How Remove Judgments From Your Credit

Judgments on a credit report can be very damaging. A judgment is the result of a court order to repay an outstanding debt. This means that one of your creditors took your account to court and received an agreement to force you to pay the debt. If you have any judgments on your credit report, you need to clear them up as soon as possible. It is possible to remove judgments from your report, but you first must pay the outstanding balance.

Instructions

1

Pull a current copy of your credit report for free from annualcreditreport.com. Look in the Public Records section of the report (usually the second section). This is where all judgments will be listed. Verify the total number of judgments, the creditors and the outstanding balances.

2

Contact the creditors to determine the full payoff on all outstanding judgments that have a balance. If you already paid these balances, collect all documents to support these payments (such as cancelled checks or bank statements). Make sure to receive a paid-in-full letter from the creditor when the payment is applied.

3

Write a goodwill letter to the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). This is essential, as even paid judgments will remain on your credit report. A goodwill letter is a plea to the credit bureaus to remove the negative history. You need to include your name, your Social Security number, your address (and previous address), your date of birth and the account numbers to which you are referring.

4

Make copies of all relevant documents regarding judgment payments. These must go with your goodwill letter. Double-check the grammar and spelling in your letter and then send it to the credit bureaus.

5

Follow up with the credit bureaus. The bureaus are required to respond to all inquiries within 30 days and take action on inquiries within an additional 90 days.