You fell behind on your payments and your creditor decided to pursue a judgment against you. Even though you appeared at the hearing, your creditor was granted the judgment. Now, you don’t know what to do or where to turn to delete the judgment entry from your credit report.
Legal judgments can be unnerving and scary. This is the case with most things we have not experienced before. I hope you are not having to go through this process; however, in the event that you are, you should make sure that you understand the process in order to know what to expect during as well as after the process is complete.
As you can imagine, when your debt is sent to collections, your credit score will be damaged. If from there your creditor seeks a judgment for payment, your credit score will plummet even further.
If you are served with a Notice to Appear in court with regard to an unpaid debt, your creditor is through trying to work with you to collect the debt. After receipt of the Notice, you will have 30 days to object to the filing. If you can prove that the debt is invalid, you can have the case dismissed.
The short answers is, yes, you should absolutely pay a judgment. There is an exception, though, if you feel that a “Motion to Vacate” is applicable. If your judgment is vacated due to a Motion to Vacate, you will not be legally obligated to pay the debt. However, with regard to the contract, you may still be liable.
If you have lost a legal suit involving a debt by not showing up or, if you did show up, but the judge ruled against you, maybe the judgment can be vacated. You would need to file a Motion to Vacate to begin the process.
When you file a Motion to Vacate, you are in essence suspending the judgment and requesting a new hearing. If the Motion is granted, you will need to be prepared to argue for dismissing the case.
