DH and I filed a chapter 7 in March 2010. Somehow one creditor (First Financial) managed to sue us and got a judgment for $3k. He was served, the governor closed the courthouse to save money, date was rescheduled and we weren't called. Whatever, we paid the lawyer an extra $400 to remove that lien from our house. All set we thought. Flash forward to today and Atlantic Credit and Finance (OC - HSBC) shows up on all 3 of DH's reports with a 2/2009 date saying "satisfied judgment." This creditor was definitely on the schedule F for the exact amount of said judgment and the debt was discharged. And he has credit reports showing there has been no entry until today. He was also never served. Would this not be a violation of the post bankruptcy injunction act as well as a re-dating issue? We will be contacting the original lawyer on Monday but want to know where we stand. TIA
So, are saying the judgment was around prior to the BK, but it was never listed on your credit reports until now? Have you disputed through the CRAs yet?
They are dating it as pre-bankruptcy, correct. However, there was no judgment in existence when we filed. Their date is bogus and I'm positive the judgment is as well. And it just appeared now, 3 years after the supposed judgment. No, we have not disputed yet. I know if we dispute and it comes back verified we have even more ammo. We will be calling the lawyer tomorrow, DH's score dropped 30 points because of this. Thx
Phantom Question: The entry on the CRAS is it under the public record section of the report(s) or is it listed under accounts?
Ok – so it was reported by the courts not judgment creditor. What you would need to do is file a motion to vacate with the court that the judgment was awarded from. You will need your schedule F and discharge paperwork showing that this debt was discharged in your BK. You could do this yourself for the cost of filing fees or you can have your lawyer take care of it for his. As for violating the automatic stay of relief offer by BK you would need the paperwork from the court to verify the dates of filing it is most likely that the filing crossed the BK timelines. But because the end result was correct – meaning the judgment reported as satisfied; which is what happens to judgments discharged by BK I am not sure what legal action is required. As for the delay in reporting – that I have no clue only the court can answer that one. Also IMHO your husband’s score will not recover the 30 points he lost. It will come down to if you want to pay to remove it, wait to see what the lawyer says and see if the cost is worth the value. Good luck and keep us updated.
Update...we got the paper work from the court today. I answered in time and wrote a graduated denial, CMRR to the court and the attorney. Not sure how the judgment got awarded. After the letters I have no other correspondence. Nothing I can do about that now anyway I guess. There is a voluntary dismissal page dated right after we filed for chapter 7 (so that explains why the judgment is listed as satisfied). The court clerk said emphatically that they do NOT add that information to credit reports, it's the collector that does so. We need to get that public record removed so am I correct in thinking the best course of action is to dispute the judgment trade line? Hopefully the credit bureau tries to verify with the court (not the CA) and it will get removed. Thanks for your advice!
Yes, I would definitely try disputing through the CRAs. I'm curious though, what did your lawyer have to say about the situation?
We have not contacted him since we got the court papers. If the trade line comes back verified, I guess we'll be visiting him again. Hopefully it will just *poof*.
Two out of three have *poofed* off his credit reports. Waiting on Transunion to follow suit. As of yet no score increase though.
