Should you begin disputing before discharge?

[krielly]

Just wondering if it makes any sense at all to obtain credit reports/scores while still in Chapter 13 (27 mos into 60 mos plan).

Are there items which you can dispute while you are in the middle of your 13?

I know for folks who have been discharged from a 13, that the balance should be "0" and say "IIB", but how should your accounts read before discharge????

Also, I've heard some people request their reports state "Wage Earner Plan" for a Chapt 13, rather than "IIB" - does Wage Earner plan look better to a potential lender, or does it make any difference at all?

What experience/advice can you offer?

PS: we recently obtained a car loan (trustee approved of course). The lender said that while our mortgage was not being reported as late, it wasn't clearly showing that we make this payment ourselves, outside of the plan.......Can we do anything to change this? Or will the lender refuse to report it differently until we are discharged?

thanks!
K

thanks
K

[stljohn]

Hi

some say wait till after discharge on the theory you need to let things "settle down". that makes no sense to me, they report regularly and are supposed to report accurately at all times and you can dispute anytime, bk irrelevent.

creditor should report iib to bureau as soon as they are informed.

"wage earner plan", "iib" same.

you need to get your reports and find out how your mortgage is reporting. either it says its in or it doesn't. lender may be talking through his hat.

weird thing: I've found some of my creditors seemed to "abandon" some bureaus years ago leaving a couple of my IIB TLs looking good and NOT IIB obviously i'll not dispute. For now. I'll have to monitor cause they could update later.

[Bandit]

I could really care less about credit reports & the only reason I finally looked at mine before was to make sure I would not miss any bills whenever I get to file.

I thought maybe there was something from years ago that I may not have paid & wanted that listed, but there is nothing.

The only reason I want to see the silly score is to see how much it changes after this is all done & over.
I also know creditors do not just look at a BK & current score but they also look at previous credit history before the BK & that is another reason I wanted to see it.

I did find it odd that my report only listed things for the past 11 years when I have had good credit since forever.

[stljohn]

"I could really care less about credit reports "

A lot of people you deal with do, including your insurance companies.

[Flamingo]

Just wondering if it makes any sense at all to obtain credit reports/scores while still in Chapter 13 (27 mos into 60 mos plan).
Are there items which you can dispute while you are in the middle of your 13?
I know for folks who have been discharged from a 13, that the balance should be "0" and say "IIB", but how should your accounts read before discharge????
Also, I've heard some people request their reports state "Wage Earner Plan" for a Chapt 13, rather than "IIB" - does Wage Earner plan look better to a potential lender, or does it make any difference at all?
What experience/advice can you offer?
PS: we recently obtained a car loan (trustee approved of course). The lender said that while our mortgage was not being reported as late, it wasn't clearly showing that we make this payment ourselves, outside of the plan.......Can we do anything to change this? Or will the lender refuse to report it differently until we are discharged?
K

Here is what we did during our 5 year Plan. About half way through (as you are) we obtained all three credit reports. They were all a mess. It took us six months to get things cleaned up and accounts not listed as being over 90 days late, etc. and showing as being included in bankruptcy. Each year thereafter we obtained our credit reports to ensure things stayed that way. They did not. Accounts that we had prior to bankruptcy that were completely paid off in full and on time and closed were now appear as being included in our bankruptcy. This was with Equifax only. It took us almost a year, even way past our dischage, to get all that cleaned up. After discharge, we we obtained a new car loan and a Visa credit card, 3 months after obtaining those we again obtained our reports. Low and behold, Equifax had those two new accounts as being included in our bankruptcy filing. More letters an disputes were in order and hopefully it has been resolved. It seems to be a continual process to keep things in order after filing so it's best to start keeping check on things in advance of discharge.

Keep an eye on Equifax. I have heard of others going through problems such as we did as I explained above. I would love to know who enters this information for them and how it is done because the accounts were and still are listed correctly with the two other agencies. No one can ever give me an explanation from Equifax.

[sandhall]

Funny Experian sorta does the same thing I had a account that was not mine listed on my report sent in dispute and proof it was not mine they removed sent me updated report. Then exactly one month later it is back on report. So i called and once again I have to send in the information. Equifax I have been waitin on two months to respond to the three letters I have mailed them with proof of a mortage that is not mine. after the new year I will look at getting a attorney to handle it. You have to stay on top of all of them.

[krielly]

Thanks guys/gals!

Still waiting to hear the answer to the question:

should those accounts state IIB and $0" balance? or just IIB, since we have not yet been discharged?

Thanks
K

[rrockinggramma]

I am getting all of mine to say IIB/zero balance. I figure that I am far enough into my chapter 13 that dismissal is not in the realm of possiblity. I will only accept discharge as a final outcome.

[emoney]

My answer is ASAP. Your FICO score affects your cost of insurance and possible employment, so why not get everthing you can by saving money on insurance and maybe a better job.
regards,
emoney

[Flamingo]

Thanks guys/gals!

Still waiting to hear the answer to the question:

should those accounts state IIB and $0" balance? or just IIB, since we have not yet been discharged?

Thanks
K

Geez we can get carried away sometimes and avoid the actual questions! Any account that you have listed in bankruptcy should be listed as such with a zero balance. There should be no charge off listed, no past due amount listed. It should state along the lines of "included in bankruptcy" or "included in Chapter 13 wage earner plan." That is what will remain even after discharge until the account is removed from your Credit Reports (7 years from date of filing for a Chapter 13; 10 for a Chapter 7).

[sandhall]

well actually they can leave the past due as long as it was before the date you filed BK like say you were 90 days past due prior to filing it can say IIB /then give past due dates

[Flamingo]

well actually they can leave the past due as long as it was before the date you filed BK like say you were 90 days past due prior to filing it can say IIB /then give past due dates

That's correct. In my posting I should have stated that the information as to bankruptcy should be listed as from date of filing to present. If you had chargeoffs or late payments prior to your date of filing, they can list those as is and you cannot get those changed. It can be a minefield to get cleaned up but unless you suspect an ID theft situation or compromise, there is no need during your BK to get your credit reports every other month or so; once a year is fine to keep an eye on them and then again several months after discharge to ensure the discharge information shows up correctly.

Merry Christmas!

[2ndChanceTx]

I started disputing my reports about 2 years into the 13 and started in the high 500's. I disputed everything as s/b IIB and zero balances and at 30 months in I am at 687/665/661 Fico's. I have somewhere between 6 - 11 months left, depending on if I try to buy out early or not. One report has two creditors that will not report as zero balances. I am not going to push that until the discharge, but expect 10-20 points when that falls off.

My goal is to be able to buy a house in the year following the discharge, and I consider the dispute/cleaning process leg work that I can do before hand...

2ndChanceTX