3+ Yrs post discharge, creditor listing acct as "Charged Off"

[doni49]

I filed (ProSe) a no asset Bk7 in 8/11 and was discharged in 11/11 with no objections from anyone.

Fast forward to a few months ago when I pull my credit report. I find that one of the creditors is listing the account as a CHARGE OFF. I disputed it and the CRA tells me that the creditor has verified the account as correct and they're still listing the account as a CHARGE OFF. I sent the creditor a certified letter telling them they are in violation of my discharge order and told them to correct the entry. The CRRR receipt arrived in my mail a few weeks ago and they are still listing it as a CHARGE OFF.

Now I'm looking to re-open my BK7 case and take them to court. Other than the fact that this lowers my credit score which I'm sure raises my interest rates, I can't prove any actual damages. It's my understanding that if there are no actual damages, there can't be any punitive damages. As best I can tell, punitive damages are the only way to get the creditor to not continue this.

Also -- my case is with the Western District of Missouri. So I've been searching through the opinions of that court for similar cases. I've found a number of cases in which the debtor filed a "Motion for Contempt" in which the creditor violated the automatic stay. I've also found Adversarial Proceedings (not a Motion for Contempt) in which the creditor violated the automatic stay. But I haven't found ANYTHING related to violating the actual discharge order.

So 1) should I be filing the AP or the Motion for Contempt? 2) is the format for the two types of violations (Auto Stay vs Discharge) the same? Thanks!

[justbroke]

This may not be a violation of either the automatic stay or the discharge injunction. Much of this will depend on how it is being reported. Was it charged off before you filed? Is it currently listed with a $0 balance? Is it currently listed as "Included in Bankruptcy"?

You should check the Motion Practice for your District. You need to find out whether you can do this as a contested matter, by motion, or as a complaint, by adversary proceeding (AP). You may have non-monetary damages and could seek an injunction. However, you will really need to do some research on this and find other cases in your District and your U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeal on how this has been handled. I have done 2 APs in the past for similar things, but I switched to doing it by motion (it's faster and "cheaper" and not as much formality as the "lawsuit" method via the complaint). My contempt motions and 11 USC 524 injunction complaints were not for credit reporting.

[doni49]

It's listed as zero balance. No mention of BK. Payment Status says "Collection/Charge Off".

I don't know if it was charged off before filing. I wasn't worrying about pulling my credit report -- I figured I'd wait until I was ready to start rebuilding before pulling it.

[LadyInTheRed]

Is there a date of status or date of last report on the entry? If not, is there an estimated date when the item will be removed from your report?

[doni49]

It said that it was last updated in 2010.

[doni49]

Hmm I guess that tells me it was in fact charged off before filing duh. I'll confirm that when I get home. But since it was discharged, should the report reflect that? I mean I think it would be OK to say charged off IIB.

[tigergem]

I thought it had to be listed as IIB. If they are calling it a collection, I would say that is collection action in violation of the discharge. I didn't end up having to file my violation of discharge so I can't advise from personal experience. But I do know that upon filing, my court took the credit reports seriously enough that I was able to use a reported amount "in collections" on my credit report to dispute the amount of a claim. I argued that both the credit report and the amount of the claim they filed were required to be absolutely correct, and yet the amounts were different, and both could NOT be correct. Since the amount they were calling out to the world as being in collections was way less, their claim was reduced to that amount. My point being, creditors can and do screw themselves by what they put on your credit reports.

[LadyInTheRed]

The creditor reported the charge off in 2010, before the BK was filed, and has reported nothing since then. The balance on the debt is listed as zero. I don't think a creditor has any obligation to go back to add an IBB notification on a debt that they last reported with a zero balance. Based on the facts we've been given, I don't see where the creditor has taken any collection action since the BK was filed.