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     | Monday, July 17, 2000 - 04:58 am  Not too long ago (about three months ago), I got into a huge dispute with my former landlord. I only had 28 or so days left on my lease, so instead of paying last months rent, I told them to take the security deposit and use that. They ended up taking me to court, and getting a judgement for last-months rent. We walked out of the courtroot, and made a 'gentlemans' agreement as such: They *will* take my security deposit as last months rent, and I will pay them other unpaid debts (some old phone charges, late charges, etc.) on move-out day. We will as well do a walk-through on move-out day. Move-out day came, and I was out of there by 3pm. I wrote them a check for the other amount owed, but the walkthrough never happened. I left and they seemed satisfied. Around 25 days later, I got a letter in the mail with charges for damages. Mind you, the bill was rediculously inflated and fradulent (They billed me $410 for 39 yards of carpet for recarpeting the "second bedroom". Looking at the floorplan, it's no more than 12 yards - they insist that the bill is correct). Basically, can they use the judgement they got against me to collect the money from the new bill, and also, will the judgement appear on my credit report - and do I have any recourse from it. Thanks, -Dave
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| | Monday, July 17, 2000 - 06:12 am real estate agreements must all be in writing. I learned that also the hard way. Yes they can use the judgement to garnish wages. they may not choose to do so. Be prepared to offer them cash. However, have they taken you to court--you'd know because you would have been served a summons. If not, there is no judgement and you could settle this--just make sure they haven't reported to the CRAs. In such a case, you pay them to not verify the debt when it is subsequently challenged.
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| | Monday, July 17, 2000 - 09:11 am Yes, we did go to court (as the first paragraph had stated). If I'm declaring bnk, should I waste the time trying to make sure the judgement doesn't end up on my credit report, or will it not matter? -Dave
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| | Monday, July 17, 2000 - 10:59 am There are 2 separate issues: 1) A judgment for last month's rent, which your landlord then ignored to have you do what you wanted in the first place. Why your landlord did that, I don't know. It doesn't make sense to me! 2) The damages after move out are NOT part of the original judgment. But since you never paid that, the landlord can enforce that judgment. Unless he gave you a "satifaction of judgment" when he agreed to accept the security deposit instead. I.e. he can make you pay the last month's rent. To collect for the damage, he'll have to go to court again. This whole scenario really makes no sense. If you go to court again over the carpet, the judge will probably look at the floor plan and agree with you. They'll want pictures and evidence. If there isn't evidence, they often split the demand 50/50. It appears you now have ONE judgment, which may or may not be satisfied. If you file for bankruptcy, I don't think it matters, just make sure it's included in the discharge.
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| | Monday, July 17, 2000 - 04:15 pm Sorry, I am getting old and the eyes are not as good as they used to be. Make sure you follow up once you file bk and list the judgements. Get copy of the releases and be prepared to send a copy to the cra if they are still being reflected as open on the cr.
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| | Monday, July 17, 2000 - 05:39 pm It's funny. We walked out of the courtroom, and I told her "I'll save you the trouble of getting an order of execution. Here's what we'll do" and we agreed upon to what I typed earlier. It was rather silly. On the bill they sent, they showed $1630 applied to back rent and then an additional $800 in charges for damages, so I'm guessing they wrote it up just right so that they couldn't collect on that judgement. Is a "Satisfaction of Judgement" an actual form, or just an agreement? Also, back to my original question - does it automatically appear on my CR, or do they have to post it on there? And as well, on a semi-unrelated note, when I declare bnk, what happens to my 'paid collection' accounts? I have some rediculous $38 thing on my credit report from Macy's/GECCC on there - is that going to harm me in the future? They refuse to remove it, no matter what (I made the mistake of paying it BEFORE getting them to agree to remove it from my report) -Dave
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| | Saturday, July 22, 2000 - 07:51 am As far as judgements go, there are two ways that they end up on your credit report. They are: 1) The person who got the judgement against you can submit a universal data sheet to the credit bureaus with the case # etc and report you themselves 2) The credit bureaus conduct frequent public records searches and will eventually find the judgement that way. So, either your landlord can report the judgement or it will end up there by default anyway. It is just a matter of time. In Virginia, a Satisfaction of judgement is an actual form that, with proof of satisfaction, is filed with the clerk of the court and then added to your case file. Credit bureaus will find this and update your credit file as applicable. You can also report these yourself to the bureaus on a universal data sheet as well. In order for the bureaus to post this data to your credit file, it must be verifiable, so make sure you send a copy of the Satisfaction of Judgement form as well. Hope this helps you out. Mike
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| | Friday, October 13, 2000 - 03:29 pm How long does a paid judgement say on the report? 7 years from the file date?
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| | Friday, October 13, 2000 - 05:37 pm You need to read YOUR State's law and/or read the appropriate topics here. Didn't we just discuss this a day or two ago? Please search for messages within the last 3 days. This option is under New Messages to your left.
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| | Friday, October 13, 2000 - 05:42 pm Here's the link
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| | Sunday, October 22, 2000 - 02:46 pm Hello All. My question relates with these topics also. I had/have a tax lien and judgement on my report. They've both been paid in full. When I received my credit report, it didn't reflect this information. So I wrote the bureaus (Trans and Experian) asking them to verify the inforamtion. They sent back my information saying they did verify the information and that it was reporting correctly. So I inturn wrote them back asking for the contact information and this time I provide my back checks and payment in full information . My question is, "did they REALLY" investigate my information and now that I provided proof of payment, how will the information be reflected? One more question. I noticed a $55 collection amount from a former apartment I lived in was on my report. No attempts was made to reach me about this debt. What would be my best approach in having this info removed from my report. Should I just pay it or is $55 dollars a miniscule amount that won't affect anything. Thanks and keep up the good work in this forum.
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| | Monday, October 23, 2000 - 07:21 am Do NOT pay that bill until you dispute it! If that doesn't remove it from your account, then try to negotiate the creditor into removing it. Only then if you are going to pay it, particulary if you are thinking about buying a house before it rolls off of your credit report, then go ahead and pay it and get it over with. From my experiences the amount is a mute point. It is either in collections or it isn't. Remember a 'paid' collection is just as bad as an 'unpaid' collection. Only pay it if it is in your best interest.
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| | Monday, October 23, 2000 - 07:29 pm Nosyt wrote My question is, "did they REALLY" investigate my information and now that I provided proof of payment, how will the information be reflected? They will notify you in writing of the new reporting. It's not right that you have to find, copy and mail proof of payment, the bureaus or they person who verified incorrect data should pick up the bills, or just pay you $50 or so for your trouble. As far as the collection goes, I agree with Don. Just want to add that a while back Fair Isaac considered a modification to rate collections for small amounts differently, but I haven't heard that they implemented that. The last thing you want to do is pay.
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