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It is my extreme pleasure to have met you CBdians! What a wealth of information I have been privy to. I have been reviewing the board for quite some time now, (often as if cramming for an exam) and am happy to say that I am now officially a member. I truly don’t know how I stumbled upon you, but I was devouring the internet in an effort to get back on track and somewhere there was a mention so I started to read, and read, and read! Death, BK7-2011, and some other stuff have been thrown my way, but I am climbing back up slowly and with the knowledge gained here, I am confident. Encouraged and given examples, I mustered the courage to apply for, AND RECEIVED, Priceline, Kohl’s, Barclays, Cap1 and Walmart. Two Credit Unions denied, but I’m ok with that and will retry at the end of year. I think I’m drifting at about 675. I had already gotten a secured Cap 1 shortly after BK, but was fearful to use it. With a new vision of credit, each will be used to pay a monthly household bill, PIF each month. I ordered my reports, but began my initial triage from my printouts as I wait. I was totally blindsided to see a (satisfied) Judgment from NYS taxes and immediately sent a request for a Cert. record. If all is identical to what my reports show, can I still send letter/call to credit bureaus re: ssn attachment? I’m thinking that since it’s taxes – they are pretty much ssn-driven, so won’t that be easy for them to connect? Has a goodwill letter pleading directly to the NYS Finance Tax Dept ever been tried/worked?? I thought I read somewhere that the IRS created some sort of lien leniency? Any relevance to my issue? In spite of my current situation, I feel rich and empowered having met all of you and just want to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU CREDIT BOARDS. (By the way, does anyone else find this board addicting?)

I had a judgment vacated and the negative trade line associated with the judgment across all 3 credit bureaus deleted. But OH NO! NOT EQUIFAX!! Even after sending them the court stamped dismissal. And wait! That's not the kicker. The Equifax representative calls me and tells me that just because the court dismissed the judgment (vacated) that Equifax is not obliged to delete from my credit profile. And then she told me that she spoke with the attorney of the original creditor and was told that they had no intentions of deleting the tradelines or vacating the judgment EVEN THOUGH it was already done! I swear I couldn't make this up if I tried. This was some Twilight Zone sh*t!

Hi all, I have a traffic violation in TN (tags expired) from about 6 years ago. I just received a letter from a law office and the letter starts like this..... "A judgment for the above referenced amount has been taken against you for an unpaid citation. The judgment has been referred to this office for enforcement..... If we do not receive payment in full or an arrangement for payment, we are directed to follow the necessary and appropriate procedures to collect this judgment including garnishment or your wages and sale of your non exempt assets." Then the letter goes into your usual 30 day dispute the validity blah blah blah... I'm not sure if they're using their own wording but there is no judgment for this ticket. I went downtown where they record judgments and there is nothing recorded. Can anyone give me insight on this?

So after 26 months of war, I awoke today and ran my reports to find US Bank decided they did not want to be sued, did not want to deal with me anymore, and removed the account. I beat them through persistence. I beat them by knowing the rules of the game better than their CSR's did. Hell, I beat them by knowing the rules better than the people in their credit reporting department did. I beat them by catching them in lies and in violations I never would have caught if not for this board and all the people here who take so much time to help others. As an added bonus, an old paid judgment was also removed today from TU using the WhyChat letter after removing old addresses. TU just got the dispute on the 6th. I have EQ primed and ready with addresses removed, but wanted to make sure it worked with TU with no unintended consequences before moving on to EQ. I still have some addresses to removed from EX, but thanks to the great advice here, I know how to beat that as well. With a little luck, and some goodwill on a few 5-year old late payments, reports could be 100% clean by year-end.

I'm a long time lurker and reader of CB for many years and I have finally decided to take the plunge and tackle this credit monster finally. I have been reading reading reading and implementing the preliminary steps to begin this process. Here's where I am so far and I am a bit stuck as to what my next move should be. 1. Ordered all 3 hard copy reports (all 3 in hand and ready to go) 2. Opted out 3. Removed all old addresses from TU & EQ.........Experian is giving me a heck of a time and I need to know if I should move forward or continue to try to get the addresses removed? Experian is currently showing 8 old addresses plus my current address, 3 of the addresses are duplicates of 3 old addresses in different variations. 1 of the addresses is not my address at all, as a matter of fact this 1 address being reported as mine is actually the address of the company/plaintiff that filed a "judgment" against me in 2012 and there is also a Verizon TL attached to this same address opened 1/2012, reporting since 11/2012 & last reported 6/2014. It's a utility bill for $341 and is reporting on EX & EQ and Verizon is the OC. My 1st order of business was the Paid Civil Judgment reporting on all 3 CR's that I looked into public records to see if it was on file and it is not. I was gonna tackle this first using WhyChat's method. Should I still move forward with this even though the address is not cleared from EX? Based on WhyChat's judgment method I strongly believe that if I get this judgment removed then I will be able to get the address removed and dispute the Verizon TL there after. 2nd order of business is my 7 Medical TL's using WhyChats Hippa method. 3rd is to DV 13 baddies and last but not least I'm currently rehabbing my student loans and then there is a Repo I don't know where to even begin with but I'm choosing to work on that last. Any suggestions? Thoughts? Opinions? or Advice? If you need anymore info please let me know and I will be glad to provide. TIA

A female friend has a paid judgment. She plans to file a motion to vacate. The judgment is in her married name. She is divorced and legally changed her name back to her maiden name. The Motion to Vacate reads: Comes now____________, Defendant, who respectfully requests this court to vacate the judgment against Defendant ____________, filed 08/2009... Would she put her current/maiden name in the first line (as that is the legal name of the person making the motion), and her married name in the second line (as that is the name on the judgment)? Thanks!

I signed on a lease for my ex wife while we were going through our divorce (she could not get into a place without me signing on the lease). After a year or so I was notified by her landlord that she had not paid her rent for about four months! I was shocked and also surprised that the landlord did not notify either her or myself earlier? To make a long story short she moved out and the landlord ending up filing suit (against both of us) and got a judgment. I tried negotiating with the landlord throughout the process. I did not find out about the lawsuit until right before we were scheduled to go to court because I had moved within the last year and did not receive any of the correspondence. I was told by the landlord's attorney that if we pay off a reduced amount via monthly payments over a two year period (the settlement that my ex was supposed to adhering to) that the landlord will not pursue any further collection processes and that the judgment will not be recorded. I am in Florida and my question is will this show up on my credit report if it is not recorded? I am not exactly sure what the difference is between a recorded judgment and a non recorded judgment. I can pay the settlement amount right after the first of the year. I am trying to avoid this showing up on my reports as they are almost clean and I am looking to buy a home next year.

I need some help please. I have several credit accounts in collection; they're around three years old. I've recently changed my name and the judge sealed the record to protect me from violence. Here's the questions: 1. If someone like a process server knocks on the door and tries to serve me for a court appearance to get a judgment against me: do I have to acknowledge my old name? 2. Same scenario as question one, but it's a cop trying to serve me: do I have to acknowledge my old name? My understanding is the purpose of sealing my record was that I don't have to tell anyone my old name. Plus the serving papers are going to have my old name most likely, so I'm fairly sure they can't make me sign my old name. And of course why would I sign a paper that doesn't have my correct name. 3. If a debt collector sends me a letter with my old name, I will need to send a cease and desist letter challenging the debt, how do I handle this without acknowledging my new name? I can't legally sign my old name anymore, nor do I think it would be smart to give them my new name. 4. If they sue me under my old name, how would I handle this? Can I just ask for a dismissal because of the wrong name and make them suit me again under the correct name? If any of you can think of anything else that would apply, or other helpful information, then feel free to add it in your response. Also, my name change had nothing to do with trying to avoid these debts. Please don't respond that I should just pay these bottom-feeders that bought these debts for pennies on the dollar. I'm a disabled person and it's illegal to garnish my disability pension, so they can't collect from me. In fact that's the reason I think they keep quickly selling the account to other collectors when I tell them that in a response/cease and desist letter. Thanks for any responses.

Hi, guys, So I got some wonderful news yesterday. I happened to call Experian to cancel their free trial credit monitoring and they talked me into another free month. I said okay, and just out of curiosity checked my report again. It was about five weeks since the last time I checked it and I couldn’t believe my eyes. It was free of baddies. I’d had been working hard since November on five medical collections (same CA), one paid tax lien and one paid civil judgment. I tried to GW the OC on the judgment but after trying to reach out to them twice with no reply, I decided to take a break and figure out what my next step would be. I’d also asked the IRS to remove the paid lien from my report – they do that now, but it’s apparently not guaranteed for everyone who applies. I knew that was going to be a longer process, so I decided to settle in and wait. So when I checked my credit report yesterday the lien was gone and the judgment was gone. Whaaat? I called the IRS to inquire about the status of my request and the woman I talked to said the removal had been approved but they were still working on it. The way it was explained to me, I'd have to take documents they would send me to my county court/clerk and ask to have the lien removed, but it seems they're ahead of me somehow. Also, I had disputed the five medical collections and four were deleted rather quickly but the one for the largest amount ($1600) came back verified. So I was preparing WhyChat’s HIPAA letter as my next step, but when I checked my credit report yesterday that one was gone too! I mean, it had been due to age off the report next year so maybe they’re early? I’m not complaining. Is all of this too good to be true? I am planning to purchase my three reports in about a month to double-check this fantasy. If it is indeed true and they're all gone for good, I think I would be able to begin to rebuild. I have one Cap 1 Secured CC (just over a month old). I’ll use that for a three months or so and then beg them for a CLI (limit is now $400). After that, any advice? I’m not sure what the ideal number of cards is to have (I don't want a lot) or which banks would be best to try for. Can you guys suggest which cards I should try for and how long I should wait before applying? Right now I'm thinking to wait for about 6 months so my secured CC can some good reporting. Is that a good plan? Thanks in advance for any advice, and thanks for all the invaluable advice you’ve provided to me over these two months of my lurking and posting. I know I wouldn’t have been able to get to this point without the fantastic support from CBers and I can’t thank you all enough.

I have a judgment from Bank of America on my credit report from an old checking account. They sent me a 1099-C cancellation of debt form. I called them and they said I no longer owe the debt and they will not try to collect on it anymore. I've tried to get it off my reports using techniques I read on hear but no success so far. Do you think I can mail the bureaus a copy of the 1099-C to get it deleted? Has anybody had any success with a 1099-C form?

Here is a scenario: Home foreclosed. BofA sues homeowners, awarded judgement for $215K ($190K loan balance plus fees). Fannie Mae takes ownership of home for $1000. Fannie Mae sells home for $175K. Court still shows judgment due to BofA unchanged at $215K. What am I missing? I would think BofA was made whole (except for maybe the fees) by Fannie Mae, as it was an FHA mortgage? So how is it that BofA got paid $190K by Fannie Mae to make them whole AND BofA still has a judgment showing they are owed $215K from homeowners? Should not the judgment now reflect only the difference between what the judgment was when entered and what the remaining difference is now, and not the whole amount? In other words, if the judgement gets paid today, BofA will have pocketed $405K for a $190K loan. Or, am I WAY confused over how this works? Would appreciate an explanation.

I have a public record on my Transunion report which I'd like to have removed. I have tried disputing it in the past as being erroneous, but it always has come back as "verified" or "updated". The Transunion report lists the following information: TUC - ARIZONA - Docket #: [redacted] 415 TIJERAS ST NW ALBUGUERGUE, NM 87102 (505) 841-7437 Date Filed: 08/23/2011 Date Updated: 07/24/2013 Type: CIVIL JUDGMENT IN BANKRUPTCY Responsibility: Individual Debt Plaintiff: CAPITAL ONE BANK Amount: $7,103 Court Type: Circuit Court Estimated month and year that this item will be removed: 07/2018 Although I do have a legitimate judgment against me (default judgment that was discharged in a later Chapter 7), the information being reported is full of errors. Here is the information as listed on a certified copy of the Default Judgment: Court: State of New Mexico, County of Bernalillo, Second Judicial District Court Court Address: 400 Lomas Blvd NW, Albuquerque, NM 87103 Date Filed: 08/24/2011 Plaintiff: CAPITAL ONE AUTO FINANCE, INC. Amount: $8,226.04 So, Transunion is reporting the wrong name of the court, as this took place in New Mexico not Arizona, the address for the court is wrong, the spelling of the city name is wrong, the date filed is wrong, the plaintiff is wrong (it was Capital One Auto Finance, Inc. not Capital One Bank), and the amount is wrong. I often hear that the next line of defense when disputing credit report baddies is to dispute the accuracy of the information. So for this case, and for other cases in which I find information being reported which is inaccurate when compared to my official records and documents, how do I make an attempt to get the information deleted as being inaccurate? Thanks for the explanation and assistance.

Yup, it’s true. About two weeks ago I disputed a paid civil judgment online with EX and TU (it wasn't reporting on EQ). The judgment was due to be removed late next year. TU came back a few days ago with a deletion, but I wasn’t holding out much hope for EX. I get an email from them last night and they, too, have deleted!! This is wonderful. The only other negative on my three CRs now is a paid federal tax lien from 2012. It’s really affecting my scores and I’ve asked the IRS to withdraw but it doesn’t look likely. Anyway, I’m happy about this victory. I want to add that before I came to CB in November, I really didn't realize it was possible to fight the bureaus and CAs. I find that I quite enjoy it and I've gotten rid of medical collections and that judgement and now am hoping the IRS will be responsive regarding the lien. I have an unsecured credit card for the first time in about 10 years -- and it's got nice limit -- and a 2.49 percent auto loan, when my other car loan was at 17 percent! (Thanks DCU. I love you.) It's all happened so fast. You guys should know how much your advice helps others. I don't go a day without reading this board. Thank you so very much.

OMG. I had a paid civil judgment that I was trying to get rid of. I disputed it on TU and EX (EQ wasn't reporting it), and had no response from GW attempts with the OC. I tried WhyChat's method. Bingo! TU wrote today to say it was *deleted.* Wow! I'm still waiting to hear back from EX (I'm not holding out much hope for that one, though). Now I have to work on a paid fed tax lien. I've asked the IRS to withdraw it but it seems unlikely. We'll see. Thanks so much for your help, CB!! Oh, and I also had a medical collection on there that was due to be removed from the report in two months so I disputed that as obsolete. That was removed too!!! Yay.

So I'm starting to feel brave to consider attempting WhyChat's Delete Judgments guide. I have done the legwork - opted out, deleted old addresses, etc., went to the courthouse, got the recorded document and had it certified. Ok, so what appears on the credit report is: Date filed Docket number Amt and so forth But what is indicated on the recorded document is: My name (totally misspelled) And other stuff - but the only glaring discrepancy is it is stamped 'filed for record' on a date one day after what is being reported on the credit report. However, it is signed by a judge on the day the credit report is reporting. So, do I have any chance of it being deleted with the misspelling of my name? This information (my name is not included in the information in the judgment part of the credit report - just docket number, date, type, amt, etc. It is a default judgment btw. Yes, i was a dumbass. THANKS!

Okay guys. I’m a bit dejected right now. I have a thin credit file – one 2.5-year-old auto loan, paid on time, and a two-month old Cap 1 secured card with a limit of $350. My negatives are a paid IRS tax lien that was satisfied in 2012 ($21K) and a civil judgment that was satisfied in 2010. I applied to have the tax lien withdrawn under the Fresh Start program, and the IRS initially said yes, and now they’re saying no because they accepted a settlement and so don't qualify for the withdrawal. I’m so frustrated. EQ is my cleanest report, showing the positive TLs but also the lien. EX and TU show both the lien and the judgment. My EQ Fico score is 679. I make $57K a year. Do you think DCU, which I understand pulls EQ, would approve me for a credit card? Not sure if Logix would approve me, and I doubt Discover would either. I need to add another positive TL to raise my score but I don’t want to waste and inquiry and ding my score if it’s not likely to be a favorable result. I appreciate your advice. Thanks.

I have a judgment that has been confirmed that is on my credit report. Background info: 8 years ago I had an Amex CC with a limit of $300 and it went to collections and was sold multiple times. In 2010, I was sued but I didnt show up and a defualt judgment was issued for over $2k, and it is now on my credit report for almost $4k. Earlier this year they tried to put a lien on my bank account but they forgot to attach it and so no money was taken out. I was wondering if I should write them and try to settle the debt doing monthly payments or save the money up then settle. I dont want them to try to attach my account again or garnish my check.

I'm hoping Whychat can help me. I sent the delete judgment letter to all 3 CRAs and got Eq's letter back first saying they verified the data. I'm surprised given that I was successful in removing the address attached to the judgment. They did NOT indicate who furnished them with the data but listed the court address and to contact the court with any questions. What is my next step? FYI...I have a printout from the court online recorded judgment search that shows that my docket # and even name to turn up any results for a recorded judgment. (Although when I called the court at one point in time, they seemed to think the judgment in need of paying. The clerk acted like he didn't know what I was talking about when I said it wasn't recorded.)

Hi, guys, I've been lurking on this board for about a week and this is my first question: I have a default judgment on my CRA from two years ago. It was for some master level college courses that I never finished. Anyway, I moved and got really sick and didn't realize I was being sued by the school until after the default judgment. The school's attorney really pressed me to pay quickly with the threat of wage garnishment. I was scared so I paid off the $6,600 in eight months. It's one of three dings on my CRA (other is a medical collection for under $1,500 and a federal tax lien that has been satisfied.) I've pretty much stayed away from credit since but I now understand I have to get back in the game. Can you advise me on how to get the civil judgment removed? Should I try a GW letter to the school or to the school's attorney? I actually have written to the IRS and asked them to remove the lien and it's probably that they'll do it (under the Fresh Start program). i'll post my question about the medical debt in the medical forum, but hoping you can help me with the judgment part. Is it possible that it can be done? If the school won't respond to GW, what should be my next step? Thanks so much. You guys are wonderful! Btw, I checked my fico two weeks ago and my scores are 593, 632 and 647.

Whychat, I've taken some time off from credit repair but still need to delete a false judgment. All but EX have deleted the address that correlates to the judgment. Should I send to all three including EX? Also, am I correct to send it with handwritten addie, teal/purple stationary and ink, and NOT RR? Just want to make sure.

I guess no suprise that it was coming. My score went to (insert bad word here) a couple of years ago. Since then I've managed to get it back up into the mid 600's, but now the judgment lawsuits are starting apparently. I suspect they're filing them before the stuff hits the three year statue of limitations in my state. So how will those judgments affect my score for items that are already on the report and have been charged off a couple of years ago? Will this send my score back to 500 again? Thanks for any insight and responses about what to expect.

Finch v. LVNV FUNDING LLC, Md: Court of Special Appeals 2013 Default judgments were entered against each appellant. Appellants thereafter filed a class action in the circuit court, alleging that LVNV was not licensed as a collection agency, as required by Maryland law, when it obtained the underlying district court judgments. Appellants sought to represent a class comprised of all persons against whom LVNV had obtained a judgment for an alleged debt in Maryland state courts during the period of time in which LVNV was unlicensed. The class action complaint asserted five claims. Appellants sought declaratory and injunctive relief, damages for unjust enrichment, and damages for alleged violations of the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Practices Act and the Maryland Consumer Protection Act. The circuit court dismissed appellants' complaint on the basis that it constituted an impermissible collateral attack on the district court judgments. This appeal followed ---------------------------- For these reasons, we hold that a judgment entered in favor of an unlicensed debt collector constitutes a void judgment as a matter of law. Accordingly, any judgments obtained by LVNV in the district court while operating as an unlicensed collection agency are void. ---------------------------------- For the foregoing reasons, we hold that the circuit court erred in dismissing appellants' complaint. LVNV was not licensed when it obtained judgments against appellants in the district court; accordingly, the underlying district court judgments are void. We further hold that parties may collaterally attack a void judgment in another court. The circuit court, therefore, erred by ruling that appellants' complaint constituted an impermissible collateral attack on the district court judgments. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion read the whole ruling here; http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=9749006638091405468&hl=en&as_sdt=2,3 So if you were a resident of Maryland, and have a LVNV judgment on your report that was awarded between October 30, 2007 through February 17, 2010 You may be able to have the judgment vacated based on this decision by the MD Special court of Appeals , which is good statewide in any lower court ( small claims, district, magistrate, etc.) Once the judgment is voided, you can have it deleted off your reports. Since this has gone back to the circuit courts so that the Class action can go forward - the Class action may take care of it all. ( I'm not a lawyer, and if you need to have a judgment vacated, I suggest you seek out legal advice on how to do this)

I have been reading for a while, still confused. I made a screen name so I can ask questions. Geez, I don't even know where to start, dispute or validate, opt out, etc. I want to do a 1-2 punch but I feel like I would mess it up. There is an address on my EX and EQ that NEVER belonged to me! I can't get my free report from TU, i don't know why. I feel overwhelmed! If I dispute the prior and false address on my report would they have 45 days (because) to fix as opposed to 30? Also, a collection from midland is being disputed (as said on both reports) and IDK why, i didn't initiate it on EX but I did dispute on EQ and it came back verified. BOGUS!!!! . However, the information is wrong. Its an EXTREMELY inflated collection from TMOBILE (I owed them in the ball park of $800-1000) but somehow it became $1,900+! And reporting as open or gone to collections in 2011. I had Tmobile from march 2008-2009(november of 2009 is when I was about 60 days overdue and never paid them ,I got sprint. They started sending me collections in 2010 but I know I Can't find them. I'm not sure if midland sent the collections or not but it was a collector.). So the latest it should report delinquent is mid 2010? Did Midland reage my account? When I dispute to a CRA, should I write in blue ink on legal paper or what? Is that out? Should I only dispute after I validate? I feel like I had a plan before I saw my credit report, and now Im baffled for some reason. Can anyone help? Post links, anything, I feel lost.E XPERIAN has Account in dispute under Fair Credit Billing Act. EQ has MIDLAND CREDIT MGMT INC 8875 Aero Dr Ste 200 San Diego, CA-921232255 (800) 825-8131 Account Number: XXXX Status: Account Owner: Individual Account. High Credit: $1,936 Type of Account : Open Credit Limit: Term Duration: Terms Frequency: Date Opened: 09/30/2011 Balance: $1,936 Date Reported: 09/26/2013 Amount Past Due: $1,936 Date of Last Payment: Actual Payment Amount: Scheduled Payment Amount: Date of Last Activity: N/A Date Major Delinquency First Reported: 11/2011 Months Reviewed: 21 Creditor Classification: Activity Designator: N/A Charge Off Amount: Deferred Payment Start Date: Balloon Payment Amount: Balloon Payment Date: Date Closed: Type of Loan: Factoring Company Account (debt buyer) Date of First Delinquency: 09/2009 Comments: Consumer disputes this account information, Collection account 81-Month Payment History No 81-Month Payment Data available for display.

So my husband has a ton of student loan debt all incurred before we were married. He has 200,000 in federal loans, 25,000 in private and a 20,000 judgment for a bar study loan which doesn't count as a student loan (yikes! I know!!). We are currently paying off the federal and private student loans but haven't touched the 20,000 judgment. He was underemployed for a long time making around $12,000/yr so he just couldn't pay. He recently got a better job (yay!) but now I'm worried they are going to try to garnish his wages. My question is, should we try to negotiate to pay off the judgment at a reduced rate before he files taxes in April and they find out he has a job, or should we just wait and hope that the SOL passes/they never come after the money. The judgment was issued in 2008 and we live in WA state. The money we would use to pay is my money from an inheritance that they will not be able to take unless we give it to them. He doesn't have anything they can take other than wage garnishment but as far as they know he only makes $12,000/yr and in WA that is below the limit so they can't garnish. I just don't want to stir the pot and have them re-examine his file and figure out he now has a better paying job. Any advice? If you think we should negotiate, what is a reasonable offer to make?

Had a judgment entered in 2009 for a medical bill, around $2500. Paid it in full in July 2012. Shows in my files with CRAs as paid. Is this hurting my score at all? If so, any advice on how to get this removed?