credit report disputes

[freshstart3]

Hi,
I did a search but didn't find matching threads regarding this. My Ch 7 Bankruptcy was discharged in 2004, followed by a foreclosure Feb, 2007. (was in a very bad personal and financial situation) The personal bankruptcy should have stopped reporting after seven years. I see that Amex has just renewed the "bankruptcy" reporting in 2011 (I don't think they're supposed to do that, but they did!) The foreclosure still shows I owe the bank $180,000.00 but it was real-estate owned property and was sold in the foreclosure.

Any credit repair companies you recommend to clean up the reporting? Any suggestions about the fastest, easiest way to get credit report corrected? If all the information were accurate, my credit report would be a lot better. Just got a good new job and really want to fix this, and get on the right track.


Thanks so much for any advice, recommendations!
FreshStart3

[IBroke]

Hi,
I did a search but didn't find matching threads regarding this. My Ch 7 Bankruptcy was discharged in 2004, followed by a foreclosure Feb, 2007. (was in a very bad personal and financial situation) The personal bankruptcy should have stopped reporting after seven years.

Hi freshstart3!

I just wanted to let you know that a CH7 is going to stay on your report for 10 years from the filing date on - not 7 years like a CH13.

If the Amex-account was one of your derogatory accounts and included in your BK-filing, it should have been dropped of your report 7.5 years after filing - perhaps even earlier depending on when you missed stopped making payments. The foreclosure is supposed to drop off your report by Feb. 2014.

So far, I only see the Amex-account as a wrong reporting. I'd send them a certified mail with return receipt, telling them to remove the account in question because the DOFD (date of first delinquency) was more than 7.5 years ago.

[freshstart3]

thank you!

Thank you for the reply!
I will pull the credit report from all three bureaus and start to work on this now, getting reporting corrected. Then by Feb, 2014, with the foreclosure no longer being reported, credit finally should be decent again. Filing BK has long term consequences, unfortunately, but I know for many in similar situations it was a necessary choice to file. And hopefully, after so many years, I will be finally able to put all of this behind me.

Hi freshstart3!

I just wanted to let you know that a CH7 is going to stay on your report for 10 years from the filing date on - not 7 years like a CH13.

If the Amex-account was one of your derogatory accounts and included in your BK-filing, it should have been dropped of your report 7.5 years after filing - perhaps even earlier depending on when you missed stopped making payments. The foreclosure is supposed to drop off your report by Feb. 2014.

So far, I only see the Amex-account as a wrong reporting. I'd send them a certified mail with return receipt, telling them to remove the account in question because the DOFD (date of first delinquency) was more than 7.5 years ago.

[tobee43]

it should be noted that while a chapter 7 stays on your report for 10 years a 13 may well only stay for 7, but does that include the time one is actually paying into the 13?

i have challenged the reporting agencies myself and had no problems getting the items removed. (although some closed accounts got back on there i just ordered another copy of all the reports this week).

you can do it on line i believe still. but i would still do what IBroke suggests and write the company directly as well.

[freshstart3]

Challenging Reports

it should be noted that while a chapter 7 stays on your report for 10 years a 13 may well only stay for 7, but does that include the time one is actually paying into the 13?

i have challenged the reporting agencies myself and had no problems getting the items removed. (although some closed accounts got back on there i just ordered another copy of all the reports this week).

you can do it on line i believe still. but i would still do what IBroke suggests and write the company directly as well.

When you challenged the reports, did you also provide copies of Discharge of Debt? It has been so long, I don't have the court papers any longer. If needed I should be able to request from the court, but will involve some time and expense.

[Pjmax]

I usually try the online dispute with the CRAs method first, although many recommend by mail. I've had good luck with that. If items come back verified, then I send letters to the creditors, and/or the CRAs. I don't send any docs unless it is requested. I had a dismissed judgement that one CRA wouldn't remove, I called them (EQ I think) explained the situation and was told to mail the order of dismissal. I asked if I could fax it, answer was yes. It was removed in a few days.

One thing to keep in mind, often the creditors send in the correct info, but the CRAs interpret the codes sometimes whimsically.

I don't have experience with forclosures, but that Amex account looks wrong. I believe reinsertion past the reporting time is a violation of something. Anyway, The fastest, most simple route is to dispute this online (with the CRAs) as obsolete. If it comes back verified, then send letters.

The forums on MyFico are an excellent resource for report-fixing help, in addition to the great help here of course.

[tobee43]

When you challenged the reports, did you also provide copies of Discharge of Debt? It has been so long, I don't have the court papers any longer. If needed I should be able to request from the court, but will involve some time and expense.

no, i put the burden on them. the bk dates speaks for itself and any debt showing within that time frame shouldn't be questionable. i was a bit more direct and said basically remove these or else.

*** just a note to those reading this thread, when you receive copies of your discharge and close orders it's always good to scan them right into your computer and also save them to disk or online service. if you did everything by computer it's wise to get hard copies anyway, well worth it if they want a fee. ours just came via regular mail. this way these important documents are always at your finger tips. i know high sight is well basically blind, however, i can't tell you how many times i had to refer back to those documents for one reason or another.

i think the same Pj, i would think they should be off and hopefully the agency will cooperative. i actually always or thus far found them to be once you challenge them.

[Pjmax]

no, i put the burden on them. the bk dates speak for itself and any debt showing within that time frame shouldn't be questionable. i was a bit more direct and said basically remove these or else.

*** just a note to those reading this thread, when you receive copies of your discharge and close orders it's always good to scan them right into your computer and also save them to disk or online service. if you did everything by computer it's wise to get hard copies anyway, well worth it if they want a fee. ours just came via regular mail. this way these important documents are always at your finger tips. i know high sight is well basically blind, however, i can't tell you how many times i had to refer back to those documents for one reason or another.

i think the same Pj, i would think they should be off and hopefully the agency will cooperative. i actually always or thus far found them to be once you challenge them.

Definitely save those copies!! I have all hard copies from my attorney, and downloaded and saved all PDF files from Pacer, on hard drive and DVD, then printed out those too, just in case!

[IBroke]

I believe reinsertion past the reporting time is a violation of something.

Yup! It's a violation of the FCRA (Fair Credit Reporting Act) which states that accounts/debts have to be removed 7 1/2 years after the DOFD (date of first delinquency).

This is helping me in my quest on credit-repair, too. Although I filed for BK less than 3 years ago, my final derogatory tradeline will be removed a year from now since my debt is quite old. It's even more extreme in my mum's case: She filed in March and the majority of her bad accounts will be gone in January - including the second mortgage.

[tobee43]

IBroke, right, that happened to us as well, we saw many slowly drop off. it's funny we have exactly (from our last copies) had 43 pages on our credit report. 1 page of bad and 42 of all good. the bk looks out of place. my credit cards were never over 30 days reported because we paid right up until we filed on purpose for just that reason. or let me put that just a bit differently, we were advised to stop payments but i continued until the last minutes thereby not giving the creditor an opportunity to report any late payments. it was worth the money since we are already in the 700's, even with the bk.

[IBroke]

it should be noted that while a chapter 7 stays on your report for 10 years a 13 may well only stay for 7, but does that include the time one is actually paying into the 13?

Yes, it does.

It is done so as some kind of "reward":

A chapter 7 bankruptcy filing remains on your credit report for 10 years. Chapter 13 bankruptcy remains for seven years. Under chapter 13 bankruptcy you repay at least a portion of the debt, so it is removed a little sooner.

http://www.experian.com/ask-experian...-10-years.html

[IBroke]

it was worth the money since we are already in the 700's, even with the bk.

THIS is what many people wrongfully believe to be impossible - although it certainly isn't. As you can see in my signature, my current scores are not very good. That is still the result of my high number of derogatory accounts on file and my relatively high credit utilization on my low balance credit cards. However, the MyFICO score-simulator based on my current equifax-score predicts a jump from currently 626 to 696-736 if I would pay off my current revolving debt over the next month. The "Best Action" (paying off 90-100% of my debt over the next 24 months) gets me into a predicted range of 736-776. So the potential is certainly there - even with a BK on file.

I find that quite amazing and I'm not even sure that the MyFICO simulator has the ability to predit the impact of the accounts that would drop off until then - but I will have to investigate that a bit further...

[tobee43]

for me i'd rather have taken the 10 year hit LOL!! it was better than the 13 for us, anyway. i know for many in their stage of life a 13 is much better. i think it depends on each individual situation as to which road to walk and of course what works best for them.