after a BK

[Anonymous]

almost exactly a year ago, my husband filed BK.  we were under the impression that his credit report would be cleared and he'd start over clean and we'd have to rebuild his credit.  we just looked it up and found that it looks exactly like it did a year ago, only it has the BK listed too.  what the heck?!  we filed BK thinking he'd have a clean start, now it seems that it will follow us forever!  anybody know about this?  THanks

[Anonymous]

I hate it when bk is referred to as a "clean start" because it really isn't all that clean.  Basically all bankruptcy will do is erase any payment that you have due so you do not have (and any payments that are regularly paid that you wish to get rid of).

So, while his credit may look the same, it should show he has a $0 past due balance on all things filed thru the bankruptcy and no more payments (or late status) should show AFTER the discharge.

It may wipe your "debts" clean but it does not wipe your history clean.  Sucks, I know.

At least that is how it appears to me.

[Anonymous]

Look at the bright side, your at the right forum to help you clean your credit up.  Plus having a good payment history is a good thing, but it also comes with the negatives from the bk.

[jackg]

Did an attorney file BK for you? What Chapter BK did you file? What date did you file? What date was it discharged?

The "impression" you had about a "credit report would be clean and he'd start over clean and we'd have to rebuild his credit" is not correct so your "job" now is to find out the facts about Bankruptcy. If I were you the 1st thing I would do is get hold of your attorney and try to get your money's worth from him by demanding he answer your questions. This probably won't work so next I suggest you start educating your self by starting to read here and learn every thing you can. If you have questions, ask the people here, everyone is helpful and most of us have a lot of knowledge about credit and all different facets of it.

I feel bad that you did not have someone explain the facts of bankruptcy before you filed, but, it's not all doom and gloom. You can recover and rebuild your credit, I did. Good Luck.

[Anonymous]

Same thing happened to me.  However I educated myself long before I filed Ch-7.  Everything does stay on your report and why shouldn't it?  I had 16 trade lines deleted from my credit reports after the Ch-7.  It took me about 6 months to have all but 2 trade lines deleted.  I merely denied that the trade lines were mine over and over until they came off.  Heck I even claimed that the Bk-7 wasn't mine knowing full well it was.  But hey, you never know.  Wouldn't that be sweet if they did delete it accidently?  I'm still claiming the last two trade lines aren't mine although they are due to come off in 13 months.  Within a year after Bk-7 I went from 585 Fico score to 680 Fico score. My score is now 720 two years post Bk-7.

Another thing that can hurt your score is if those post Bk-7 trade lines are still showing balances. Fico will still count as owed and late if the trade line says there's a balance.  You have to contact your creditors and the three major CR companies and have them correct those trade lines.  They should show $0.00 balance on anything that was on report that you included in Bk-7 except for student loans, child support and certain types of taxes(federal).

[Anonymous]

oleurud: That is awesome. Which method did you use to deny the tradelines were yours? (online disputing, fax, or phone, ect.). Did you contact the creditors directly or did you dispute through CRAs to get those tradelines removed.

I filed Ch. 13 three years ago. Had  6 credit cards. Currently, 5 of those 6 CCs show "included in Ch. 13" with 0 balance.  Have a Cap 1 CC which still shows a $2,334 balance. I called up their bankrupcy department to have it removed. They told me that they will only remove the balance once my Ch. 13 is discharged and that 3 years ago is when i filed not when it was discharged. Is the Cap 1 lady giving me correct info. ??? I am making timely monthly payments to the Ch. 13 trustee and have about 2 years to go until I'm done.

Current FICO  TU: 652    EQ: 629      EX:632 

[Anonymous]

I used all and any "excuse" to have them removed.  I even called collection companies and spoke with their reps.  I hoped to pull them into my corner because all they have to do is hit the delete button on the PC that's in front of them while I am talking to them on the phone.  Having said that, there is a tidbit of information everyone should understand. And that is;  There is no law that says any company anywhere is mandated by the law to report tradelines to credit reporting companies. (except the bankruptcies, child support, student loans, court ordered judgements and taxes etc.  Not withstanding that, under a contract they may be required but none the less, once a bankruptcy is applied the original creditor closes the account and the collection agency can delete the trade line at their will.  If they tell you that they are required by law to keep it on report for 7 years they are lying to you.

Of all the trade lines I tried to have removed, a credit card and a utility company were the only two not to be removed.  I have tried several times to have them deleted but it never happened.  Like I said before, they are coming off in about a year.  

On a sad note to all those that have gone or contemplating bankrupt CH-7, the utmost highest score you can expect if you have a CH-7 on your report shouldn't be no more then 775 even after 9 years and 364 days of filing.  If anyone has filed a bankruptcy and has a score higher score I'd like to hear from you and maybe how you got there.

If you notice,  I am talking about CH-7 and not any other bankruptcy.  CH-13 requires that you complete your court ordered obligations first which can be 3-5 years of paying back what your agreed to pay and only then will it be discharged. My pre-Oct, 2005 CH-7 took about 3 months to discharge.