Eviction on Credit Report

The actual eviction does not show up in the body of a credit bureau credit report. If a judgement for nonpayment is granted for unpaid rent or other cause, that judgement appears on the credit report under public records. The actual eviction will not. However, most landlords now use third party agencies to obtain the credit bureau credit information and combine it with court records(public information about filings, not just judgements.) Those 3rd party reports often include followup with former landlords. Thus the disclosure of evictions.

If you were evicted, and the account was turned over to a collection agency; that collection account would show on your credit bureau report for 7 years from its' date of last activity (possibly longer). If a judgment was granted against you, that item would show for 7 years from the date the judgment was filed. It is possible to have both a "trade line" listing of the collection account and a judgment listed in the public records portion of your credit report. These entries would have different statute of limitations.

Once a legal action has been granted against you, that item continues in public records in the jurisdiction it was filed in. The statute of limitations for it reporting on your credit report applies only to the length of time it is shown on your credit, not its existence.

There are other databases which are often accessed by rental agencies and potential landlords. Called "tenant screening agencies", these companies maintain different files on renters and may have records of evictions. You would have to search applicable state law to find out what the statute of limitations is on information appearing in that database. They are not covered under the regulations of the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

This link will provide with a free e book that will explain how to improve your credit score, contact information for the credit bureaus and how to obtain a credit report.

http://confidentlifestyle.com/Documents/fix%20credit.pdf

Good luck and best wishes. 

Yes it does stay on your record

There are two basic situations, first if you believe the credit report is wrong then you can dispute it and the Credit Bureaus will be forced to verify the Judgment. 

The Second situation is that you have the Judgment even though you paid or cured the default with the Landlord.  You can contact the court to verify the Plaintiff and contact them directly.  If the Judgment is incorrect the Landlord can have it removed.  If you owe money offer to pay a settlement amount to get the Landlord to Dismiss the action.

Hope this helps

Answer: From reading your brief question you state this "happened years ago". So there is not much if anything you can do to contest it at this point

Each state and or counties have a certain amount of time you can appeal or contest depending on what the incident is.

That is to prevent some one from coming back years later such as yourself, the landlord may have sold the building, or converted it to condos, or any number of things. So there has to be a statute of limitations and liability.

Otherwise some one could wait 30 years to ask the court to reopen an eviction case and say they were wronged. The time to have done this was when you received the eviction notice or shortly there after.

When I was single back in the early 70's and an airline flight attendant, we had 4 girls in one apartment, and I was on the lease. I left the apartment before the lease ended to get married, leave the airlines and move to another state.

The landlord would not let me off the lease, or put any of them on,  but the other women said they would pay it and stay there until the lease ended.

They apparently did not pay the lease payment and were 2 months later. I never knew any of this, because I did move to another state, marry,  and left the airlines. A lot of my mail or certified mail never caught up with me.

Now, two years later ,we go to a realtor to buy a house. She prequalifies us with her mortgaqe lender and they deny us a mortgage.  We were in shock.  We both made good salaries, had savings in the bank, and were never late.

What was the problem, ME. I don;t remember exactly what the landlord did, it was so long ago, but what ever action he did take was harsh, because I was the sole person on the lease,I had to live with this on my credit report for 7 years.

We had to assume an FHA mortgage, for a townhome we really were not interested in, but we did not want to pay rent any longer, we wanted to own our home, so we had a tax break and the value would go up.

Well, 3 years later, as many couples, our income was much higher, we had a child, and wanted a single family home. Being busy, we totally forgot about the credit report, and our townhome sold in ONE day.

Now, we had a check at settlement for  $90,000, comprised of what we originally put down to assume the FHA mortgage which was about $55,000 and the profit/gains of $35,000 made in 3 years as the costs of homes went up.

Totally forgetting the black mark on my credit rating due to this "eviction", and we used a different realtor, we again were surprised when we were denied a conventional mortgage.

Now finding a larger home with an FHA mortgage was impossible.  We finally went the no doc mortgage route 20 years ago, meaning we put one third down to get this home.  I had inherited some money the previous year and took that out of the bank.

In a no doc mortgage which is rare now, because so many people have defaulted on them in the last few years and just walked away from their homes, and let them be foreclosed, you have to prove you did NOT borrow any of the money to put down on this new mortgage.

That was easy, because the realtor who sold our home, was at our settlement with us, and the new buyer. She had all the paperwork.  And my lawyer and bank had all the paperwork on my inheritance.

On a no doc, it is usually approved in less then a week. They do NO credit check. I guess 20 years ago they felt anyone who put one third in cash down on a new home was not going to walk away from it.  We still live here, and our home has more then doubled in value.

It still bothered me that we had to put $150,000 in cold cash down, one third of the sales price of $450,000, which was a nice home in 1989 for that price. But that is the ONLY way we could get a mortgage.

All because the landlord evicted my former roommates and my name was still on the lease.  I was young and naive and never should have trusted them. I consulted a lawyer about this and he said, you were in the wrong, and now you are going to have a low credit score for 7 years.

Mortgages are harder to get then most any other type of loan or credit. And now with banks in trouble, and  home foreclosures at a record high, mortgage companies are not making those "iffy" loans to anyone, regardless of marginal credit rathings, that they did from 2000 to 2005 when real estate was going crazy .Those days are over............

Now days it is easy to check your credit report and see what is on it. Anyone can pay a small fee and get their FICO report that shows your credit rating score. Just go on line and google credit reports.

You might as well find out the good news or the bad news on your credit report BEFORE you go to a realtor and/or mortgage company. and be upfront with your realtor. 

up. When you get denied for a credit card or a mortgage or an auto loan, or any type of loan, by Federal Law they have to tell you why and you can request a free copy of your credit report

While the other answers were helpful, it se

What can be done about zombie debts? 15 years ago I encured some debt to buy a used motor home. it was destroyed by fire 2 years later. I continued making payments for 5 years,then fell on hard times and could not make it any more. The debt has been sold to various collection agencies for 10 years now and they keep on calling and mailing bills. 

As a former landlord, any eviction history would make me think twice about renting to you.

  If you can talk with the owner directly, and explain the situation, I think that would be helpful.