After discharge credit report errors

[memuzz]

My case was discharged in July 2012. My attorney advised me to check for errors on my credit report after the discharge was granted.
I found debts that were claims on my case still listed as negative items on my credit report that have been discharged by the court. Also, I have found major
errors on my report that are lowering my credit score. We do not have any current collection accounts and have not had any since we filed in 2006.
The negative debts are from 2006 and prior. What is strange is that there is an auto loan which I never signed for purchased a month before we filed. We did buy a car a month before we filed our case but it was from another lender. The auto loan is in the negative files. The open car loan we had before we filed was paid off as a priority claim on my case.

How do I clean up my credit reports? Do I have to submit documentation to prove that the items were listed as claims on the case?

Thanks for any help.

[forgotten]

The accounts will still be negative items, but they should be listed as Included In Bankruptcy (IIB) with a $0 amount due. You just need to dispute each item and let them know either the account is not yours or that it was IIB, whichever the case may be. No need to submit any type of documentaion unless they come back and claim the information is correct when it is not. You can dispute online with all 3 of the major credit reporting agencies.

[forgotten]

If the date of last payment is over 7 years for anything make sure to dispute it as such, as most negative items should be removed after 7 years.

[frogger]

My case was discharged in July 2012.

Patience grasshopper. Many things will clear themselves, however just as in bankruptcy, some of them take time. My advice is for you to give it 6 months, then begin the process, as many things will take care of themselves.

I would start the process in January of the coming year.

[forgotten]

Patience grasshopper. Many things will clear themselves, however just as in bankruptcy, some of them take time. My advice is for you to give it 6 months, then begin the process, as many things will take care of themselves.

I would start the process in January of the coming year.

Why wait? I would rather give them 30 days to validate than to wait 6 months and hope it clears up on their own. If they do validate the incorrect information you can sue each of them for FDCRA violations. I would rather be proactive in getting it cleaned up.
In 6 months time you can get just about everything removed... accurate or not.

Edit: Take it from someone who racked up $300k in unsecured debt and should have had horrible credit his entire life. Heck, I am in BK and my Equifax FICO is 780!

[kornellred]

I have been led to believe that Fair Isaac (FICO) is not associated with any of the three large credit reporting agencies. When you say "Equifax FICO" it appears as though the two are associated somehow. There can be only one FICO score. Correct me if I am wrong about this?

[forgotten]

I have been led to believe that Fair Isaac (FICO) is not associated with any of the three large credit reporting agencies. When you say "Equifax FICO" it appears as though the two are associated somehow. There can be only one FICO score. Correct me if I am wrong about this?

Fair Isaac score based upon my Equifax report. Your FICO score can be calculated using any of the big 3 reporting agencies reports. You technically have 3 FICO scores, depending on which report is used for the calculation.

Edit: http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/articles/

[memuzz]

Thanks for all your advice. It's still a rollercoaster ride even after the discharge! The credit agencies are working to clear up some of the errors. We just purchased a brand new car 2 weeks ago. The other car was near 100,000 miles on the engine but was still a good car. The car probably wouldn't have made it another winter. The bankruptcy is helping us reestablish credit but sensibly not going into debt. We have 2 credit cards for emergencies only. The next step is to save to purchase a home and pay that off fast and never use credit except for emergencies. Bankruptcy taught me how to use credit wisely and only as needed. Thanks again.

[frogger]

Why wait? I would rather give them 30 days to validate than to wait 6 months and hope it clears up on their own. If they do validate the incorrect information you can sue each of them for FDCRA violations. I would rather be proactive in getting it cleaned up.
In 6 months time you can get just about everything removed... accurate or not.

Why rush? A person who has just bankrupted should not be in any hurry to establish credit again. While I understand the desire/need to have the credit rating improved, it is not a subject that I will live my life around ever again.

As to getting everything removed, accurate or not? That is amusing.

Back to the credit score, I've never seen it engraved on a tombstone.........

[ksgirl38]

I pulled my credit report and on most of my accounts it says "debt included in Ch 7..." There's one that I'm questioning. We included a credit card with 1st National Bank of Omaha because on the credit report I ran it showed a $1 balance so my attorney wanted to include it just to be safe. On the credit report I just ran it shows the account was closed in April 2006. Should I just leave it or dispute it? Seems rather odd that it could be discharged if they say the account was closed with a $0 balance.

I'm also noticing that Sallie Mae is showing that I'm "Deferred, payments begin Aug 2013." I haven't contacted them to resume access online yet, but does this seem normal to anyone. My attorney told me that it wouldn't be deferred and to keep paying as normal so I have been. Also this is showing under the negative portion of my credit report, is that normal procedure?

I reaffirmed my car through Toyota and it's showing as "Discharged through Bankruptcy Chapter 7/Never late." Is this normal? I didn't think this would show as negative since I've been making the payments all along, never late and reaffirmed.

[forgotten]

ksgirl38, If the 1st Nation Bank of Omaha now shows closed with a $0 balance, but not included in bankruptcy that is a good thing. The included in bankruptcy is a negative notation that lowers your scrore. If it shows as a $1 balance still you can dispute it as incorrect balance. No clue on the student loans. For the car, that is normal. You have never been late, which is why you have the /Never late notation on it as well. The creditor has still been adversly impacted as the debt is discharged and you do not HAVE to pay it any longer.

[ValleYum]

ksgirl38, If the 1st Nation Bank of Omaha now
shows closed with a $0 balance, but not included in bankruptcy that is a good thing. The included in bankruptcy is a negative notation that lowers your scrore. If it shows as a $1 balance still you can dispute it as incorrect balance. No clue on the student loans. For the car, that is normal. You have never been late, which is why you have the /Never late notation on it as well. The creditor has still been adversly impacted as the debt is discharged and you do not HAVE to pay it any longer.

She reaffirmed. She, therefore, does have to pay off the indebtedness to Toyota.

[forgotten]

She reaffirmed. She, therefore, does have to pay off the indebtedness to Toyota.

Didn't catch that part. In that case, it would be a dispute as the debt was not discharged in bankruptcy.

I am stuck with a Included in Chapter 13 Bankruptcy/Never late on my mortgage. While it has never been late, and is paid outside the plan, they are technically correct.

[flowerchild]

Why rush? A person who has just bankrupted should not be in any hurry to establish credit again. While I understand the desire/need to have the credit rating improved, it is not a subject that I will live my life around ever again.

As to getting everything removed, accurate or not? That is amusing.

Back to the credit score, I've never seen it engraved on a tombstone.........

Why rush? Well I'm not sure how it is in your state, but in mine your credit rating has everything to do with the rates our insurance company charges us. For example, while I was in my bk, my insurance rate for my house was $2700 per year. My car insurance for a 1995 Honda was $1200 a year. I started working on cleaning up my credit about a year before my discharge. Now that I am discharged, and mind you those same accounts show on my credit report but now at zero and discharged, my home insurance is now $1650 per year! My car, which was 17 years old and on its last leg and was going to cost me about $1,000 to keep it on the road had to go.

Because I did clean up my credit I was approved for 3 different loans for 2013 model years each at no more than 2.99% (one of them wanted $5,000 down though ). The other two were zero down but from different manufacturers. So the idea that you don't need to rush is subjective in my opinion. I have no intention of getting back into debt but if I left my credit the way it was then I would have done nothing but prolong paying out more money than I needed to.

I agree though that some people want to rush right back into the same situation that got them into a bankruptcy in the first place. But I think that because of the time it may take to get your credit to at least report correctly that a person should work on it when they don't need it. Why wait until you REALLY need credit to then pay much higher rates because its still jacked up from the bk? I for one was not content on doing that because I realized how much the bad credit was hurting me. When I applied for those loans it was just shy of a week after discharge and thank goodness I did so or I would have wound up paying double digit interest along with higher insurance.

Also when they pulled my score on Equifax it was 726 and Transunion was 751 and had I not been cleaning up my credit along the way I could only imagine the shape I would have been in.

[ksgirl38]

ksgirl38, If the 1st Nation Bank of Omaha now shows closed with a $0 balance, but not included in bankruptcy that is a good thing. The included in bankruptcy is a negative notation that lowers your scrore. If it shows as a $1 balance still you can dispute it as incorrect balance. No clue on the student loans. For the car, that is normal. You have never been late, which is why you have the /Never late notation on it as well. The creditor has still been adversly impacted as the debt is discharged and you do not HAVE to pay it any longer.

I don't think you understand. The credit card from First National Bank of Omaha was closed out in 2006. On the credit report that was run before I filed it showed a $1 outstanding balance. On the credit report I ran after discharge it's showing "Discharged in Ch 7" or something like that. Would this be considered an error since there was nothing to discharge?