Credit report question

[imbroke2]

Hi all. We filed Chapter 13 in April of this year; went through 341 and it's been confirmed-5 year plan. We got our credit reports right before we filed. Just wondering when we should check them again and how often.

[lrprn]

Hi all. We filed Chapter 13 in April of this year; went through 341 and it's been confirmed-5 year plan. We got our credit reports right before we filed. Just wondering when we should check them again and how often.

Since you're in an active Ch 13, all your currently actively reporting accounts are involved in the bankruptcy and so should say IIB, In Debt Repayment Plan, Ch 13, or something similar. There will be no reporting going on as long as your bankruptcy is active because even if you are making payments, the account is still in bankruptcy. It's sufficient to check your three credit reports once a year during Ch 13 until the last year just to watch for identity theft or if accounts are mistakenly added to your account that aren't yours. (Of course, if you suspect something sinister is going on, then check right away!)

The last 6-12 months you are in Ch 13 is the time to hit your credit reports hard to make certain that all errors are corrected and request your lenders to update your accounts once the bankruptcy is discharged.

If you should get your trustee's permission to take on new debt while in Ch 13 because you have to buy a car or house, that post-filing lender MIGHT report to the credit agencies, but there's no guarantee that they have to do so while your case is active. You would want to lock this down before you sign the loan.

After your Ch 13 discharge, unless you included a requirement in a reaffirmation agreement that the lender must report on-time payments to all three credit agencies, nothing forces a lender to report on-time payments after bankruptcy if they don't want to. And some secured creditors will refuse to do so - I think just to punish you for filing even though they lost nothing.

[jennordhavn]

Follow up question??

So once you file Ch. 13 I understand that the CR will say "IIB" or "Included in Wage Earner Plan" or "Ch. 13" or something similar. My question is: Does the balance go to zero right away (like it would in a Ch. 7) or do you have to wait the full 3-5 years when the BK is discharged?