Judgements

Anyone know anything about them and credit reports? We are making sure our credit is squeaky clean before we go apply for a pre-approvall. DH had a car judgment on his credit report from when he was young and stupid. I have been trying to find info on who he has the judgement with so we can pay it off for the last 2 yrs but every place I called kept directing me to different numbers and banks since its such an old judgment. However now its gone from his credit report and his score is now 250 points higher than it was 2 years ago.

Any advice. My worry is that its just going to pop up again when we go for our mortgage and we will have problems.

Re: Judgements

no advice really, but I think you'd be good to go.

Re: Judgements

depends on what it is, but I believe that after 3-7 years you are not responsible (unless you in some way admit that you are responsible, then the time starts again) and it's off your credit.

Re: Judgements

I would go meet with a mortgage person for a preapproval, let them run your and your dh's credit, and then they'll let you know if anything on the report is going to be an issue and needs to be fixed before you can get a mortgage.

If it is a problem, better to know --- and any good mortgage professional can tell you how to fix it. And then you can still get preapproved and get a mortgage once it's fixed, so there's no downside to talking to a mortgage person now and getting the info.

But you may be surprised -- if there are issues on a credit report, they may not pose a problem for the bank. But each lender is different in terms of their criteria. If you go to a direct lender, they know what will be a sticking point for their underwriters and what will fly.

One bank I deal with often and recommend often will often overlook certain issues (e.g., defaulting on student loans) if more than 2 years have passed, and there is an explanation. Often, the loan officer will help you put together a package -- such as letters explaining problems on your credit report -- to make your application pass muster with the underwriters.

Re: Judgements

How old is the judgement?

Judgements in NYS are good for either 10 years or 20 yrs I think (not sure if it's 10 plus another 10 if the judgement is renewed or 20 flat, a lawyer who is familiar with NY would know). Judgements can also result in liens against property.

Judgements can only show on credit reports as a public record for 7 years, but the fact that it is not reporting doesn't mean the judgement is gone. And it doesn't stop nefarious collection agencies from throwing it back on there with newer dates either as a "collection account" (since they can't manipulate public records data, it won't show back up in that area). Mortgage inquiries tend to bring collection agencies out of the woodwork. They know that sticking it on your report may strong arm you into paying in order to get the loan.

Try contacting the courts to see who actually sued your DH. Send them a certified letter (should be law firm and original bank). It probably has been sold a few times now too.

Also, the AG sued a bunch of law firms in NY a couple years back because of what is known as "sewer service" (mostly for default judgements), I believe about 100,000 or so lawsuits/judgements were thrown out because of it.

Christine - I'm surprised to hear that a bank would overlook defaulted student loans. I assume you mean currently not in default, but were at one point? I know that many banks will overlook paid collections over a certain age and most will overlook medical collections in general.

Re: Judgements