How to improve your credit score (Part 4 of 5)

Now you have got your credit report accurate, worked on late payments and have cleaned up your collection accounts. It is time for you to work on any Judgments that have been recorded to your credit report.

First of all, judgments are basically shown in two forms on your credit report. They are open or closed. Open judgments mean that they are actually in the process of collecting the money ordered by the court. A closed account means that they have collected the money and have closed the open judgment.

From a creditor's standpoint, you don't want to see either, but you want to see them closed if they exist at all. So the best option for you is to work to get these accounts closed. Working to get them paid off and completed will be your best bet in accomplishing this.

Now once the judgment is closed it will help your credit score and like other items will only be able to be reported for seven years. This means that eventually you will not have any judgments appearing on your credit report.

You might be able to negotiate a judgment if you have currently made arrangements to pay it over time by offering a lump sum. Don't offer it unless you have the ability to pay it immediately as the holders of the judgments want full payment. If you can you might be able to negotiate it from your credit report by making payment in full and ahead of schedule. But this is not often the case.

Finally, remember that a judgment can be disputed just like everything else on your credit report. If any information is inaccurate or misleading, please dispute it. Many courts don't have the time to fully investigate and that judgment might drop off your credit report. Dates and balances are often wrong due to partial payments or information being incorrectly reported to the credit bureau.

Next - Bankruptcies

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