Bankruptcies, liens, and judgments are public records that help uncover civil court filings on individuals during the credit review process.
Changes have been made to the public records that appear on consumer credit reports. Bankruptcy data is still shown, but liens and judgments are “negative records” that have been mostly removed from credit reports. Bankruptcies, liens, and judgment data give additional insight to reduce risk and see a more complete credit profile.
Consumers with a bankruptcy, lien, or judgment record on file are almost 2x more likely to default on a debt obligation than those without one!
Bankruptcy search records indicate whether a potential customer or client has ever filed and been approved for bankruptcy within the United States, Puerto Rico, and Guam. This can help determine the risk of providing that individual with a loan or financing solution.
A great bankruptcy tool offers the ability to search by both Individual and business, TaxID/SSN, address.
The filing report will show information such as: filing state, court location, filing type, liability amount, assets, and more.
A civil judgment is when a creditor sues for an outstanding debt and wins. An outstanding debt can include not paying child support.
Following the case, the creditor will have new means for pursuing payment, including seizing funds from checking or savings accounts. Judgments can impact consumers' abilities to qualify for a loan or credit and therefore should be considered in addition to consumers' credit profiles.
The IRS can file a tax lien against those who fail to pay their taxes. It is automatically filed when someone owes more than $10,000. A tax lien allows the IRS to take any payment received when assets are sold or liquidated. As with civil judgments, liens are no longer shown on consumer credit reports. However, being in a tax lien situation can negatively impact your finances, which can greatly reduce the consumer's ability to pay back the loan.
Soft Pull Solutions’ uses enhanced algorithms paid with a database of bankruptcies, liens, and judgments to help your business identify the risk associated with lending to any given individual.