Paid off a debt, now what?

[MotherHubbard]

A while back I was sued by an apartment rental company- and they won. I was paying their lawyer for a long time- finally had it paid off in January of 2009. Its still showing up on my credit report however. I was told I need to send in the satisfaction of judgement the lawyer gave me when it was finally paid in full or it would stay on my credit report.

The information i can not seem to find is- where on earth do i sent this information to? Will it then no longer show up on my credit report and help raise my score?

[MotherHubbard]

PS, I also have things on my credit report from 2003... isnt the SOL in Illinois 5 years or am I wrong? If so, cant I dispute these and have them removed from my credit report?

[chane]

No, that is incorrect. If you send that in, you will prove that the judgment is paid. It will then stay on your credit report as a paid judgment for 7 years. That is still negative and will continue to hurt your credit.

Never send them proof of anything negative. Dispute it. Don't give a reason, just tell them to prove that it belongs on your credit report or remove it immediately.

As far as your 2nd post: SOL has nothing to do with your credit report. It only means they can't collect on it anymore, it still stays on your credit report for 7 years, unless you dispute it.

[cinnamngrl]

The statute governing reporting time 7.5 years is federal. SOL is an affirmative defense to a civil suit. Each state will set a standard of time that you are supposed be able to bring up a complaint. The idea is that you can't reasonably defend yourself from something that happened a long time ago

A paid judgment can stay on your report for 7 years from the last payment but, you can dispute and it can fall off.

If you have an agreement to vacate, that will help.