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jenn138 · Jan 20, 2007, 02:16 AM

8 years ago I was a co-signer on an apartment with my boyfriend. I was just about 18 or 19 yrs old. We got evicted and after establishing a residence we contacted our former landlord and started making monthly payments but never finished paying the total amount due. We never heard anything from them, nothing by the courts or collection agencies! I'm going to be looking to rent an apartment this year, I know that in the state of California they do credit as well as tenant checks on applicants. My question is, how long will that eviction be on any of my reports? Is there a way to get it off without having to pay the money?

Fr_Chuck · Jan 20, 2007, 08:05 AM

But most landllords do not ever file and report this on your credit, best bet is to get a copy and see if it is on it

excon · Jan 20, 2007, 08:27 AM

Hello jen:

The Padre knows. You're entitled to a free credit report from EACH of the three bureaus, every year. I would make seeing my report, an annual exercise.

Negative items fall off after 7 years from the date of last activity. Even IF you pay it, it STILL doesn't come off. All it will show is that you paid it (very late - I might add), and THAT doesn't help your credit score AT ALL.

You could negotiate with creditor and offer him something. If this is an OLD debt, something is better than nothing. The older the debt is, the better something looks. The only requirement you MUST make of him (in writing), is that if he accepts your offer, he must remain silent when the credit bureaus attempt to verify the debt (see the following paragraph).

Whether you negotiate with him or not, you can try to have the negative item removed. The credit bureaus are required to investigate ANY negative remark on your report, and if it CAN'T be verified within 30 days, it must be removed. I would challenge it, and keep on challenging it, until it came off.

IF that proves unsuccessful, you can put a statement of your own on the report explaining the remark - just like you did here.

excon

Kstar4u · Apr 3, 2007, 06:35 PM

Originally Posted by jenn138

8 years ago i was a co-signer on an apartment with my boyfriend. i was just about 18 or 19 yrs old. we got evicted and after establishing a residence we contacted our former landlord and started making monthly payments but never finished paying the total amount due. we never heard anything from them, nothing by the courts or collection agencies! i'm going to be looking to rent an apartment this year, i know that in the state of california they do credit as well as tenant checks on applicants. my question is, how long will that eviction be on any of my reports? is there a way to get it off without having to pay the money?

How did it go with your credit situation? I realize that you had originally asked the question back in January but I missed it then. If you were evicted and the court judgement was in the landlord's favor (whether you paid them or not) and the landlord initiated formal collection activity using a "Collection Agency" (they will normally report the debt to the three bureaus) or informal collection methods (personally called you and wrote to you) and reported the debt to the "Big Three" resulting from the "Court Judgement"... in California the prevailing party has up to TEN YEARS to pursue you on an eviction. The credit bureaus may (or may not) keep it on your record that long... you can be sure at least one of them will!