If we don't go to court, can we still turn over the amount due to the collection agency on this site?

You can -- but if they fight it, you have more of a burden to try to prove the debt. It's easy when you have a judgment, of course. But, yes, you can still report it if it is a valid debt even without a judgment.

- John...

1) Do you have to have an address for the deadbeat? We have several that have fled the aree, and have no idea where they might be. Some have judgements, some don't.

2) How about a SS#? We bought a multifamily several years ago, and there were no leases or apps from the previous owners (pretty slopping record keeping overall from the former owner). Two of them we have had to evict for non-payment of rent. Can we still report them?

It will be on the credit from you initial court filing.

The judgment is golden of course-- but you gatta have it to garnish.

You cannot get a judgement without evidence of personal service. When we file for non pay of rent we LOVE it when the tenant answers because now you can get a judgement on the predicate they had personnel service. Should they not answer you initial filing no judgment. Judge will not give a judgment without seeing defendant signature.

WMH why would you not go to court? How would you know if the tenant showed or not? Case could be dismissed for lack of prosecution.

Tracking down the tenant is half the fun-- even with a process server of Sheriff.

I think without going to court I would NOT report to CB.

Annie in IN if you went to court you should have at least the original file amount-- did you file under "or tenant in possession" on defendant line? Next time get all info prior to closing!!!!

myob: Note that judgments do NOT show up automatically on the credit report in all states. In some they do -- but in others you must "register" the judgment in order for that to happen. And in some others (I believe), they only make it if you use a third party (like the one offered on this site).

I just want people to realize that this varies by state/locale. It isn't automatic everywhere.

- John...

Our eviction attorney said the credit companies do not pick up judgement from court anymore because they do not want to be responsible for mistakes.

W,

We file on EVERY debt.

We're amazed how some are paid years later when they get some money, want to buy a house, or are in line to inherit something.

The money we spend on filing fees is waaay less than the odd judgments that are paid off.

BRAD

We file on everyone who is in default of the lease and follow through in court. I don't want to disagree with some here but the second I leave the courthouse clerks office my filing is recorded ON Line in the civil/criminal data base. It's free to check and goes back 20 years we use it daily. I don't even need to see a credit report- just go to court web site. Second I've run many a credit report from Jeffery's site and low and behold-- there they are not only the court fling for dispossessary case but if it's gone to a judgment the judgements and case numbers are listed next to that tenants name.

As far as worry about X tenants and Their atty-- all that is meant is if you report them-- be sure you are correct in your claim. Nothing frivioulous. John MI so register it? As I said earlier-- what good is a judgement if you don't follow it to its end? That means "perfecting it- aka proving it or Reistering it. Please remember on the initial claim- if yo have a judgement youhave already PROVED the debt to the court.

myob: No one is disagreeing with happens to happen in YOUR state or YOUR local court.

What I said was that, like many things in landlording, it varies greatly by state/location. Here in Michigan, there is no "online civil/criminal data base" to check even. At least, not without paying the state to do so.

Again, in many states, it is NOT automatically recorded. That's all people are saying. They aren't disagreeing with your local situation, of course.

And, yes, of COURSE you should register it if needed. I agree with that completely. I was just correcting your suggestion that it just happens automatically. It does for YOU maybe, but it doesn't for many others.

Some need to do nothing (like you). Some need to take action locally to register/record it. Others still need to use a 3rd party like the one offered here to get it to show up. (And lots have to do that third option if, like is being discussed in this thread, they don't actually have a legal judgment at all for various reasons, but just want to record the debt itself.)

- John...

John MI there is all sorts of liability just SAYING someone owes you. You need a court filing and follow through.

I suppose I'm having a problem with the no record thing. It's public record and is filed somewhere? I know here in GA in order to check say A B/K cases Ihave to belong to a special company that handles that-- its cheap and if you don't use the minimum a month it's FREE. Maybe look into it. When judges have defendants or plaintiffs in court he's looking at your history from BIRTH with the court.

I think you're missing the point here. The original poster here is talking about situations where they DO NOT HAVE A JUDGMENT AT ALL. They did NOT GO TO COURT.

Someone owes them a debt and they did not sue them for it. It is just a debt owed to them.

They wanted to know if they could still try to use a collection company to try to collect it. (And it shifted a bit into a discussion of if they could get it reported to a credit bureau also.)

THAT is what I was answering. I'm not suggesting that people that get a judgment not follow through and use that information, of course. But, again, that is NOT what we're talking about here really. That was all off-topic.

The main question was about what to do with a debt that was NOT FROM COURT. Therefore, all of this talk about case numbers and public records does not apply.

Sorry for the confusion.

- John...

John -- MI to answer--- sure you can put it out there if you belong to a credit company like this site supports. It has to be legit of course and based on the contract --- allowed billing.

John my point is without a civil action what have you got? I guess you could threaten garnishment or court action but if a LL is serious about collecting-- civil suit is first step.

myob: I tend to agree with you (that civil suit makes sense in most cases) -- but that simply wasn't the question asked here. For whatever reason, a lawsuit didn't make sense for him. That happens sometimes.

Note that we almost always also send a payment plan if a debt is owed. For us, it has worked out well several times.

We have actually never had to sue a tenant outside of eviction court. For us, it is one and the same -- an order for possession and a money judgment (provided that we could serve them personally). But, I understand that that is not always possible (sometimes, people are very difficult to serve in person -- as mentioned above). In those cases, you sometimes have a debt that is simply not easy to get a civil judgment for.

- John...

John/MI, you are right in your corrections. We did not file a civil suit on these now-departed tenants. We sent them a bill for damages and offered a payment plan. I'm waiting to hear back, I suspect I won't and I'm pretty sure one of them is leaving the state. So my original question was: can I file the damage debt with the collection agency on this site if it is not a formal court judgment?

I believe that to be correct, yes.

If they get smart and try to fight it, then you can sometimes have trouble trying to prove it. As I said, much easier to "prove" a debt with a civil judgment, of course. :) But, we don't always have that.

- John...

Laura: Sounds good -- except that I find that if I'm having to evict them and need a money judgment -- it is often because they aren't at work any more. :)

- John...