, where upon a grantee search the judgment may show up as a lien that would be superior to your mortgagee's lien ... meaning the mortgagee will balk at making the loan. These latter issues may not be so meaningful if you have changed counties, and may be even less meaningful if you've changed states in the time since the judgments were rendered. But out-of-state judgments can be filed against you in your new home state, it just takes extra effort on the judgmentholder's part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordanmorganusa Posted December 27, 2004 Report Share Posted December 27, 2004 I mean look at the paperwork. When you are served, it says who was served and where. If you don't remember being served, most likely they did not serve you. They served someone else somewhere else. Was it served at the address you were living at durign that time? If you were not properly served and therefore did not know about the courtdate so you could defend yourself, you can get the judgment vacated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinger99 Posted December 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 The only paperwork that I have about these cases are copies of the notices of claim that I got from the clerk of courts after seeing the judgements on my credit report.This stuff all happened 7-8 years ago and truthfully I don't remember anything about them. Both would have been entered in default because I'm sure I didn't go to court for them.Can anyone offer any other suggestions on reasons for vacating a judgement, and is there a sol on when it would have to be filed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentWA Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Contact the court house and get a copy of the files on these. Look at the certificate of service and see how you were served. If you did not know about them it is likely that you were not properly served. Then it is a quick matter of filing the proper paperwork to get the judgement vacated, take the paperwork from that action and send it to the 3 CRA's and request deletion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chancy949 Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Wouldn't you just dispute them with the CRA? If you can't locate them then how can they? and if they did wouldnt they have the updated info so you could contact them?If the CRA can't verify them don't they fall off? I think I'd go that route first, if that route is possible.Or is their way of verifying to call the court house? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinger99 Posted December 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 When they verify judgments, they supposedly have someone go to the court or search a database to see if the case has been paid. At no point do they try to contact the oc. And I need to actually clear these up, not just get them off my credit report, to get approved for a home.I was just trying to find out if not being able to reach them was grounds for vacating. But it looks like I am going to have to pay the full amount to the court and let them have my money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jordanmorganusa Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 I have no clue why you won't listen to me about getting this judgment vacated. Hopefully you will listen to someone else so you can get the judgments taken care of. Good luck... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 http://www.registeredagentinfo.com/ has the facility for looking up the registered agent for the corporation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
direred Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Wouldn't you just dispute them with the CRA? If you can't locate them then how can they? and if they did wouldnt they have the updated info so you could contact them?If the CRA can't verify them don't they fall off? I think I'd go that route first, if that route is possible.Or is their way of verifying to call the court house?Judgments are verified via a third party, generally Lexis-Nexis, who gets updated records from courthouses.The fact that one can't pay a judgment doesn't change the fact of its existence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kissinger99 Posted December 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 @jordanmorganusa: I hear you and I would love to get it vacated! It just seems like it would be awfully hard to argue that I wasn't served properly if I was served by the sheriff as I stated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flacorps Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 I think it's high time the OP got an attorney involved. Unless he wants to just go down and pay into the registry of the court. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentWA Posted December 28, 2004 Report Share Posted December 28, 2004 Served by the Sheriff means squat. I was served by the Sheriff once myself many years ago. He gave the summons to the clerk at Mailboxes etc. to put it in my mailbox and guess what, it got thrown out of court. You have to see exactly how they accomplished the service so you know where you stand. Yes paying off the Judgement would clear up an open judgement, but getting it vacated would mean it is gone. How likely do you think they are to refile, especially if they are out of business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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