Help. BK filed but not discharged

[Raiders1]

Hello everyone, I have no experience with bankruptcy so I was hoping to get some guidance. I’m trying to help my dad rebuild his credit. My dad had one of those adjustable rate mortgages that hurt a lot of people. About two years ago he was going into foreclosure and was trying to save his house. He wanted to do a short sale instead of getting foreclosed on. As part of the effort to keep the house long enough to short sale the person who was helping him told him to file for bankruptcy in order to buy some time, which he did 3 times (about once every three months) until they were able to short sale his house. I’m not sure that was the right thing to do but at the time he didn’t know any better and trusted this person. Now he has 3 ***bankruptcy*** filings on his credit report but none of them were discharged, they were just filed. Since they weren’t discharged and he has/had no debt other than his house is there any way to fix them (canceling the filing or having the court dismiss them)? He has two credit cards that are PIF and an otherwise good credit history but those BK filings have his score at 586. Is there any way to fix this? Or does he just have to wait it out and try to rebuild with those filings on his record? He is in California, if that helps. Thanks everyone.

***Edited: originally said three foreclosure filings, should be 3 bankruptcy filings on his credit report.***

[ezdriver]

Did he use an attorney to file three bankruptcy petitions? Something does not sound right with what you posted. Tell us more about how he went about filing three seperate petitions and the dates for those filings.

[StartingOver10]

Were each of these Bk's Ch 7's or were they all Ch 13's or was the first a 7 and the other two 13's? Please let us know more so we can help you. EZ is on the right track too, did an attorney file these or a paralegal or did he file pro se?

[Raiders1]

They were 3 separate CH 13 filings. I don't believe they were filed by an attorney, they were filed pro se with the help of a company that was "helping" him. His mortgate company started the forclosure process so they filed CH13 to stop the process. After a couple months the CH13 was dismissed and forclosure started again so they filed CH13 again to stop it. And they filed a third time to stop it before the bank agreed to a short sale. He was told that the filings would no affect anything because they would not be discharged but oviously he was given bad advise. We're just trying to figure out if those BK filings can be fixed on his CR or if he's going to have to wait it out.

[TRC_WA]

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@Raiders1 wrote:

They were 3 separate CH 13 filings. I don't believe they were filed by an attorney, they were filed pro se with the help of a company that was "helping" him. His mortgate company started the forclosure process so they filed CH13 to stop the process. After a couple months the CH13 was dismissed and forclosure started again so they filed CH13 again to stop it. And they filed a third time to stop it before the bank agreed to a short sale. He was told that the filings would no affect anything because they would not be discharged but oviously he was given bad advise. We're just trying to figure out if those BK filings can be fixed on his CR or if he's going to have to wait it out.

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It looks like his answer is the same as given in this thread http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/canceled-bk-showing-up-on-report/td-p/3248474 and that is that the dismissed bankruptcy petitions will remain on his CR for 10 years.

If only it were that easy to file BR to stop a foreclosure and then dispute it off your CR because you didn't follow through with it.

[gdale6]

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@Raiders1 wrote:

They were 3 separate CH 13 filings. I don't believe they were filed by an attorney, they were filed pro se with the help of a company that was "helping" him. His mortgate company started the forclosure process so they filed CH13 to stop the process. After a couple months the CH13 was dismissed and forclosure started again so they filed CH13 again to stop it. And they filed a third time to stop it before the bank agreed to a short sale. He was told that the filings would no affect anything because they would not be discharged but oviously he was given bad advise. We're just trying to figure out if those BK filings can be fixed on his CR or if he's going to have to wait it out.

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If they were voluntarily dismissed they will remain on file for 7 years.

[TRC_WA]

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@gdale6 wrote:

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If they were voluntarily dismissed they will remain on file for 7 years.

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Quote your source?

A person's CR doesn't have the word "voluntarily" next to the case disposition AFAIK...

A dismissal is a dismissal for whatever the reason... and it's 10 years in that case.

[gdale6]

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@TRC_WA wrote:

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@gdale6 wrote:

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If they were voluntarily dismissed they will remain on file for 7 years.

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Quote your source?

A person's CR doesn't have the word "voluntarily" next to the case disposition AFAIK...

A dismissal is a dismissal for whatever the reason... and it's 10 years in that case.

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TU in a response to the CFPB on a complaint I filed against them:

Quote TU

The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows: Bankruptcies to be reported for 10 years from the date of filing. However, it is TransUnion's policy to report discharged or dismissed Chapter 13 bankruptcies for seven years from the date the bankruptcy was filed. Voluntarily dismissed bankruptcies, regardless of the chapter filed, are reported for seven years from the date the bankruptcy was filed.

[TRC_WA]

Cool...  that's TU's policy and it isn't universal across all 3 bureaus.

The forum member known as Creditaddict has a dismissed Ch 13 and did get it removed after 7 years from TU and EX... but not EQ.

I've read that EQ doesn't budge regarding dismissed BRs staying the entire 10 years... like what Lexie says in this thread http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/canceled-bk-showing-up-on-report/td-p/3248474 and in Creditaddict's case.

The standard seems to be 10 years for dismissed Ch 13's but for whatever reason TU and EX like to be nice while EQ goes by the book.