Can a Civil Judgment Be Removed From a Credit Report?

If you are the defendant in a lawsuit and lose the case, the court will grant a civil judgment to the plaintiff. Judgments are typically the result of lawsuits over unpaid debts. The judgment not only grants the plaintiff the right to use more aggressive methods when collecting the debt, it also appears on your credit report.

Time Frame

Civil judgments are severely derogatory public records that have an adverse effect on your credit score. Fortunately, they don't remain a part of your credit history indefinitely. The Fair Credit Reporting Act notes that the credit reporting agencies must remove a civil judgment from your credit report in seven years or when the statute of limitations for debt collection expires in your state -- whichever time period is longer.

Considerations

According to the New York Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project website, if you have grounds to contest a civil judgment's validity, such as improper notification of the original case against you, you can file a motion with the court to have the judgment overturned or "vacated." If you succeed, mailing notification of the court's decision to the credit reporting agencies will result in the derogatory entry being erased from your credit record.

Misconceptions

Many consumers mistakenly believe that, once they pay off their judgments, the credit reporting agencies will delete all evidence of the judgments from their credit reports. Unfortunately, this is not the case. A civil judgment will remain a part of your credit history for the full length of time permitted by law -- regardless of its payment status. Once you pay off the debt, however, your creditor will update your credit report to reflect that you've satisfied the civil judgment.

Features

The record of your judgment was provided to the credit reporting agencies by the court that rendered the decision -- not by the creditor who filed the lawsuit. Because of this, your creditor does not have the power to remove the judgment from your record. It can, however, file a claim with the court to dismiss the judgment. The judgment won't disappear from your credit file, but the court's entry will reflect that the original judgment against you was dismissed. This looks much better to creditors and lenders reviewing your credit history than an outstanding or paid judgment.

Prevention/Solution

A civil judgment record should list the court that issued the judgment, the amount you owe, the case number and the name of your creditor. If any of this information is incorrect, the FCRA gives you the right to dispute the entry with the credit reporting agencies.

After you file a dispute, the credit reporting agency will attempt to verify the information with the court. If the court fails to respond within the 30 days permitted by law, the credit reporting agency must delete the judgment from your credit history.