New here, Need help. Can this judgement legally be reported?

[ktlo]

Hello there.

First off. I have what I would consider excellent credit. Unfortunately what I think is excellent is not reflected in my FICO score!! Inagine that. I have never had a late payment or any derrogatory marks on my CR. It is perfect in that manner. However, I do have high balances on credit cards and lots of credit. I own my own company as a Sole Proprietor so a lot of this credit is due to my company. Such as buying equipment etc.

Now, here's where it gets tricky for me. Just recently had a judgment reported on my CR. We own a trucking company. There was a traffic accident with one of our trucks. It went to our Insurance company and they denied the claim stating that it was less than 50% if not at all our fault. So they didn't pay. Then the guy takes our insurance to arbitration. Again, our insurance company wins and doesn't pay.

Then the guy takes us personally to small claims. We are served by the sherriff. Court date listed and all. It says that we can request a date change. We made the request as I was going to be out of town as this was during our business time of year for trucking.

We never hear back from the court and never hear back. Finally I call the small claims court as a few months have gone by and they tell me that they had our wrong address and that the date change denial letter was returned as undeliverable. The guy went to court, we didn't show, and he won. The court had mailed the date change denial to our physical street address. WE DO NOT RECEIVE ANY MAIL HERE. We live in the boonies and only have a PO BOX.

Anyway, to the point. Now our insurance co. is involved again and since we haven't paid the have a public protection obligation to pay called P.U.C. So they have to pay it and then will come after us to pay them.

Here's my question? If I let the insurance pay the claim, can the judgement still be on my personal credit report? Wouldn't they have to remove it since we did not pay the plaintiff a totally different party did???

My credit score has dropped from nearly 700 to 575 and this is really screwing with my business. Also, how many inquiries are too many and how can I get them removed. I think this is hurting quite a bit too since my business requires lots of buying and selling of equipment. We are also in the Excavation business as well as trucking.

Sorry so long, I sure hope someone has some advice on the judgement. That has got to come off.

P.S. I live in OREGON

Thanks a ton.

[chincheck]

Each inquiry that you've had in the last 2 years will drag your score down. The older the inquiry, the less impact on your score. High credit usage will also drag down your score. Even if you pay on time, those two factors make you a credit risk in a lender's eye.

Two ways to remove inquiries: Dispute with the CRA's, or go to privacyguard.com and order a trial membership. That allows you daily access to your reports, and each time you pull your report it creates a soft inquiry. After doing this once a day or once every other day for a few months, the older inquiries will begin to fall off.

Can a judgement remain on your credit? Yes, even if the insurance company pays it on your behalf. Since the plaintiff got a default judgement, your only chance is to see if Oregon state law allows you to submit a motion to vacate a small claims judgement. Even though the court sent your notice to the wrong address, the court will most likely take the position that you wrongly assumed you did not have to go to court based on an unapproved date change request -- so you may have dig yourself out of that hole as well.

Also, if the insurance company has or is going to pay on this judgement, you may not be able to vacate it. You would need to contact the insurance company and tell them you plan on vacating and then file your motion if allowed.

You need to make this a high priority and get it done right away because any delay will make things alot worse for you.

[Revco]

As far as the judgement, it might be difficult to get removed because "technically" you defaulted on the judgment - whether it was your fault or not...all I can say is that this just sucks. I would call the court and find out if they see the judgement against you...if not...dispute it with the CRA(s) and it will get removed because they won't be able to verify it. Regardless of whether the court shows it or not, I would definately dispute it with the CRA 'cause I had a valid judgement removed by Transunion that way.

Regarding inquiries, I can say that one inquiry can be too much. It really depends on the lender and their particular rules. For most, two or three is their limit. If you have a good explanation and are working personally with the person responsible for approving your credit, you might have a better chance. Yes...you can have them removed...some CRA's are more difficult than others. Many times they have no problems wiping clean older inq's...but some of the newer inq's may be requested to have an "investigation" opened to remove them.

PS...PrivacyGuard isn't offering daily reports anymore. There's a huge customer exodus over that fact which I am finding rather amusing.