Cleaning Up Your Credit Report

[kclayton74]

Just thought you would want to know

I'm cleaning up my credit,and things are tough but you need to stay on top of it. My credit report had judgments from this previous apartment complex. Matter of fact there were 3 of them. The state court is whom the CB's were verifying the information from. The judgments were paid each time but the apt complex didn't report back to the court that the warrant was satisfied. I called the courts again and they stated that I needed to get a satisfaction of judgment letter from thier attorney. I called the apartment back and they had been sold to another company last year and no one was able to provide me with the attorney because the office manager didn't know where to begin. I call the courts back and they are allowed to only give out so much information. However, you can ask for a report and/or the attorney whom represented the apt complex. Yes, I was able to get that information (name only) and I search the white pages and on-line. Guess what, the attorney did exist. I gave them the docket numbers and they are typing me up a letter as we speak to take to the court and have them to update there records. Of course Minny, Staci, Bkfiler, I will be sending a copy to the CB's once letter is recieved. I'm not waiting for state courts to update anything for me. Long story short, presistent pays off. It will be a little rough, but hang in there. We all prevail at the end. SORRY, SO LONG WINDED.

[BrokeStudent8]

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!

Are they allowed to pull your credit report after you file? Because I'm reviewing my credit report and a collection agency pulled my credit report one month after I filed Chapter 7....

[StaciMM]

Not necessarily. It is very unlikely you will get rid of the BK public record, so if you do what you can to get your report as clean as possible (make sure IIB's don't show a balance or anything negative AFTER the BK) you should be off to a good start. Some things may get deleted in the process-I see that as a bonus. And, you'll want to have accounts reporting positively-preferably at least one visa/mastercard type account.

Keep in mind that time is a significant factor in credit scores. As bad things get further into the past, they have less impact. As good accounts get older, they carry more weight. Personally, my goal is to have at least 2 of my 3 scores over 640 by August. Right now, I believe I'm around 600-ish. I know that by June, my most recent late payment-on my student loans-will be 12 months old and so it should hurt a little less, I'll have no inquiries within 6 months of starting the mortgage process, and my newly established accounts will show 6-9 months of good history. I think I should be able to hit the 640, but with the mortgage company I've been researching, I can get approved w/ a 620 so I have a safety net...

In my opinion the basic requirements to re-establish & prepare for a mortgage:

1. Clean up as much as you can
2. Establish positive history (no lates, low utilization)
3. Only apply for things sparingly
4. Be patient...

[sobroke]

Any suggestions then? Can I dispute the account as not mine? I do not want 7 derogs on my cr. I would like to buy a house this summer. Won't it kill my chances of getting a good rate?

[StaciMM]

I don't think its possible to (successfully) dispute the derogatory status. After all, the account didn't end in a positive manner.

[sobroke]

I think I know the answer to this, but any accounts should be listed as $0 and IIB. What about still having a derogatory status? Most of mine still say derogatory. Is this something I can still dispute. Is it in the FCRA anywhere so that I may cite it when disputing?

[StaciMM]

I'd say dispute with the CRA's. It is not at all uncommon for things to be wrong after BK.

[arkienurse]

CH 13 filed and questions

We filed CH13 in Aug of 04. I just pulled my credit reports. Experian is showing my Bank of America acct like this:
status: discharged through ch 13, past due 60 days. 1,449 written off. 1,449 past due as of Dec 2005. Then it shows last reported 12/2005 with a recent balance of 1449 as of 12/2005.

Trans Union shows it like this for BOA:
Balance: 1,449 Pay status: Charged off as bad debt
Updated 11/2005 Past due: 1449
under remarks: chap 13 bankruptcy

Equifax has them listed under past due accounts. shows the same amount, last reported in 3/2005. Under account status is says wage earner plan

To top it off, they were one of the first to file a claim. Now it is hacking me off to know that they are showing this debt as written off, yet they will be getting paid in full.

Now there are a few others like this but BOA is the only one showing on all 3 sites.

Do I need to dispute this with BOA, and all 3 of the CRAs? And if all, with whom do I start? I have written dispute letters to collection agencies, but have never written one of this type.
All the credit cards who bothered to file a claim are being paid in full, and it really makes me mad that they would do this to me.

Vicky

[nk29]

Question About How Car Lease Should Report

Hi Everyone, I just had my Ch 13 confirmed last week, and pulled a credit report over the weekend. I noticed my financing company for my car, which was a lease included in my BK, is being reported incorrectly. The car was turned in voluntarily in August, which is also when I filed. I was current on all payments when it was turned in, and I notified them that I was turning in the car and filing BK. Anyway, on my report, they are reporting 90 days late in August, 60 days late in Sept, and 30 days late in October. I filed on August 30th and they were in the list of creditors with my petition and would have been notified immediately.

I filled out the dispute form online with TransUnion, but is there anything else I can do? It is obviously greatly affecting my credit score because there are 3 deliquincies all within the past few months. I never had a late payment with them the entire time I had the car. Thanks for your help!

[StaciMM]

My discharge came just before NY Eve. I had already completed most of my cleanup. The issues I have now are about old things-not BK related. (Like an account that is showing a charge off in 03/04 and 10/05. It was something that was paid early in 04, was originally not showing paid, and EXperian corrected to show $0 balance owed but re-aged the status. Grrr!)

[invest1choice]

Is it okay to dispute before discharge?

We have not recieved the discharge yet but have past our 60 days and no word.. I have already started disputing on my credit report.. Is this a bad thing or should I have waited? thanks

[sobroke]

house surrendered but in foreclosure

My house is still in the process of foreclosure (surrendered in ch.7, but bank still has to foreclose to get the legal title) On my CR, it is still showing up as late and with a large balance. I tried disputing that, but the CRAs are not removing it or changing it. Are they waiting for the sheriff sale or what? What should I do?

[babycakes]

From a fundamental perspective, a Chp13 annotation would be considered less derogotary than Chp7 on your trade line.

Chp 7 won't go on that TL because the car was traded in March. I didn't file until July. The chp 13 is on there because of my exH filing. And my reason for filing ch7 is because of him. So he's just messed my credit up all over the place. sheesh.

[babycakes]

Babycakes-

I was about to respond to Todd, then had to edit myself! Technically, since it was a joint account w/ your exH and he filed ch. 13, it was paid off while 'in' a ch 13 BK. (Even though you were not in the 13.)

Are you saying there is a public record about you having a ch. 13 in addition to your ch. 7? If so that would be a problem. If the ch. 13 comment is only on the Ford TL, you could try to get Ford to remove it-but I guess they have a right to report it as 'paid/ch 13' if they choose.

I know they technically can, because he did file and it was a joint acct, but they are reporting it all wrong. They are reporting I filed ch 13 on this car in May. I never filed and the car was traded in March. I just wondered if this is a way to get it taken off that TL. Need all the good things I can get on my credit report. The kicker is that this car per our divorce decree was mine. I made all the payments on time, never late and he just screwed the whole thing up.

[StaciMM]

Kam-

My understanding is they can report events that happened prior to the BK but nothing after. So, if the account was a CO in May and you filed BK in August, then showing May '05 CO, Aug '05 IIB that would be ok.

Sobroke-

Not sure! If they're showing $0 owed, that is the most important thing. If they are not showing anything derogatory, having them updated to show IIB/closed could hurt.