Ok, here's the deal... I had a Discover Card account that was included in BK13 (now discharged) with a date of last activity of 2/96, scheduled to fall of in 2/03, reporting correctly as follows (TransUnion): Discover Opened: 1/95 Last Activity: 2/96 Balance: $0 Status: Included in BK 13 So, I think all is good until I receive a new copy of my Trans Union last week and find a NEW COLLECTION account from "Sherman Acquisition" using the discover account above. It is reported as: Sherman Acquisition (Never heard of!!) Placed: 2/01 Updated: 11/01 Balance: $2154 Status: Collection Account/Chapter 13 BK Original Debt: Discover 6011-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX They state that it was placed with them in 2/01! How is this possible since it was included in BK when I filed in 96 and is now discharged?? The collection entry is updated as of 11/01 and will not fall off until 2/08 which is 5 years after the BK and all accounts included in it (except this one) will fall off. Is this legal? How should I proceed??? It seems to me that they are in effect re-aging my debt, but I also wonder how Discover can place an acct with collection that has been included in BK! Please help me if you can...I don't know what to do and am feeling powerless! NiceGuy
This is against federal law. No one has devised a letter so far on here, but seems since this has been happening a lot, someone ought to. Why not you? A "validation" letter that includes the fact that this debt no longer exists. Also, notify the court that discharged your bk. There are federal penalties for attempting to collect a debt that has been discharged by bk court. Listing this as a collection account on your CR is an attempt to collect the debt.
Thanks! Should I attempt to contact the collection agency first and tell them they're off their rocker?? Has anyone heard of them? I have no idea how to contact them since I've never received any correspondence from them. What stututes does this particular violation apply to?
Breeze obviously has the correct answer here. I would not waste my time nor my money on these idiots until I had filed a formal complaint with my bankruptcy judge. See what the court has to say and let them handle it. If they want to file federal charges on them, so be it. But I doubt that they will fail to do something. Probably the court will just send them some kind of cease & desist informing tham that they are in violation of federal law. It' unlikely in my mind they would just go throw them in jail over this to say the least. Let the courts handle it. That's what I think is the best and easiest way to handle the problem After all, you sought the protection of the courts and paid them to do your bidding. It's their problem.
Does this work the same way for a judgment? I am working with someone that has a judgment from GECap but she filed a 7.
If the judgment was prior to the bk, and was discharged, it may be reported as "discharged in bk" - but that is all. It cannot be sold to CA, and no attempt may be made to collect on it without violating the federal bk laws. I think it is a judgment call as to which action to take first. Notifying the court and waiting for their action may take longer than writing the CA and telling them what they are doing. Chances are, this is a computer doing this reporting, not an intentional act by a person. Once informed what they are doing, I believe most CA's would remove the entry more quickly than the courts could act. That's why I said do both. This is the danger of using the automated reporting system, and the sale and resale of debts with no regulation. CA puchases a batch of uncollected judgments, the files are downloaded, the computer automatically reports them, no checks in place to find judgments that have been bk'd. Poor consumer is caught in the big machinery as it grinds away.
Would I get anywhere going after Discover directly, since they sold a BK acct to this CA? I still can't find anything on this "Sherman Acquisition" place to be able to contact them. I am just trying to do the least time-consuming thing, but am sure that if I just dispute it as "Not my acct" with the CRA, it will come back validated.
