Credit Report Shows Accounts from BEFORE Chapter 7 Discharge

[stressedinTN]

I checked my credit report today for the first time post-discharge. The credit report does state that I had a Chapter 7 discharge in 2018. But it also lists several credit cards and my history of late payments BEFORE the discharge. The last date of the reported late payments was the day I filed. But I thought all that old credit card history had to be removed. It's still there! The report I checked is Experian. The credit card company is Chase if that matters. Is this right? If not, what do I do? Thank you!

[shipo]

I checked my credit report today for the first time post-discharge. The credit report does state that I had a Chapter 7 discharge in 2018. But it also lists several credit cards and my history of late payments BEFORE the discharge. The last date of the reported late payments was the day I filed. But I thought all that old credit card history had to be removed. It's still there! The report I checked is Experian. The credit card company is Chase if that matters. Is this right? If not, what do I do? Thank you!

I may be mistaken, but I think those things stay on your credit report for as long as 10-years after a Chapter 7 (and 7-years following a Chapter 13).

[justbroke]

If you dispute these items (key word is after discharge and that the discharge has been "reported" to the credit bureaus), the credit bureau and/or the creditor will update them to reflect no payment history, $0 balance, $0 credit line, and a status indicating that it was/is included in bankruptcy.

So I would simply dispute them. But be very careful. Sometimes an old "past due" account is helping your score. If it is removed, it could affect yoru so-called average age of accounts (AAoA).

While the old account will likely remain for 7 years past the date of last major derogatory event, the notations should be as I mentioned with no payment history.

[shipo]

Just to underscore what justbroke wrote, I have a few credit cards on my credit report which show "negative" information, but they also show they were cards which I had for 30+ years. Having had credit cards for that long, in spite of the Chapter 13, is probably why my FICO was 714 when my Chapter 13 was first discharged.

[stressedinTN]

Hi Justbroke and Shipo. Thank you so much! The accounts that are still reporting were paid on time each month until the 3 or 4 months before I filed. So, of course, the 3-4 months before filing show a negative payment history. If you have accounts with "good" payment history and then "bad" payment history 3 to 4 months before filing bankruptcy, would you try to remove them or keep them? My credit score is around 625 right now. I haven't tried to rebuild my credit, but I'm getting ready to start with a secured card. Thank you!

[justbroke]

FICO scores are so precarious. If those are older accounts (5+ years), you may not want to touch them. The longer any negativity remains on the report, the less impact. Typically 2 years will recover a good portion of the score for missed payments (even a charge off).

If you want to experiment on the impact, dispute one of them and see what happens to your score.

I make no guarantees because... well... FICO.

[shipo]

Hi Justbroke and Shipo. Thank you so much! The accounts that are still reporting were paid on time each month until the 3 or 4 months before I filed. So, of course, the 3-4 months before filing show a negative payment history. If you have accounts with "good" payment history and then "bad" payment history 3 to 4 months before filing bankruptcy, would you try to remove them or keep them? My credit score is around 625 right now. I haven't tried to rebuild my credit, but I'm getting ready to start with a secured card. Thank you!

I finally got approved for Secured Card from Capital One; I applied twice to them and twice to my (soon to be) former bank (BofA); my bank denied me twice, Capital One denied me the first try and approved me on the second. In the 9 weeks since my Chapter 13 was discharged, my FICO dropped from 714 to 670 (I assume because of the credit checks from my applications), and now, even before the new Capital One card hits my mailbox, I'm back up to 710. As justbroke stated, "...because..., well..., FICO", no telling why.