Metro 2 Special Comment Code AM: Legal Action Pending or Judgment

Specification

Code	AM
Meaning	Legal Action Pending or Judgment
Field	Special Comment (Field 31)
Record	Base Segment
Length / position	2 chars · 213–214
Category	Legal Action
CRRG reference	CRRG Exhibits 6 & 7 (Special Comment Codes)

Covers both states named in the source: an action that is pending and one that has produced a judgment.
AM is a comment about the collection posture, not a status. Account Status, balance, and delinquency history continue to report on their own terms.
AM does NOT mean the balance changed. A judgment amount and the reported Current Balance are different figures maintained for different purposes.
AM does NOT relate to a credit-reporting dispute. Disputes are carried on the Compliance Condition Code field, never here.
Report AM only where a legal action genuinely exists. A demand letter, a referral to counsel, or an internal decision to sue is not a pending action.

1A creditor files suit on a charged-off card balance and the case is docketed.
2A judgment is entered against a borrower on a defaulted installment loan and the creditor continues to furnish the tradeline.
3A lender files a deficiency action after a repossession sale leaves a shortfall.
4A commercial lender pursues a personal guarantor in court on a defaulted business obligation.

Report AM from the cycle the action is genuinely pending, and keep it while the matter is live.
Remove or replace the comment when the matter concludes and the account's condition is better described by another comment, such as a paid or closed outcome.
Do not use AM to signal a dispute. That is a different field with a different code set entirely.
Keep the underlying delinquency history accurate. A legal comment never replaces the history that produced the action.
Do not report a judgment comment on a consumer who was not a party to the action.

A file can be structurally valid and still be wrong. These are the cross-field conditions Special Comment Code AM has to satisfy.

Account Status continues to report the account's real condition, typically a charge-off or seriously delinquent status, alongside the comment.
Date of First Delinquency stays anchored to the original delinquency; a lawsuit or judgment never resets it.
Current Balance continues to reflect what the furnisher's records show is owed, independent of any judgment figure.
If the account is subsequently satisfied through the legal process, move to the comment that describes the outcome (for example AX when collateral proceeds satisfied it) and populate Date Closed with a zero Current Balance.
If a consumer on the tradeline is only an authorized user, verify the ECOA Code before attaching a legal comment to the record.