Would it be a waste of time to start credit repair while still paying off chapter 13. I guess they can't report a zero balance until after discharge but I was thinking (usually a bad idea) that I should at least start getting them all included in bk. Then maybe after discharge it'll be easier or not necessary to get them to zero balance. I am trying to avoid having to go through this process twice if at all possible.
It would be a complete waste of time since the discharge is what gets rid of the debts permanently not the filing ofa CH13. Most 13's are not completed and are dismissed, which means the creditors are free to go after the debtor again. Wait until you have the discharge in hand
LisaMc recently posted (do a search for her posts) an 841 TU. That score is from pursuing repair WHILE in C-13, in fact, I don't believe she has YET been discharged. BK is incidential to accurate, complete, updated and verifiable reporting. Go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sassy
Thanks Sassy! I was just about to post to this thread! Why wouldn't you pursue repair while still under the C13? Why is it any different than any other repair effort? I filed my joint C13 in 1/01. I found this board in 8/01 (7 months later). So, I have been disputing my head off since then. When I started this in 8/01, between my husband and I there were in excess of 210 negative items and inquiries on our 3 reports. Last week we got our very first 100% clean report--thank ya TU! His score on TU is now an 841 if you can believe that! I just found out today that his real FICO is 747 with 1 derog left on Equifax. So, this just shows you that it can be done, and it is no easier or harder than anyone's journey. My advice to you would be: 1. Talk to Sassyinaz. She never tried to get her debts to report included in bk. I did to my own detriment. I sent all CRA's a complete copy of my bk paperwork before I learned that was a huge mistake. Getting all of the accts to report included in bk will definitely help your score. It did ours; however, why do you need your score increased from 450 to 520? When it comes to disputing, the fact that they are not reporting as included in bk is more indication that they don't know what to report! Let them report it any way they want--just dispute the hell out of every negative item on your reports. 2. Get rid of the inquiries if possible. For me, I spent alot of effort doing this in the beginning. It has now been almost 2 years. So, I was thinking that it was probably a waste of time being that they would all be off in 2 months anyway. I think it may have helped. The less reference you have to a derog on your report the better. It is just my guess, but I don't think the CRA's do much to truly verify an acct. When it comes right down to it, maybe having those pages of inquiries off may help make the case for deletion. Who knows? 3. Don't believe that you can't get rid of the bk unless all of the accounts under it are gone first. This is not true. My first bk deletion came on a report that still had 10 included in bk accts. So give it a try. 4. CHOD helped me alot. If I look back on all of the deletions over a 2 year period, I got the most bang for the buck out of 2 seasons of CHOD. There is some science to it. 5. Keep every scrap of paper related to your clean up efforts. I have 2 bankers boxes FULL of reports, disputes, letters, fax confirmations, green cards etc. I can't tell you how many times I have had to go back to my proof. Keep it organized because it is going to grow and grow and grow. I also have a database in Microsoft Access. I can run a query and tell you how many times an acct has been disputed, what the outcome was by date, when it was last disputed, etc. It proves really helpful especially if you end up filing suit. 6. Anytime you speak to a CRA, make sure you note everything about the call--date, time, subject, and rep's name if you can get it. I would not let them know I was getting this info, you are setting yourself up if you do that. Usually they answer the call like this "Thank you for calling Trans Union, my name is Susan. How can I help you?" I would write down: TU call 6/5/03 10:09 a.m. Rep's name Susan Issue: reinsertion of ABC Bank Acct #1234566345 Resolution: TU says it was re-reported by the OC-nothing they can do. Next Step: Letter to TU quoting FCRA and demand to delete ASAP. You will find what works best for you. Don't be shy just jump in there. Why waste time. Read Psychdoc's primer at the top of the postings. Good luck! Let us know how it goes. Lisa
