If you see a civil judgment on your credit report, you should immediately dispute it with the credit bureaus that list it. Civil judgments are no longer supposed to be listed on credit reports, as of 2018, so a judgment on your credit report would be considered an error that you can dispute.
Key Things to Know About Civil Judgments
- A judgment indicates that you were sued and the court ruled in the plaintiff’s favor, which means you are likely on the hook for certain court costs in addition to the amount you were sued for.
- Judgments can stem from things like unpaid credit card and loan balances as well as from unfulfilled child support and alimony obligations.
- Judgments can be a sign of identity theft or improper notice of court dates, each of which would be a reason for concern in its own right.
- Civil judgments used to be listed on credit reports, along with tax liens, but these records should not be present now.
- The only types of public records listed on your credit reports now are bankruptcies and foreclosures.
If you do see a civil judgment on your credit report, you should follow the steps below to get it removed.
1. Review Your Credit Reports
You should review your credit report from each of the credit bureaus to see which ones list the civil judgment. You can access your TransUnion report for free on WalletHub. If you find a civil judgment on your TransUnion report, you can dispute it with TransUnion directly from your WalletHub account.
You can access your Experian and Equifax credit reports directly from those bureaus or by going to AnnualCreditReport.com.
2. File a Dispute
Once you determine which credit reports list the civil judgment, file a dispute with those credit bureaus separately. You can file a dispute online, by mail, or by phone. Filing a dispute online is the easiest way to get your credit report fixed. When you are filing the dispute, make sure to explain that the entry is a civil judgment and that it shouldn’t be listed on your credit report.
3. Wait for a Response
After you submit the dispute, the credit bureaus have 30 days (45 days in some cases) to investigate it. However, most disputes are resolved faster than that.
After the credit bureaus complete their investigation, they have five business days to inform you of the outcome. If the outcome shows the entry is in fact a civil judgment, it should be removed from your credit report shortly.
4. Confirm the Civil Judgment Has Been Removed
Check your credit reports again to confirm the judgment has been removed. If it’s still there, follow up with the credit bureaus to see why.
Does a Civil Judgment Affect Your Credit?
Civil judgments are not listed on your credit report anymore, so they will not affect your credit score. However, civil judgments may affect your ability to qualify for credit since lenders and creditors can still access them in public record databases. So, if you receive a notice about a civil judgment in your name, it’s important that you:
Verify that the judgment is accurate.
You can do this by calling or visiting the website of the court where you were supposedly sued. You can provide your name and the case number, if you have it, to access the court’s records and learn more about the plaintiff as well as the timeline of the case.
This, in turn, will either help you realize the judgment is accurate—in which case you should pay the amount owed as soon as possible—or give you clues about the potential identity theft and fraud that led to the court proceedings.
Place a security freeze (and fraud alert) on all three reports.
If you don’t recognize the civil judgment after looking over the details of the case, you could be dealing with identity theft. Someone may have fraudulently opened credit accounts under your name and racked up debt, leaving you to deal with a lawsuit from the creditor trying to collect on that debt. If that’s the case, you should contact TransUnion, Experian, and Equifax individually to put a freeze on each report.
A security freeze completely prevents most parties from viewing your credit report, though exceptions do exist, such as for the government, existing creditors, collection agencies, creditors who prescreen you for offers, and yourself.
You’ll also want to ask TransUnion to put a fraud alert on your credit report. TransUnion will be legally required to notify the other two major bureaus, and you will receive a confirmation letter from each one after the alert has been added to your file. It will remain in place for a year, even if you lift the security freeze on a report, warning potential creditors that you might be a victim of identity theft.
Consult an attorney.
A civil judgment is a very serious official record that can result in significant disruption to your financial life, including the loss of money and property if not dealt with promptly. Getting this judgment overturned can also be a complex process that is difficult for an individual to undertake successfully alone. It’s therefore best to consult an attorney who specializes in fraudulent civil judgments fairly early in the process.
At the very least, you should be able to get a free initial consultation, during which you can ask important questions and seek advice on how to proceed. Given the magnitude of this issue, however, retaining the services of a reputable attorney is preferable.
File an identity theft complaint with the FTC.
You can file a formal identity theft complaint with the Federal Trade Commission through its online complaint form. Once you have submitted your complaint, the FTC will generate an Identity Theft Affidavit. It is very important that you save and print this document, as it can only be viewed once through the online system if you don’t set up an account with the FTC. The FTC Identity Theft Affidavit is a critical supporting document for investigations into suspected identity theft.
File a report with your local police department.
Bring a copy of your FTC Identity Theft Affidavit to your local police department, along with a government-issued ID, proof of your address (e.g., a mortgage or utility bill), and any additional documentation you have concerning the suspicious judgment. This will enable you to file an official police report, which, together with your FTC affidavit, will comprise your “Identity Theft Report.”
Hopefully, taking these steps will enable you to get to the bottom of the suspicious judgment and minimize the related financial repercussions. The key is to have the judgment removed from the public record. Additionally, you may want to take a few steps to strengthen the security of your personal information and prevent future identity theft incidents.
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