Letter from my attorney's firm, post discharge

[BrokeinMD]

Hi Everyone - My attorney's boss, the head of the firm, sent me her congrats form letter and I thought I would share:

Dear Broke,

Congratulations on receiving your discharge. I hope this will give you the fresh start you deserve.

Please order a new copy of your credit report to make sure that all the creditors have now marked their debt as "discharged". If they have not, please call me as you may have a claim against them under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

My job is to protect your discharge. If any of the creditors whose debts have been discharge (sic) contact you again, please call my office, as they have violated the law and we can sue them for damages.

I welcome the opportunity to help your friends and family members. If you know of anyone who may need my help, please pass along my card and phone number, I promise to treat your referrals with professionalism and respect.

Very yours truly, (sic)I'll see if I can get my attorney to answer this since this form letter didn't, but how long after the discharge should I wait before I pull the credit report to check? Is 90 days, good?

[vicmost]

Congrats on the discharge!
It's nice to see an attorney follow up after the fact. It makes excellent business sense too!

[BrokeinMD]

Thanks, Vic! My attorney was great through the process, but I couldn't stand his boss or his staff, and he knows it, too. LOL. Before I bug him again, I just wanted to see what "the vets" have experienced with pulling the credit report, post discharge.

[AngelinaCat]

WoW, what a nice letter to have gotten, even if it IS a form letter. It is nice to know that there are nice, professional, knowledgeable attorneys out there who care enough to have their staff compose and mail-merge such a letter. Though you know it is a form letter, it does give you warm and fuzzy happy feelings.

Congratulations!!!

[BrokeinMD]

Thanks, AC, but her incompetent staff didn't include any business cards! LOL! Anyhow....how long should I wait to pull a credit report?

[panda]

Well, I had pulled mine before filing and before discharge. I will pull again next month and my husband has free equifax alerts so we know when things change. So far almost everything is right with equifax, experian was ok, transunion was ok on mine but was not on my husbands, so we disputed and those so far have been ok.

The only reason I even give two hoots about any of this is the fact we will be moving from our home in May and need to be able to rent. We are moving out of Hawaii to Washington, so I want to try and do my best to have things cleaned up as much as possible before moving.

[HHM]

About a month or so.

But if you pull one now, it won't hurt. Most credit reports are updated within weeks of filing BK.

[AngelinaCat]

Give it two or three weeks, then pull it and see what it says. Then after that, I would let it go about a month or two, and then see what it says. If you need to make corrections, then start the process.

Honestly, 'Hub and I have not pulled our credit reports since just after filing. That would have been around Jan. 2008, as we are considering ourselves 'cash only' people.

[BrokeinMD]

Thanks, Panda and HHM. Panda, good luck with your move!

I have continued to receive collection calls and letters throughout my BK from a hospital where I had two surgeries pre-BK. When I told them I had filed and called to inform them of the BK, they advised they would note my file, but would continue to send me notices until the discharge. If they contact me again, now post BK, I will sig my lawyer after them.

[panda]

Just another thought to throw in, we were discharged on the 15th, which was last week and Equifax had alerts showing the next day, but only for them, Tran Unions and Experian have not thrown up any alerts, so as far as I know they have not been updated yet. That is one nice thing about the free Equifax alerts for my husband, the alerts show any changes in the three agencies so we know when something has changed.

[BrokeinMD]

Thanks, AC. I'm going to take the cash-only route, too, but I just want to make sure the past is put in the past, and I don't want to incur extra charges pulling a look at the credit reports too many times.

[BrokeinMD]

That's good to know Panda...Thank you!

[AngelinaCat]

Make several copies, front and back of the official notice that comes in the mail. That will come in handy when debts get sold and some collection agency 'comes a'knockin''. We just got one today about a debt that I thought we had killed and buried. It is a 'Zombie Debt'. Look that thread up.

I guess I am going to have to go into the graveyard of our BK paperwork, and make a stake of it and pierce this guy's heart. LOL

Seriously, someone asked not too long ago, "when can I shred all of my BK paperwork and get rid of it?"
My answer, and I truly mean this: "NEVER, NEVER, ever; not EVER." As in: "Do not let the notion EVEN think about taking up particles in your brain... "

[BrokeinMD]

That's good advice, too, AC. I also pulled the PDF from PACER, showing the certificate of service that evidences everyone to whom they mailed notices. I should tatoo that one to my chest! LOL

[DYLAN150]

"I welcome the opportunity to help your friends and family members. If you know of anyone who may need my help, please pass along my card and phone number, I promise to treat your referrals with professionalism and respect."

It's a nice letter but it reminds me of when you buy a car and right before leaving the dealership the saleman says, I will give you $50 for anyone who you send to me and buys a car from me. In other words "looking for more business" which there is nothing wrong with that.