Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

Re: How do I find out if a Judgment against me allows the accrual of interest?

Judgments have interest at 10% but it is simple, not compound.

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Re: How do I find out if a Judgment against me allows the accrual of interest?

In California all state court judgments accrue interest at the simple rate of 10% per annum, so if you have a judgment against you, and it is still valid, it will continue to accrue interest at that rate until paid.

In California, judgments are only valid for 10 years, and can be renewed for additional periods of 10 years indefinitely. All that is required to renew the judgment is for the creditor to fill out a couple of forms, serve them on the judgment debtor (you in this case), and file them with the court. If your judgment is getting close to being 10 years old, and you haven't received anything in the mail, you should check with the court that issued the original judgment to see if it has been renewed (you will need to know what court, and the case number - if you don't know the case number, you may need to have someone here in California check the plaintiff/defendant index at the court to get that information).

If the judgment is older than 10 years, and has not been renewed, you don't owe the creditor (the collection agency in this case) anything, and the creditor will not be able to collect the judgment. Don't ask the attorney about a renewed judgment, just check with the court.

If the judgment expires, without being renewed, your credit report may still show it's existence for some additional amount of time (perhaps 7 years in most cases).

If the judgment has not expired, or has been renewed, hiring a lawyer probably won't do you much good. Your judgment creditor is under no legal obligation to accept anything less than the full amount that is owed. If you can't afford to pay the full amount, you may have to make payment until the amount is paid, if you want to clean up your credit.