Florida Mortgage With Judgments 

Answer

The Florida mortgage lender must verify that court-ordered Judgments are resolved or paid off before or at closing. Or/And. Judgment is considered resolved if the Florida mortgage applicant has entered into a valid agreement with the creditor to make regular payments on the debt, the Borrower has made timely payments for at least (3) three months of scheduled payments, and the Judgment will not supersede the Florida mortgage lien.  Judgments refer to any debt or monetary liability of the Borrower and the Borrower’s spouse in a community property state, unless excluded by state law, created by a court, or other adjudicating body. 

For manually underwritten loans, regardless of the amount of outstanding Judgments, the Florida mortgage lender must also determine if the Judgment was a result of:

• The Borrower’s disregard for financial obligations; 
• The Borrower’s inability to manage debt, or
• extenuating circumstances.  

The lender must provide the following documentation:

• evidence of payment in full, if paid prior to settlement; or 
• the payoff statement, if paid at settlement; or 
• the payment arrangement with the creditor, if not paid prior to or at settlement, and a subordination agreement for any liens existing on the title.  

EXCEPTION
A Judgment is considered resolved if the Florida mortgage applicant has entered into a valid agreement with the creditor to make regular payments on the debt, the Borrower has made timely payments for at least {3} months of scheduled payments, and the Judgment will not supersede the Florida mortgage lien. The Borrower cannot prepay scheduled payments to meet the required minimum of three months of payments.  The payment amount in the agreement must be included in the Borrower’s monthly liabilities and debt.   The lender must obtain a copy of the agreement and evidence that payments were made on time in accordance with the agreement. 

What If the Judgment is Not Mine? How do I submit A Judgment dispute?

To submit a dispute to a credit reporting company, contact the credit reporting company who has the inaccurate information on your credit report. You may submit a dispute with each of the credit reporting companies over the internet or by mail.

Online:

• Equifax – https://www.equifax.com/personal/credit-report-services/credit-dispute/
• Experian – www.experian.com/acrdispute
• TransUnion – https://dispute.transunion.com

Filing a dispute

What should I do if I find judgment is inaccurate on my credit report?

Federal law allows you to dispute inaccurate information on your credit report. There is no fee for filing a dispute. You may submit your dispute to the business that provided the information to the credit reporting company and/or to the credit reporting company that included the information on your credit report.

The Federal Trade Commission’s website has information about how to dispute errors on credit reports, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s website provides additional guidance about disputing information on credit reports.

How does the dispute process work?

If you submit a dispute to a nationwide consumer credit reporting company, the company may make changes to your credit report based on the documents and information you provided. Otherwise, they will contact the business reporting the disputed information, supply them all relevant information and any documents you provide with your dispute, instruct them to investigate your dispute, and:

• Review all the information you provided about your dispute
• Verify the accuracy of the information they are reporting to the credit reporting company
• Provide the credit reporting company with a response to your dispute, including any changes to the information reported
• Update their records and systems as necessary
• The credit reporting company will then notify you of the results of the investigation

If you submit a dispute with a business, they will conduct an investigation and will send you the results of the investigation directly. They will notify the credit reporting companies of any changes that need to be made to the information as a result of the investigation.

If a dispute results in a change to your credit report, you will have up to 12 months to order a second free report through AnnualCreditReport.com in order to review the changes.