Removing Judgments Off Credit Report To Qualify For Mortgage

This BLOG On Removing Judgments Off Credit Report To Qualify For Mortgage Was UPDATED And PUBLISHED On June 20th, 2020

Judgments and Tax Liens are the worst derogatory items consumers can have on consumer credit reports.

• Lenders will not just go off consumer credit reports but will also do a national third party public records search on borrowers
• Any public records that are not listed on the consumer credit report will be discovered by lenders when they do public records search via Lexis Nexis, Data Verify, and/or other third party public records search companies

In this article, we will discuss and cover Removing Judgments Off Credit Report To Qualify For Mortgage.

Removing Judgments Off Credit Report: What Are Judgments

Judgments are worse than bankruptcies, foreclosures, deed in lieu of foreclosures, late payments, charge offs, collection accounts, and short sales on one’s credit report:

• A judgment is when a collection agency and/or creditor sues a consumer for an unpaid debt
• Creditors take the consumer to court
• Courts rules in favor of the collection agency and/or creditor
• The courts do not enforce the judgment the judge has issued
• It is up to the creditors and/or collection agency to pursue collection proceedings by enforcing the judgment
• Judgments can be enforced when a judgment creditor will pursue wage garnishment, bank levy, or placing liens on the judgment debtor’s property or properties and/or assets
• This process is totally different than the original lawsuit they sued the consumer to win the judgment
• There are separate proceedings in enforcing a judgment and trying to collect from a judgment debtor
• Judgments are public records

They do report on all three credit reporting agencies.

How To Vacate Judgments

The only way to vacate and/or dismiss a judgment is by taking the following actions:

• paying off the judgment
• settling with the judgment creditor for less than what is owed
• contesting the judgment and trying to get it vacated by arguing that the judgment creditor did not serve the judgment debtor the right way
• Trying to vacate a judgment is rather difficult

Judgments have a time limit depending on the county and state the judgment has been issued.

Can I Try Removing Judgments Off Credit Report And Qualifying For Home Loan?

Many home buyers and homeowners who need to refinance their mortgage loans try removing judgments off credit reports and qualifying for a home loan.

• Credit repair does work
• I personally have seen some credit repair companies remove not just late payments, charge offs, and collection accounts, but also judgments, bankruptcies, and foreclosures off consumer’s credit reports
• Deleting older derogatory credit items is done all the time with credit repair
• Deleting older negative credit items does improve consumer’s credit scores
• However, removing judgments off credit report and other public records can become an issue when qualifying for a home loan and can backfire on borrowers
• Removing judgment off credit report is done all the time

However, lenders will initially qualify and pre-approve a mortgage loan applicant with just reviewing the borrower’s credit scores and credit report.

Judgments Not Reporting On Credit Reports

Since the judgment has been deleted by credit repair, the lender just assumes there are no judgments:

• Removing judgments off credit report does not mean that the credit repair company has deleted the judgment off public records
• The judgment is just removed from the credit report
• The fact of the matter remains that the public records are not expunged
• Lenders use third party date verify services to run a nationwide public records check
• All public records that a consumer has will show up if there is a record of it on public records

Consumers who had bankruptcies, foreclosures, and judgments removed off their credit reports will be affected when applying for a mortgage loan since they cannot hide public records.