Is there any way to get a PAID judgement removed?

Because of the change, earlier this year, in how the IRS is handling tax liens you will be able to have the paid IRS tax lien tradeline removed from your credit reports. Instead of disputing them with the credit reporting agencies (CRA's) you will have to file a form with the IRS. The IRS will be the ones that will file the withdrawal forms.

Fill out Form 12277 in the following link. In line 8 you would check off the d. option.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f12277.pdf

You will have to send it to the Technical Services Advisory Group Manager for your region. You will be able to find the address for that IRS office for your region in the following link

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4235.pdf

You can go to the site I've posted in the source box and look in the Credit Forum. In the stickies (at the top of the first page) there is a thread concerning this. There is also a sample letter template, and other info that will be helpful, that can be used when sending the Form 12277 to the IRS. Everything on that site is free to read, use and to ask any questions you may have.

As for your civil judgment from Providian, if it is reporting incorrectly then you can dispute it and have it removed. If it's still reporting with a balance then it is reporting incorrectly. If there is "anything" in how it is reporting that is different then how the recorded judgment reads then it would be reporting incorrectly. You would have to go to the county court clerk and get a copy of the recorded judgment and compare it to your credit reports. DO NOT send the CRA's anything saying that it is paid. Doing that will only cement it to your reports. If it is reporting incorrectly then the best thing to do is to dispute the inaccuracy. The only ones that can verify the dispute is the courts and they do not verify "anything" with the CRA's.

While you're on the site I've listed in the source box then you should do some research on disputing judgments. You will be able to find a step by step guide in doing that. Again, it's a free site to use or ask questions on.

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The collection law firm may have sewer served you because they knew that was probably the only way they could have won with filing suit over a Providian account. You may have been able to have the judgment vacated for lack of service, though it is probably too late at this point since there is a limited time to file that motion once you are aware of a judgment against you and you had paid it in 5/09. But you may still have a good chance of having it removed from your reports.

To finish answering your questions..

A judgment is definitely not great on a report, though a paid judgment is better than an unpaid one and loan officers do take that into account. But having the judgment and federal tax lien on your reports at the same time are hurting you even though they are paid, plus if they are only a couple years old then they are basically new too. More than likely the car loan you got has a higher rate than one you would have had if you had no judgments or only one paid judgment reporting. When/if you get them removed then you should definitely consider doing a refi on that loan.

Payment in full is not a reason to have it removed, and may make it more difficult to have it removed. If you wish to have it removed, then you must (in this order): 1. Determine which court issued the judgment. 2. Petition that court (not the collection agency or the credit bureau) to vacate the judgment on the grounds that you were never served. 3. If the court grants your motion and vacates the judgment, then tell the credit reporting agency (the credit bureau, not the collection agency or the court) to remove the judgment from your credit report because it has been vacated by the court.