Five Years after discharge - reappearance of discharged account on credit reports

[Flamingo]

For those of you that have been discharged from your bankruptcy, make sure you monitor your credit reports at least yearly after discharge. In 4/09 our Chapter 13 was removed from our credit reports. All BK accounts removed and BK information removed. I just pulled all three CRA's via annualcreditreport.com (free once every year) and one creditor started reporting in 1/11 that $299 was still owed on the account...the account was listed as closed, paid but had this outstanding running balance of $299 going back for over a year. I was floored to say the least. This goes to show you how stuff can creep back after you think things are removed so always monitor carefully after discharge.

I disputed the account as being discharged in 8/06 and it should not be appearing on my credit reports and there is no balance owed. I will see what happens...

[tobee43]

thank you for the information flamingo, it goes to show one, that you must keep a close eye on your credit report for...........well..ever!

[justbroke]

Flamingo, if you go through anything that I'm going through now, with Zombie Debt, the CRA will come back and say that it was validated as a valid debt! I'm now in the "formal" process of disputing and ready to re-open my case in about 17 more days.

[AngelinaCat]

I have been getting daily phone calls for the last week from 386-206-1204, that the reverse number searches claim to be in Palm Coast, Florida. Of course these sites want money, which I am not about to pay. But one day the question will be: "Do you have more than $7,000 in debt?" The next day it might be: "Do you have trouble with your IRS debt?"

To each one of these questions, I have asked: "Who the h*** are you and how did you get this number?" I am told that I filled out some form on the Internet, to which I stated that I did NOT, and I do NOT discuss financial matters over the phone. Do not call me again, and hung up.

But they have.

This last time, 'Hub was home and I let him answer. 'They' did not want to talk to him only me, to which he replied that if you do NOT stop calling this number, I will report your company--at which point we will buy the info--to the agency in charge if the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act. He also dropped the little factoid that we discharged our debt in a CH7 BK, have no debt, have no need-nor do we want your services, and if you keep calling, your company will be charged with 'Harassment'.

[Flamingo]

Flamingo, if you go through anything that I'm going through now, with Zombie Debt, the CRA will come back and say that it was validated as a valid debt! I'm now in the "formal" process of disputing and ready to re-open my case in about 17 more days.

If they come back and say it is a valid debt, they will be hard pressed to get past a copy of the matrix showing the creditor and a copy of the discharge. What I think occurred here is that there may have been a merger or takeover of the creditor/company by another bank and something was not removed from their system having it show up again effective 1/11. It's amazaing what can happen - I suggest anyone that has a discharge in hand monitor their credit at least yearly because I am just short of five years past discharge and this appeared out of no where...

[IBroke]

Disputing incorrect info through the bureaus really often seems to be a waste of time. I'm looking at a letter from BMW financial, verifying that they would report my account as IIB. Well they did on TU and EX and at one time, on EQ as well. All of a sudden, it changed to "Repo" again on EQ. I called BMW and asked why and they told me "we didn't initiate this change. It should be reported as IIB".

So I disputed it with EQ and guess what - it came back as "Repo - VERIFIED".

Now I have to take this "verification" back to BMW. Oh, I really hate this process...

[IamOld]

My atty has a side practice to sue these SOB's...maybe you can find such in your area???

[Flamingo]

I found many issues when we were cleaning up our reports after discharge. Many times when information was disputed, it would be corrected, posted correctly but then a few months later return to the old, incorrect information. Instead of going round and round with the CRA, which will eventually may tell you your dispute is "frivolous," what I did was write the creditor directly enclosing copies of any documents pertaining to the dispute, copy the CRA involved and send certified mail, return receipt requested. That always did the trick.

What I am bringing out in this post is something that was previously removed from one's credit report after all traces of bankruptcy disappear from one's records after the correct elapsed time after the filing date of the bankruptcy. The account in question here that I am talking about has not been on my credit report since May 2009. It reappeared in January 2011 with the information I have listed in my original post. How or why that occurred is beyond me (and it is also listed as a "satisfactory" account even though it shows a running balance owed going back more than one year).

It is imperative folks continue to monitor credit reports diligently over the years after discharge because this is a prime example of how things can pop up when you least expect it and think all is fine.

[backtoschool]

I found many issues when we were cleaning up our reports after discharge. Many times when information was disputed, it would be corrected, posted correctly but then a few months later return to the old, incorrect information. Instead of going round and round with the CRA, which will eventually may tell you your dispute is "frivolous," what I did was write the creditor directly enclosing copies of any documents pertaining to the dispute, copy the CRA involved and send certified mail, return receipt requested. That always did the trick.

What I am bringing out in this post is something that was previously removed from one's credit report after all traces of bankruptcy disappear from one's records after the correct elapsed time after the filing date of the bankruptcy. The account in question here that I am talking about has not been on my credit report since May 2009. It reappeared in January 2011 with the information I have listed in my original post. How or why that occurred is beyond me (and it is also listed as a "satisfactory" account even though it shows a running balance owed going back more than one year).

It is imperative folks continue to monitor credit reports diligently over the years after discharge because this is a prime example of how things can pop up when you least expect it and think all is fine.

I totally agree with you Flamingo. The CRA's just get account info from the creditor's verified automatically. No human really touches the online disputes. Because you choose your dispute from a drop down list, that automatically encodes your dispute for the creditor's computer, and then they automatically verify.

Most people who have bk'ed on unsecured debt had that debt go into collection before they bk'ed. Once a debt is in the collection ecosystem it can be sold over and over in packages to junk debt buyers for pennies on the dollar. Even discharged debt can end up in those junk debt packages. This is the zombie debt that justbroke was talking about in another thread. The junk debt buyers will often try to put things on your report illegally to get you to throw them some money. Especially if they think you are trying to clean your credit reports or are trying to buy a house, etc.

So it makes a lot of sense to monitor your reports.