Disputing late pays on accounts post Ch 7-will it make a difference?

[psears123]

Hello,

I just got my 3 major bureau credit reports and scores following my Ch 7 asset case discharge (unloaded $150K of business debtor debt mostly doing it Pro Se, while keeping my rental properties, thank you very much :-).

Going over my accounts, some of them list "paid as agreed" but still have flags next to them signaling that they are dragging my score down (digging further, some of these accounts show a payment history reflecting my late pays, while others show all on-time payments-go figure).

The report summaries at the top of the reports all tell me that my score is being negatively affected by my payment history on some of these accounts.

My question: would it be worth my time to try to dispute and remove these accounts that show the bad payment histories? Would that increase my score? Further, some of these accounts I had for a long time (others were fairly new). Would I have to weigh the positive of getting rid of the bad history versus the fact that these older accounts might also be helping me due to their age ? The summaries all agree that my score is being helped by the age of my credit history. Maybe a selective disputing of my various accounts ?

Any thoughts?

[Amy26]

Be careful with where you pull your report and these "comments" that they have about your score and negative entries. The only report you should be basing disputes on is an actual paper report from the bureau itself. For example, on my credit, I use myprivacymatters to get my reports... it actually shows some of my accounts as charged off even though they are in reality just listed as IIB and zero balances.

I would definately be selective in what you dispute. There is something called "unintended consequences" when you start disputing your credit. Like if you have this account that was included in your bankruptcy but it isn't showing as such and it looks just like a normal account but has lates on it or something and then you dispute it... it could come back as verified but then turn into an IIB account. It would all depend on how long ago the lates were. Once they get to like 1 year or 2 years out they aren't having that much impact on your score anymore. What you could do is try good will letters to the creditors to have the lates removed. People have had a lot of success getting this done.

[brighteyes]

I'm not trying to hijack your post, but you had some of the same questions as I did, but I have one more. We reaffirmed our car loan, we did a Ch7. Filed May '10 and discharged Aug '10. We stopped making our car payments during BK because we were sure if we were going to keep our car or not. Now that everything is said and done the car company reported a late payment for June. Can they do this or should I dispute it?

There are a few accounts on my credit report that I know are closed, but they are stating that they are open. That is a-okay with me! I would never dispute things that I know are incorrect that are helping my credit score!

[Amy26]

Well since you were not discharged until August, there should not be a late payment reported for June. Trouble is, if you dispute it, it may come back verified. If it does, I would just keep at it. There are some good resources online to finding example dispute letters.

[BankruptinNJ]

Hello,

I just got my 3 major bureau credit reports and scores following my Ch 7 asset case discharge (unloaded $150K of business debtor debt mostly doing it Pro Se, while keeping my rental properties, thank you very much :-).

Going over my accounts, some of them list "paid as agreed" but still have flags next to them signaling that they are dragging my score down (digging further, some of these accounts show a payment history reflecting my late pays, while others show all on-time payments-go figure).

The report summaries at the top of the reports all tell me that my score is being negatively affected by my payment history on some of these accounts.

My question: would it be worth my time to try to dispute and remove these accounts that show the bad payment histories? Would that increase my score? Further, some of these accounts I had for a long time (others were fairly new). Would I have to weigh the positive of getting rid of the bad history versus the fact that these older accounts might also be helping me due to their age ? The summaries all agree that my score is being helped by the age of my credit history. Maybe a selective disputing of my various accounts ?

Any thoughts?

Were you actually late on those payments? If so, they are accurate and should not be disputed. They can report late payments, charge-offs, etc. up until you filed bankruptcy. Yes, it is negative information, but if you were late it is accurate. However, if they are reporting late payments after you filed bankruptcy, you may dispute it. It should say "included in bankruptcy" of something similar.

[StylinGirl]

Psears123- I say try it! I needed to boost my score to apply for a mortgage (got it- YAY!) and I had two different CCs with one lousy late pay each that was pulling my score down. I wrote a very respectful letter to each and found that HSBC Orchard DID remove my late pay!!! (Chase can suck it!)

[jst4f]

Anything reported post BK filing date should be disputed. While there may be some negative consequences, compliance with the law is worth fighting for. Ex: A CC decharged in your BK is reported as current and no late payments may seem good and changing it to IIB and zero balance may seem bad, but it is the correct thing to do. In addition, should that CC debt be sold to a collection agency, they would see it as open and collectable. We worked hard to make our BK petition complete and accurate and to be honest in all respects. I expect nothing less from the credit reporting companies. Then let the credit score fall where it may.

BTW: Others will tell you and I agree, we are not defined by our credit score.