IN regard to accounts that were included in the bankruptcy and are showing as "charge offs"; not discharged in bankruptcy.
I've had at tleast two similar accounts. My bankruptcy was discharged on April 29, 2008 and the unsecured debt was with Washington Mutual who was purchased by J. P. Morgan Chase on or about September 29, 2008. That was five months after my account was discharged.in the bankruptcy.
WaMu initially reported the debt. But, then Chase began reproting it as "charge of" and not "discharged in Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. I contested this many times and Chase asserted to the credit bureaus that this infomration was correct. I call chase and they said that the account was never discharged because it was sold to a collection agency in 2006.
But, I know that WaMu had possession of this account in 2007 and part of 2008 because they tried to sue me in 2007 and they tried to attach a lien agasint my home due to this unsecured debt.
I went to court twice in 2007 and the judege gave me a contiuance because I was disabled and had little or no income and I was planning to flie bankrutpcy when I obtained some money. On the third time in court, he dismissed the case because I had filed bankrupty on Jnauary 29, 2008. WaMu wouldn't have sued me if they hadn't owned the account.
Then during the bankrtupcy, WaMu tried to attatch a lien against my home. The bankruptcy judeged denied the lien because it was an unsecrued debt. That occurred in 2008. So, WaMu must have owned the debt during the bankruptcy and WaMu was listed on my list of creditors.
But, Chase continues to assert that the debt was sold by WaMu in 2006.
Fianally, I made copies of my bankruptcy petiion nad verification of the discharge, schedule F which is the list of creditors and sent copines ot Chase, four credit bureause, my attorny, the bankrutpcy court, the FTA and the BBB by certified mail, recipt requested. Only today did Experian state that they would change my report to state that is was "discharged in chapt 7 bankruptcy. I've been working on this for well over a year.
I find an article on the internet (a site called Enzine) that describd the issue I had and yous. It is more and more commonly practiced by many lenders to not reprot thise debts as "discharged in bankrupty; but as "charge offs". I supoose it's a method of coheorcing consumers to pay discharged debts. You can sue them for the attorneys fees and damages (about $1000). Chase was reported in this article as being one of the most cavalier about this practices. They have stated that the bankruptcy law doesn't tell them when they have to report the debt as being discharged. in bankruptcyl.
I recommend you send you copies of your bankruptcy papers to the credit bureaus nad the lenders. Make sure you even include lesser know credit bureaus such as Innovis. I found it was reported in error with them, too.
It's difficult to do, but it's worth it.
Good Luck
