Cleaning Up Your Credit Report

[pharmd4me]

question about verbage on credit report

Sorry if this creates another thread that has already been addressed and feel free to move it to the correct spot, however I haven't seen this question directly addressed to my knowledge. I had a bankruptcy discharged in march of 04 and for whatever reason I am now going over my report to disput negative things ( I figured I wouldn't apply for credit because that is what put me in the place I was anyway). I have already had a collections account deleted from one report so I know this is working. My question though. I have read on this site about all bankruptcy discharged accounts should read "discharged in bankruptcy" and zero balance next to them. However a decent amount of my accounts read "included or discharged in bankruptcy BUT many of them also say 90 days or 150 days late! Now this seems like a double whammy to me. Should I refute these only to say discharged in bankruptcy because to my knowledge since the judge puts a "stay" on the disputed accounts and my laywer told me to stop paying on all accounts I didn't want..how can they report me as being late since technically they are "in limbo" while the case is being tried? Please advise. Also my fico are in the mid to upper 500's and I have less than 8 years of a credit history. Is this good post bankruptcy for my limited credit file?

Thanks,
Jeff

[HHM]

We should have our discharge in the next week and I am going to want to start fixing our credit report. It was listed Ratings NOT TO Accept: BANKRUPTCY, DISCHARGED BY BANKRUPTCY, CONSUMER COUNSELING, DISPUTE AFTER RESOLUTION, DISMISSED, UNPAID, MAKING PAYMENTS, SKIP, WAGE EARNER BANKRUPTCY.

My question is if it is listed as one of the above, such as discharged in bankruptcy how could you get them to not report that way? I have several that say included in wage earner plan. This is because I originally filed chapter 13 and then coverted to chapter 7. Do creditors really report as "paid as agreed" when they were included in a bankruptcy? I guess I assumed that they would report as Discharged in Bankruptcy and that that's what you wanted them to. If I am planning on getting a home right away, already preapproved, would it be in my best interest to wait until I have closed on the home before trying to change my credit report? I dont' want inquiries to show up because we are just barely qualifying/

Your instincts are right, if your debt was "really" discharged in BK, its a true and accurate statement about your account and will not be removed once verified. Yes, its a negative entry, what credit repair agencies attempt to do is to overwhelm the system with disputes in the hope that the creditor will not verify the entry which then requires the credit agency to remove the entry. But often times, when the creditor audits their accounts, it gets put back on.

[klux]

We should have our discharge in the next week and I am going to want to start fixing our credit report. It was listed Ratings NOT TO Accept: BANKRUPTCY, DISCHARGED BY BANKRUPTCY, CONSUMER COUNSELING, DISPUTE AFTER RESOLUTION, DISMISSED, UNPAID, MAKING PAYMENTS, SKIP, WAGE EARNER BANKRUPTCY.

My question is if it is listed as one of the above, such as discharged in bankruptcy how could you get them to not report that way? I have several that say included in wage earner plan. This is because I originally filed chapter 13 and then coverted to chapter 7. Do creditors really report as "paid as agreed" when they were included in a bankruptcy? I guess I assumed that they would report as Discharged in Bankruptcy and that that's what you wanted them to. If I am planning on getting a home right away, already preapproved, would it be in my best interest to wait until I have closed on the home before trying to change my credit report? I dont' want inquiries to show up because we are just barely qualifying/

[HHM]

Charge Off - Accounting term to indicate that the creditor does not expect to collect a balance owing on an account.

When a creditor writes a debt off as a loss for tax reasons, it is called a charge off.

They do this when the account becomes extremely delinquent. Make no mistake, this does not mean they have given up on collecting the debt. On the contrary, the creditor may sell the debt or turn it over to a collection agency. Even though this is a negative listing, an attorney can assist you in settling the debt, often for much less than you owe on it.

[FloridaGirl]

What is a charge-off, exactly, and why is it so bad to have that on your CR as opposed to "included in BK?" I have several accounts which were included in my BK, yet they say "charge-off." What happens if I don't dispute? Is a charge-off that bad?

[NedSchneebly]

haggling with creditors by phone

Tressa wrote:

> I pulled up a credit report last night(discharge was yesterday) and it turns out that NACS is still saying we're 180 days late for the months of Feb, Mar, and Apr. I could just scream!!! We called NACS last night and it turns out that they wont speak to us until their Credit Manager is in


Awful experience. I know exactly what this is like because I had an identical experience last year with Citifinancial. The reasons were different but the net result was the same. I basically spent hours and hours on the phone with them arguing about the status of my loan. I was armed with a lot of knowledge and contradicted their many lies to me, so they constantly adjusted their story after I proved my point. But in the end, they would not back down so I hired a lawyer. He contacted them and they denied everything they had told me over the phone. They said that I was lying to them (it was the other way around!).

The problem was that I had no proof of any of this. They denied it all. Had I done the proper thing in the first place, I could have avoided all that stress. The proper thing is this: When disputing a credit, NEVER NEVER talk to a creditor on the phone! Only a paper trail will be of any use to your lawyer. You must argue your case via mail. They will not lie to you via mail or try to trick you, because they would then be held liable. So if any creditor ever calls you, interrupt them immediately and ask for documents to be sent in the mail. Say nothing else on the phone. Hang up if they won't let it go.


I was sad to hear that you spent so much money talking to these NACS weasels by phone. A complete waste of everyone's time. It's too late for you now, but next time, make sure you use mail only.

- Ned

[LinSC]

Interesting regarding the charge-off info. We filed on 3/7 and are still waiting for our discharge. However, I noticed when pulling our credit report earlier this month that some of our creditors have all of a sudden charged-off our account balances (Citibank, AMEX, and Bank of America). When I pulled our reports in April, the account balances weren't charged off. I didn't think they could do that after receiving notice of the bankruptcy.

I intend to dispute every single one of the charge-off entries if after discharge they haven't been removed.

[HHM]

Can a charge off be listed along side a BK on a CR and be legit? Say an account was charged off one month before filing. Can that be removed?

Yeah, you should probably dispute that entry. If the account was discharged in BK, that should be the only entry that should be reflected on that account as its the most current and accurate statement as to the status of the account.

However, the counter argument is this: if the account was charged off prior to your BK by the creditor, that is a "true" statement about the account and the fact that you filed BK doesn't change the fact that the creditor did, in fact, charge off the account. So, there is a good faith argument that a creditor can include both entries, "charged off" & "discharged in bankruptcy", because it is a true and accurate statement about your account history.

Let us know what happens if you decide to dispute it.

[tinroofrusted]

Can a charge off be listed along side a BK on a CR and be legit? Say an account was charged off one month before filing. Can that be removed?

Yes, and technically it should. It should ONLY say "included in bankruptcy." I feel to say anything else on there is a double-negative, and it should be removed. Anything that says "charge off" that was included in bankruptcy, dispute it!

[Diane143]

Can a charge off be listed along side a BK on a CR and be legit? Say an account was charged off one month before filing. Can that be removed?

[edwards2]

I work for an agency that constantly gets calls from these cc sharks who sell a credit card that can only be used to purchase items from their catalog. Obviously, they dont say that on the front end because who would want, much less pay for, a card like that. Thinking, like yourself, you are getting a one size, fits all cc to purchase things from places like Home Depot, people send them money and either don't get the card at all or end up doing what you had to do. I know you can dispute things on your credit report so you might do that through the 3 credit reporting agencies - Experian, Equifax and Trans Union. These agencies are supposed to contact the company based on what you give them and settle the dispute. It sounds like this bogus company is going to milk you as long as they can get away with it. Another thing you might do is contact the Better Business Bureau where the company is located and have them file a complaint on your behalf with the company. Given the way the company operates they may not care how the BBB rates them but give it a shot. The BBB can be very effective in resolving disputes. They helped me with a similar problem with a company in Los Angeles. Good luck...

[tressa]

My husband opened an account 5 years ago. The account was very misleading. He was told that if he gave a deposite of 275, the limit being 475, he would beable to to use the card as a visa. (which it had a visa logo on it) So he sends in the money and gets the card. But on receiving the card it turns out he can only use the card to buy from that company. Well he wasn't interested in buying books from them. So he tried to cancel the card and explained the situation that he thought it was a regular cc. Well they wouldn't refund his money, so he went to our bank and had them stop payment. The company kept trying to get the money back, so we had to change account numbers. So we never thought about them again until we decided to buy a house in Nov of 2002. Well the bank pulls our credit report and says that NACS (the company giving us all the problems) says were 180 days late 4 or 5 times. So we can't buy a house until we get this taken care of. So we contact NACS and they say they'll stop making reports if we pay them 275. We didn't want to pay them but we really wanted to buy a house, so we sent them a money order in Nov. Well about a year ago we pull up our credit report and it shows that NACS is now saying we're a 180 days late again!!! So we contact them (and every time we call we rack up about $50 in long distance phone calls!) and they say they never received payment. So we look up the money order and it shows that we payed and that they cashed it. So my husband sends them a copy of all the records showing that we payed them once already. When my husband talks to them he ask for a receipt showing that we paid and they said sure. Well here we are in June, and I pulled up a credit report last night(discharge was yesterday) and it turns out that NACS is still saying we're 180 days late for the months of Feb, Mar, and Apr. I could just scream!!! We called NACS last night and it turns out that they wont speak to us until their Credit Manager is in 9-5 and my husband doesnt get home til 530. They wouldn't take his name or account number. We didn't include them in Bk because we thought we had them paid off and we woldn't need too. anyone have any ideas of what we can do?
thanks

Tressa

[HHM]

Some more info:

The following are the ONLY permissable reasons that someone should have to pull your credit. They must ALSO have permission from YOU to do so:

Applications for credit, insurance, and rentals for personal, family or household purposes.
Employment, which includes hiring, promotion, reassignment or retention. A CRA may not release a credit report for employment decisions without consent.
Court orders, including grand jury subpoenas.
"Legitimate" business needs in transactions initiated by the consumer for personal, family, or household purposes.
Account review. Periodically, banks and other companies review credit files to determine whether they wish to retain the individual as a customer.
Licensing (professional).
Child support payment determinations.
Law enforcement access: Government agencies with authority to investigate terrorism and counterintelligence have secret access to credit reports.
Specific prior consent is required before consumer reports with medical information can be released.

There are actually quite a few more permissable purposes, the main authoritiy is Section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The main one you left out is the "firm offer of credit, not initiated by the consumer" However, the report they recieve under this reason is more limited, but it still shows up an inquiry

[shygal]

Thank you so much for all the great info...

[tinroofrusted]

Any creditor that pulls your credit AFTER they have been notified of your discharge is breaking the law!

They can be fined and held liable in court!