Where are the facts, Equifax?!!

[HakunaMatata]

[BobMango]

Hmm, my reaffirmed vehicle loan status shows "Reaffirmation of debt/Never late."

This is no payment history reporting either pre or post bankruptcy. I'm guessing they will start reporting payments after discharge, but since that just happened last week I'll have to wait a bit.

[StartingOver08]

Since the TL is not reporting correctly, send a dispute to the OC to have them make the corrections. You have multiple inaccuracies in your report based on your post. List each one in your dispute so the OC can fix them all.

[whipster1]

It is a long, hard road, especially for CU reporting. I am going to reopen my case and file an adversary against a little local CU that has no clue about BK law.

[HakunaMatata]

My gosh, this is all so new to me! I'm reviewing 50+ pages of credit and I don't know what everything means! Rather pathetic, I must admit. Well, I must make the best of it...my credit finally tanked and I have an opportunity for knowledge.

Bob -It's good to know how my report should appear vs. its current status! BTW, congrats on your discharge!!

StartingOver -Would it be improper to verbally inquire with my CU? I'm honestly considering rescinding my reaffirmation and I have limited time (again, credit isn't a big factor in this potential decision). I never achieved certainty on a possible ride-through and I'd like to table the option.

Whipster -Alright, what's the deal with CUs and reporting? I've read horror stories about BK issues (thankfully, I didn't experience anything negative). Is it worth my time to fight for accurate reporting? Is the CU obligated to reflect my loan as reaffirmed instead of iib? Why would they report delinquencies when the loan has never been late (let me note: my payments throughout my BK were automatically deducted!)? And...where the heck are they getting a November date when I filed in September? My reaffirmation was submitted in December...is this somehow related?

Will someone please explain EquiNOTfax's "date of first delinquency" and "date major delinquency first reported"? They seem basic; however, I'm confused based off the report stating I was late in September (first delinquency) when I had submitted payment and the major delinquency reflects October (one month post-filing). Are they allowed to report such post-filing?

Thanks!!

[tigergem]

I hope this helps you:

Commentary to the Fair Credit Reporting Act makes clear that a debt discharged in bankruptcy must be listed as having a 0 balance. FTC OSC section 607, item 6 states: "A consumer report may include an account that was discharged in bankruptcy (as well as the bankruptcy itself), as long as it reports a zero balance due to reflect the fact that the consumer is no longer liable for the discharged debt."

[HakunaMatata]

Thanks Tigergem! Thankfully, my discharged debts have zero balances. (At least there is ONE fact in this Equifax mess! ). I'm frustrated my reaffirmed auto loan is reflecting a zero balance as well.

I don't understand the deliquency reporting. I thought delinquencies can't reported post-filing. If I filed in September, shouldn't this be the last reported date? I only missed early September credit card payments and most of my former creditors (aww...it feels so good to say FORMER!) are showing first delinquency and major delinquency as September (rightfully so, I think). Why do the others have to ruin the party especially when I paid one creditor up to filing and reaffirmed my stupid "I've made double payments because of the BK misinformation you've given me" auto loan!!

Ha...and here's another "fact"...Citi is showing that I still have a card with $10k available credit (almost matches the debt I discharged with them on other cards). Hmm...maybe I should charge credit repair services?!

Ugh. This is ridiculous!! What logic/math-challenged moron came up with these scoring and reporting methods??!!

[tigergem]

I don't know. You have me looking into this now too. All of my accounts are *poof* gone off my credit reports except one, that is a collection agency for a hospital creditor that has also filed a proof of claim. This is just showing up like a regular collection account, so is a violation of the stay as I am understanding it.

Do you feel that the entries on your credit report constitute a violation of the stay? i.e. an attempt to collect a debt? Or simply improperly reported? I think that would be the determining factor of the correct action to take.

[Flamingo]

I need to warn you you could be disputing items for quite a while so you need to be patient. First, it is always best to wait about 3 or so months after a BK discharge for all creditors to have time to update their reports. Since you've already started, you are encountering items that may have been changed over the coming weeks but then again may not be. Know that any late payments or charge offs prior to your filing date will still appear (although some creditors may eliminate them - there is no guarantee). Anythinng that was included in your bankruptcy should end up showing as such with a zero balance but your late payments or charge offs prior to the filing date may remain. You can dispute from here to the moon but anything prior to your filing date will remain.

If you have a lot of creditors, be prepared for items that you have corrected to occassionally change back to incorrect information. It took us almost two years after discharge to finally get everything reported correctly and then just a few months after that and all that work the BK was taken off our reports as we hit the seven year mark after filing our Chapter 13. It was a mess, it was not easy (cleaning up those reports) so be patient, take your time and you may find you will have to contact your creditors directly to get incorrect information changed.

Best of luck to you...

[Flamingo]

I don't know. You have me looking into this now too. All of my accounts are *poof* gone off my credit reports except one, that is a collection agency for a hospital creditor that has also filed a proof of claim. This is just showing up like a regular collection account, so is a violation of the stay as I am understanding it.

Do you feel that the entries on your credit report constitute a violation of the stay? i.e. an attempt to collect a debt? Or simply improperly reported? I think that would be the determining factor of the correct action to take.

That's because you disputed the accounts that went "poof." They will reappear shortly.

[tigergem]

That's because you disputed the accounts that went "poof." They will reappear shortly.

Ok. If you say so. But I haven't disputed anything in the past 12 months. And there were entries on there two months ago when I filed. Now there aren't. So...how did you arrive at that conclusion?

[HakunaMatata]

Tigergem, this is a case of improper reporting. I wish these reports would go "poof"!! At the very least, I'd like accuracy.

Flamingo, thank you for the warning and patience reminder! I may have initiated this process too quickly. Due to the timing of my filing, I was current on all debts with the exception of my mortgage and two cards (only two weeks late). I suppose I'm most frustrated about my reaffirmed auto loan. I was hoping for a positive tradeline; and, the unwarranted delinquencies are disturbing. I only have a handful of creditors wrapped up in this and I'm baffled that the one who never received a late payment is reporting delinquencies.

[Flamingo]

Ok. If you say so. But I haven't disputed anything in the past 12 months. And there were entries on there two months ago when I filed. Now there aren't. So...how did you arrive at that conclusion?

Disputed items on your credit reports disappear off your credit reports while the dispute is investigated. They reappear either corrected or verified they were correct to begin with. You mentioned items went "poof" with no further info so I assumed you disputed those items.

[Flamingo]

Tigergem, this is a case of improper reporting. I wish these reports would go "poof"!! At the very least, I'd like accuracy.

Flamingo, thank you for the warning and patience reminder! I may have initiated this process too quickly. Due to the timing of my filing, I was current on all debts with the exception of my mortgage and two cards (only two weeks late). I suppose I'm most frustrated about my reaffirmed auto loan. I was hoping for a positive tradeline; and, the unwarranted delinquencies are disturbing. I only have a handful of creditors wrapped up in this and I'm baffled that the one who never received a late payment is reporting delinquencies.

I will tell you we had a terrible time with the "delinquency" issue you mention also. Dates 3 years after our filing were showing up as "date first delinquency was reported!" And that issue did not appear until after we were discharged. We did get it all resolved but as I stated, you need the patience of a saint, keep good records while disputing and if necessary, contact the creditor directly.

We came to the conclusion that the CRAs are overwhelmed and have people that input information that either don't know what they are doing, don't care or can't read.

[tigergem]

Disputed items on your credit reports disappear off your credit reports while the dispute is investigated. They reappear either corrected or verified they were correct to begin with. You mentioned items went "poof" with no further info so I assumed you disputed those items.

I know that is what everybody "says", but even when I was actually disputing information, I never saw any of it disappear and reappear like that. It also didn't get corrected, but whatever... now it is all gone.

I am a little upset that Bank of America is showing my itty bitty secured credit card as "included in bankrupcty" when it wasn't. I had a perfect payment record while the account was open. Only a $300 limit. But it was closed immediately upon my filing, because, you know, you aren't allowed to have any credit cards open in a 13. They sent me a nice "Letter of Credit" and a refund of the amount from my security account. And now they are showing it as IIB, which it never was. They aren't even listed as a creditor on my schedules. So how can they report as IIB?