Wife's Credit Report Joint Accounts

[apathetic]

Hello all. I took the plunge and filed on July 8th, Chapter 7. My 341 is on 8/4/2011.

My question is, I am filing an individual bankruptcy, and my wife and I have 2 joint accounts, a personal loan, only $2,000 left, and a car, which I am reaffirming.

My lawyer has already prepared me that my wife's report will have to be cleaned up because these two accounts will be listed as "included in bankruptcy" on her report.
Does anyone know the timeframe for when I should start to show up on her report and I should start the the disputes? Should I keep my eye on my credit report and when the accounts are listed as bankruptcy on mine take steps to clean up hers?

Thanks for any help.

[DebtHater]

I would wait at least a month after discharge to start tackling the credit reports.

Now regarding the two "joint" accounts. Are you joint accounts the personal loan and the car? If so are you just looking to BK the $2K since you're reaffirming the car?

Did the lawyer tell you her liability after you file? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a lawyer but as far as contractual law goes if the accounts are in both your names as signers and only you file BK, she will still be liable for the debt. This was a deciding factor in my BK as my wife and I had joint accounts where we are named on the account. If I filed and the debt was BK in my name she would have been still liable. If this is the case then the accounts should be IIB on your report but still report on hers as active with a comment that the joint holder filed.

If she is only an authorized user on the account then it should come off her credit report completely and a simple dispute with the credit reporting agency will correct that.

[apathetic]

I would wait at least a month after discharge to start tackling the credit reports.

Now regarding the two "joint" accounts. Are you joint accounts the personal loan and the car? If so are you just looking to BK the $2K since you're reaffirming the car?

Did the lawyer tell you her liability after you file? Don't get me wrong, I'm not a lawyer but as far as contractual law goes if the accounts are in both your names as signers and only you file BK, she will still be liable for the debt. This was a deciding factor in my BK as my wife and I had joint accounts where we are named on the account. If I filed and the debt was BK in my name she would have been still liable. If this is the case then the accounts should be IIB on your report but still report on hers as active with a comment that the joint holder filed.

If she is only an authorized user on the account then it should come off her credit report completely and a simple dispute with the credit reporting agency will correct that.

Thanks for the response. I should clarify. I will be continuing to pay the car as well as the personal loan.

My issue is that my lawyer informed me even though they are both current and paid, being included in my bankruptcy will have my wife's report negatively impacted and I will have to dispute it to remove the "Included in bankruptcy" notation.

We do not want her credit to suffer, so I just wanted to see the timeline for the creditors to put "IIB" on her report so i can clean it up. The 341 notification went out on Monday 7/11/2011.

[df04527]

I'm not so sure your wife's report will have that notation. The reason I say that is because i was joint on an account and the other person filed BK. I was first on the loan though and I did not file. The co-signer did. My reports are not marked IIB for that account. The co-signers reports are marked IIB. Not sure this applies to your situation or not.

[apathetic]

Thanks again for the response. I guess I will have to monitor her report closely for changes.