Chance of judgment payments being reported to credit bureaus?

[AZGuy23]

I have an old judgment that never appeared on my credit reports. I am making payments toward the judgment, will these payments be reported to the credit agencies? Under what account would they appear if the judgment is not showing on the credit reports?

[bcohen]

If the judgment is old enough that it can't appear on your credit reports, then I doubt that anything will appear when it is paid off, and certainly nothing will appear while you are still paying on it. Personally, I would prefer to "pay" my judgments by filing for bankruptcy and discharging the debt. By the time a debt has gone to judgment, you have little to gain by paying on it--especially from a credit score point of view. It is actually better for your credit to discharge the debt in bankruptcy, and then have the judgment set aside (or marked as satisfied, depending on your state's law), than to make payments on it.

[AZGuy23]

The judgment is only 5 years old, so it could appear on my credit report still. Also, they garnished my bank account which is why I am making payments.

[Floridagail]

They made aggmts with you and stopped the garnishment?

[AZGuy23]

Yes, they garnished my account and I contacted them to setup a payment plan if they would stop garnishing. They still took the money they had put a hold on and setup a payment plan for the remainder.

[Floridagail]

Wow, I never heard of them doing that, They already had garnished, what was their advantage to work with you.
Did it ended up better or lower for your sake?

[AZGuy23]

Wow, I never heard of them doing that, They already had garnished, what was their advantage to work with you.
Did it ended up better or lower for your sake?

The amount they garnished only covered a portion of the amount of the judgment, they want the rest of the money of course.

[GoingDown]

What would they do if you simply closed that checking account?

Do you have wages they can garnish?

If not, I would close my checking account and start using nothing but cash, money orders, and pre-paid debit cards, and there wouldn't be a whole lot they could do to you.

[AZGuy23]

What would they do if you simply closed that checking account?

Do you have wages they can garnish?

If not, I would close my checking account and start using nothing but cash, money orders, and pre-paid debit cards, and there wouldn't be a whole lot they could do to you.

Well, they can't garnish my wages, but apparently they could sue to take my share of the company which I'm part owner in.

Also, I'm in the middle of buying a house, so can't really go closing bank accounts and such since they need to see my bank statements and activity. All I can do is pay.

[GoingDown]

Well, they can't garnish my wages, but apparently they could sue to take my share of the company which I'm part owner in.

Also, I'm in the middle of buying a house, so can't really go closing bank accounts and such since they need to see my bank statements and activity. All I can do is pay.

Is the company listed with the Arizona Corporation Commission, or the Arizona Secretary of State? In other words, is it something that they could really find and attach, or is it more like my self-employed "business" where I do electrical, plumbing, some carpentry, drywall, etc., but I let Home Depot store all my inventory for me, so as such, there really aren't any assets for a judgment creditor to come after. All there is to my "company" is just my labor, and I get paid by check and then go stand in line at the bank it was written on, and then cash the check, so there would be nothing to take out of a checking account.

But yeah, if you're buying a house, being judgment proof goes out the window anyways.

[AZGuy23]

The company is an actually company, set up as a Corporation with an EIN and shareholders and the whole 9 yards.

[GoingDown]

Yep, that would definitely not be judgment proof.

No getting around this judgment.

[AZGuy23]

Yea, unfortunately there isn't, and I've accepted that. I have a payment plan setup and I'm making payments, not much else I can really do. Should of taken care of it when it was $6,000, now it's ballooned to $14,000. At least with the payment plan interest has stopped being added on.

I'm just hoping that since I'm now making payments, that won't cause it to start showing up on my credit report. That's my biggest fear, I don't care about paying it back at this point, I just need it to stay off my credit reports.

[GoingDown]

If the judgment has not yet appeared on your credit report, I don't see any reason why it would appear now just because you are making payments on it. They usually get the information about judgments from public records, and your monthly payments will not show up in public records.

Once it is paid off, the judgment creditor will have to file a Satisfaction of Judgment with the court, and that might appear on your credit report, but I doubt it.