     Anonymous | Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 07:46 am 
I'm desparate. Someone please help! Since Dec. 99, I have been disputing information on my credit report with Experian. All the disputes involve accounts that were included in Ch. 7 discharged 7/98. Most have been fixed but a few have become horrid nightmares. Specifically, 1 particular acct is listed as written off, charged off, past due and incl in Bankruptcy all at the same time. In addition, the written off and past due info is dated subsequent to the discharge date of the bankruptcy. I am so confused about how the charged off and bankruptcy dates are reported. They don't just list one date, such as Discharged Ch 7 on 7-11-98, but instead, list several combo dates, such as Discharged Ch 7 on 7-11-98 to 2-1-000, and the same for the charge off's. I have kept every report they sent me after I originally disputed info in Dec. 99. What I found was that the original information I disputed was corrected one month but when I recieved subsequent reports in repsonse to subsequent disputes that original information was reinserted, not as it was, but with new dates and sometimes new info. For example, one account was listed as included in bankruptcy with past due dates listed 2 years after the bankruptcy. They corrected it to read just included in Bankruptcy. One month later, It was back but with current past due dates and charge off date. Disputed it again, came back corrected. Next time, after a different dispute regarding a separate item, it included current dates and written off with an actual past due amount showing. I can understand a charge-off being reported in conjunction with the discharge date of bankruptcy as an accounting measure, but what about the written off, current past due dates and showing in the status portion of the report while the incl in bankruptcy is at the bottom of a long list of account history (which is a result of intially filing bankruptcy). I had past due amounts on only one account prior to filing bankruptcy. Once I filed, my attorney informed me that I did not have to continue payments. It is those dates, from the intial filing to the discharge, that are showing as past due dates. Most of them are 90 days, as that is the time it took for the bankruptcy to be discharghed. Finally, the mortgage company is the creditor who faithfully continues to report regularly every month. I included my home in the bankruptcy, did not reaffirm, but continued to pay for a few months and then stopped to allow the bankruptcy to abosorb the debt. The report now shows month to month delinquincies to the present date, two years after bankruptcy, and now they are foreclosing which is also being reported with a current date. I have had no problem having the information corrected with the other 2 CRA's. In fact, they don't even report account history etc... They report the account as Inc in Ch 7, appropriate dates and end of story. It is experian that has a one page history for every account. I sent them, by certified mail, a copy of the Ch 7 documents. I also faxed it to them. So, whenever I contact them every 30 days regarding another mis-reported item, I ask how they are allowing reporting on accounts 2 years after bankrutpcy was final? They always say, there shouldn't be anything post-bankrutpcy reported, but when they inquire, they never correct it and usually add new information. They allow the info to be re-reported with updated dates. In one case a creditor has added an account that isn't mine, has never belonged to me, and of course, isn't included in bankrutpcy, but is a charged off account. I disputed this 2 times. It was removed, the reinstated. Now, I have to have it removed again. How can I stop this merry-go-round information? This has been a 5 month ordeal with them. I feel like I'm on a treadmill with Experian. I also get the feeling that some of these creditors are doing this spitefully. I wonder if Experian is exercising reasonable procedures to assure maximum possible accuracy since they have documented proof of my bankruptcy and all included accounts, or if my rights are somehow being violated by both Experian and the creditors. What are my options? I can't see any other solution except to spend the next 5 years making monthly inquiries to re-correct the incorrect information until 7 year time limit rules. Am I incorrect about the reporting rights of the creditors, especially the mortgate company? or are these repeated inccorrect entries a violation of consumer rights? Does anyone have any suggestions?
Desparate. |
| Sean (Sean) | Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 07:56 am
Ok first of all you need to understand that your bankruptcy did not make the debt you owe on the house disappear. What has disappeared is your personal liability for the mortgage.
If you wish to keep the house you're going to need to make payments and keep those payments current. If you don't want to keep the house you should contact the mortgage company and give them a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, move out and go rent somewhere. |
| Anonymous | Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 08:06 am
How Do I obtain a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure and exactly what is it? Would doing so, delete the status of foreclosure attached to the mortgage? Also, foreclosure proceedings starting as of 2/17/00. Am I too late for the option you suggest? |
| Sean (Sean) | Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 08:29 am
You should contact the mortgage company directly and ask them who is handling your foreclosure. Probably they have an attorney or foreclosure specialist who is handling it. Call that person up and tell them there's no need to foreclose because you'll deed the property to them. Also tell them you filed bankruptcy and included the loan in bankruptcy. In most cases they'll jump at the chance to avoid the cost of foreclosure. |
| Anonymous | Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 08:51 am
Thank you so much. As far as the CRA's regarding this particular account, would the foreclosure be correctly reported subsequent to the bankruptcy in the event I am unsuccessful in obtaining the deed-in-lieu of foreclosure? If, however, I am successful, how would the account then be reported?
In response to bankruptcy not making the debt go away, but instead, wiping out personal liability for the debt, is that why the creditors are able to continue reporting derrogatory information on the debt as if it is still in an active status? If so, does that not defeat the purpose of bankruptcy? Why have double even tripple derrogatory information listed on an account when you could have stuck with plain ole' delinquency? |
| Kristi Feathers (Kfeath) | Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 09:22 am
Even if you tell the lender or foreclosure company that you will deed it over to them, they will still list it as foreclosure on your credit or Included in BK. This is because it is true. The creditor won't wipe out or remove the listing but they should report it accurately. You wiped out the debt legally but cannot wipe out the existence of it.
If you deed it over to them and thus avoid foreclosure then it should simply list as included in BK on your reports.
As for Bankruptcy not wiping out the debt but releasing you as liable, your BK does wipe out the debt as far as you are concerned. You are no longer liable and the bank will now have an R.E.O. (Real Estate owned property) this too is expensive for them. They must pay the insurance on the house, manage the care of the property and incur the expense of selling. Most creditors will simply leave it on your credit as foreclosure unless you take steps through the dispute process to have it listed accurately. They are in no mood or hurry to assist you by voluntarily listing it as “Included in BK”. Many people have found years after a BK that the debts are still listed as charge off, duplicated and appear active.
As for your question of Derogatory information defeating the purpose of BK. No, it does not. Had you not filed BK you would be legally liable and have negative info reporting. Now you are no longer legally liable but will still suffer the listing of the negative accounts. The best that you should hope for is to make sure all debts that were included in the BK are listed as such. Having a BK listed on your credit and all the negative info from the prior delinquency will make your credit worse. If you have everything listed as included in BK along with the BK itself then you have in deed obtained the most accurate results. Make sure you challenge all duplicates and inaccurate info. |
| Anonymous | Sunday, March 19, 2000 - 10:22 am
Thank you Kristi. Most everything is clear now. There is one item of inquiry I'm still concerned about though: that is whether updating from the creditors to show the account as if it is actively dilinquent by nature of the delinquency dates is accaurate.
Case in point, how could an account be past due, and delinquent 180 days when the maximum number of months it went unpaid during the pending bankruptcy action was 60 days. Specifically, past due 60 days within the month the bankruptcy was discharged.
At the time of discharge, the account was delinquent 60 days, as of today the account is reported by Experian as follows:
Status: account charged off/past due 180 days. $2,578 written off in 1-2000. $522 past due as of 1-2000.
Account history: Charge off as of 6-1999 to 1-2000.
30 days as of 5-1998;
60 days as of 6-1998.
Debt included in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
7/29/1998 to 12/31/1998.
This is where I become exasperatingly confused. This is how several of my accounts are reported on Experian with some varying dates. For instance, some show as written off while others report charge-off, but all are indicating they were included in bankruptcy. Yet, still some accounts are reported as written-off, charged-off, currently delinquent and included in bankruptcy all at the same time. Is it or is it not true that once an account is included bankruptcy, the account is technically "dead" as far as current activity on the account is concerned? Should not all accounts included in bankruptcy show accurate info prior to bankruptcy and the bankruptcy itself, but not subsequent dates to the bankruptcy with subsequent activity (delinquent 180 days-when total delinquency never exceded, say, 60 days prior to bankruptcy)?
I have no interest in obtaining new credit. My only purpose is for renting. Yet, with some managers seeing this information, they are assuming that I filed bankruptcy, have charege-offs, write-offs and currrent delinquent accounts.
This is the question I consistently pose to Experian, who consistently agree, that no activity should be reported on accounts included in bankrutpcy subsequent to the bankruptcy discharge date, in my case, 2 years ago.
One other thing I'd like to point out is that when Experian is reporting all of this information, they are listing the write-off, charge-off, and delinquent information in the current status: section of the report, while the bankruptcy action is listed at the very bottom of the account history.
Maybe I'm wrong, but this is the main issue I'm trying to clear up, so that I may better address the reporting inaccuracies on my CRA's.
Thank you all so much for your informative responses. |
