Bankruptcy & Charge-Off's

[ColSandurz2]

I've done a bit of reading (see below for some of the links, including the Lovern and McCorkell letters), but am still unsure as to whether a creditor can list a discharged debt as charged off (or even late after the date of filing).

I filed my bankruptcy on 2/28/13, and it was discharged on 6/14/13. According to my most recent credit reports (pulled just a few days), one of my creditors shows my debt as included in bankruptcy (IIB), but also shows me as 30 days late as of February, 60 days late as of March, No Data in April, and then the debt Charged Off (CO) in May. Is any of this allowed? If not, what can I do to fix it? Thanks!

UPDATE: I just looked, and I have a credit report that I ran for Experian on 8/6/2013 (well after my discharge date) that shows 30 days late in February, and then closed in March and April (and no data beyond that) - but the much more recent credit report from Experian shows what I mentioned above. Obviously, it would appear that Valley National and/or Experian made changes after the discharge date, but can I do anything about this?


Some of the things I've read that might be relevant:
Unfortunately, this forum won't allow me to post links without a higher post count (not sure why that would matter), so I can't post the links here. However, if you go to cred!tboards <dot> com forum (obviously spell that word right though since this forum also seems to replace it with their own name if I spell it out fully - very annoying) and look for my posts there as ColSandurz, you will find this same post with the links.

[ColSandurz2]

Can anyone advise or help me regarding this??

Here's the creditor's latest response to some letters I've sent them: "please be advised that we have reported the account properly in accordance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act §623 Responsibilities Of Furnishers Of Information To Consumer Reporting Agencies [15 U.S.C. §1681s-2] (a) Duty of Furnishers of Information to Provide Accurate Information. This section generally states that the "furnisher of information", Valley National Bank, must not furnish inaccurate information to the consumer reporting agency. Therefore, as the above noted account was past due in payment, you did file for bankruptcy protection and we did charge off the account, we are reporting the account properly to the credit bureaus."

However, as previously stated in my UPDATE to my initial post, they definitely didn't report this information until well after the BK was discharged. While they might have charged it off, I still thought that negative reporting (which certainly the 60 days late is and I think the charge off is also) was not allowed after a BK was filed??

Any thoughts or advice? Thanks!

[LadyInTheRed]

My understanding is that they should not be reporting any delinquencies or charge offs after the date you filed BK. If you filed on February 28 and they reported the 30 day later before February 28, then that reporting is okay. The March late payment and May charge off should be removed. Have you tried filing a dispute with the credit agency instead of the creditor?

[I]Unfortunately, this forum won't allow me to post links without a higher post count (not sure why that would matter),

That is to prevent people from joining the forum and spamming the board with links to their own websites or to malicious code. If a spammer can't post links, they aren't likely to stick around to make enough posts to be able to post links. If they try, the nature of their posts usually tip off the moderators to their motives so we can stop the spamming before it starts. If you want to post links, you could use your experience going through bankruptcy to help answer the questions of others who are where you were in early 2013.

[ColSandurz2]

My understanding is that they should not be reporting any delinquencies or charge offs after the date you filed BK. If you filed on February 28 and they reported the 30 day later before February 28, then that reporting is okay. The March late payment and May charge off should be removed. Have you tried filing a dispute with the credit agency instead of the creditor?

Yup - they basically said that the creditor/furnisher confirmed the reporting so that was the end of their responsibility - that's when I started writing letters to Valley National Bank, but that hasn't gotten me anywhere. Is there any specific rules/regulations/laws or anything that I can reference in my communication with the creditor/furnisher? It seems like they are basically telling me that they aren't going to do anything and at this point it seems like my only choices are to either hire a BK attorney or find some specific rule/law that requires them to remove the information. Thanks!

That is to prevent people from joining the forum and spamming the board with links to their own websites or to malicious code. If a spammer can't post links, they aren't likely to stick around to make enough posts to be able to post links. If they try, the nature of their posts usually tip off the moderators to their motives so we can stop the spamming before it starts. If you want to post links, you could use your experience going through bankruptcy to help answer the questions of others who are where you were in early 2013.

Will do - thanks!

[LadyInTheRed]

The Fair Reporting and Credit Act is at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/sites/de...orting-act.pdf

I don't think the laws are really clear on these kinds of details. It may take some case law research. Or you can try using the logic that as of the date you filed your bk, you were no longer required to make payments, so you couldn't possible be delinquent after that. If you haven't already, try a letter like the one suggested in the last post at http://www.avvo.com/legal-answers/la...--1681664.html

Here's some tips from Nolo that might help: http://www.nolo.com/legal-encycloped...t-what-do.html

It may be time to talk to a BK attorney who likes to sue creditors for violations of the FRCA. Maybe this guy knows somebody in New Jersey that can help you: http://robertweed.com/2011/11/25/you...-get-it-right/ Note, I just found this article in a Google search. I know nothing about the guy other than what is in the article.