Judgments are legal decisions reached in court and also are known as monetary judgments. Judgments are granted by a judge following a civil lawsuit, often for credit card debt. Judgment information is included on credit reports for seven years and is very damaging to credit scores. Removing judgments from credit reports with letters is not difficult -- if you can cite reasons within the Fair Credit Reporting Act for removing the information.
Instructions
- 1
Review the Fair Credit Reporting Act (see Resources) to determine a legal basis for removing judgments. Under the act, which is a federal law, credit bureaus must remove judgments if the information is outdated or wrong. No other legal challenges are available.
2Obtain free credit reports from the major credit bureaus -- Experian, TransUnion and Equifax. Get the reports from the Annual Credit Report website (see Resources). It's the only site authorized by the Federal Trade Commission to offer free credit reports under the terms of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
3Review judgments on the report for accuracy and timeliness.
4Challenge a judgment that is outdated by noting the original listing date on the credit report and pointing out in your letter that the judgment is outdated for purposes of credit reporting. Confirm that a full seven years has passed since the judgment was posted. Mail your letter to each credit bureau posting the outdated information. Get addresses from the respective credit reports. Allow the credit bureaus 30 days to respond, as required by the Fair Credit Reporting Act. They must remove the judgment if it is outdated.
5Write letters to demand removal of judgment information that is wrong. Even if you received the judgment, you can challenge it if any of the information is incorrect, such as the date of the judgment or an amount. The credit bureau must investigate and may delete the entire entry if it cannot confirm accurate information. Send the letters to the credit bureaus at their respective addresses.
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