Random BK Question

[bobstevens]

Hey everyone, I have an interesting story for you and I was wondering if I could maybe hear everyone's two cents. So 5 years ago, my wife(now ex) and I filed for a chapter 7 BK and it was discharged. Everything went very smoothly, no problems, very good attorneys, etc. Well last night, I get a call from my ex wife. Apparently her parents went into Menards (for those of you not familiar, it's a home improvement chain in the Midwest, like Lowe's) to use their line of credit. Their account was flagged and the store manager came out to talk with them and wound up asking them a bunch of questions about me. If they knew me, if they knew where I was, etc. Now, I've never had a Menards account and neither has my ex, not even when we were married or anything. Their credit accounts are backed by Capital One. I had a credit card from them over 10 years ago that has been closed for sometime. I did have an auto loan through them that was repossessed and paid off in the bankruptcy. I guess my question(s) is (are) this: Why in the world would either of these companies be trying to extort information from my ex in laws. I mean, we're all still on really good terms, my ex in laws even called me to give me a heads up. My ex and I may have used their address for a few things back in the day, but we would never use any family member's credit info or anything like that. I know that's not legal, and I'm just not that kind of person. So what the heck is going on? I'm mad, they're mad, but really I'm not sure where to direct my anger. Or is this all much ado about nothing? Just feel like my privacy is being a little invaded, you know? Sorry it's so long, thanks for reading. Mods, I apologize if I'm not choosing the right forum. I assumed the BK forum, but if you have a better suggestion, please feel free to move it. Thanks in advance everyone for all your help!

[Countingpennies]

Have you checked your credit reports recently?
www.annualcreditreport.com, the site for your yearly freebies.

[shols44]

+1 on checking your reports. If you already do that routinely, I'm always in favor of a head on approach with things like this. I'd call menards credit department if they have one and start by finding out what the heck is going on. It seems very odd if you never had an account with them.

I don't know what your situation is with your ex-wife but its not unheard off of exes appying for credit using the ex's info since most of it time it's readily available. Not suggesting this is the situation, but the whole thing seems so bizzare i'm willing to entertain any theories. 

I think the easiet thing to do is check your reports, see who has been softing you,  call, play ball and see where this leads. 

[bobstevens]

Thank you both for your responses. I'm in the middle of rebuilding my credit, so I do check my reports and scores quite often. As of the last report I pulled, I didn't have any inquires from Capital One, however the auto loan and the old credit card still show up as they aren't out of the SOL. I doubt that my ex wife had anything to do with it because her credit is only a little bit better than mine, and she wouldn't need me to get an approval. I suppose if she was inclined to, she could use my income because it is substantially higher than hers as she's in school, but other than that, I'm doubtful. Besides, it was her parent's line of credit and I'm pretty sure they're 700 club members. Although shols, you did bring up a good point. My ex does have a Capital One credit card that is solely hers, maybe she used my income/SSN etc to be approved, I'm not sure. Again, doubtful but you did raise excellent points. I'll definitely give Menard's a call on Monday. Am I correct in my thinking that Capital One shouldn't be making any collection attempt on a BK settlement? Not that that is what they're doing, but still...thanks again for the help! Have a good Sunday

[guiness56]

Once you file BK the creditors are not allowed to attempt collections.  That is a viiolation of the BK stay.