Hi Group. How should accounts be reported, a credit card and auto loan, that were reaffirmed during a bankruptcy? I had a Ch.7 BK discharged last month, and when I pulled my credit report, the auto and the credit card are listed as "inlcuded in bankruptcy." I thought with the reaffirmation, I would have 2 positive tradelines after the BK. The girl at the credit union said that any account that is involved in a bankruptcy, even if it is reaffirmed, is to be reported as "included in bankrutpcy." Is that correct? I've read of many people here that have positive tradelines after BK because they reaffirmed on a debt that was normally discharged in a BK case. Can someone point out a statute or FCRA line that would benefit me here? Thanks.
Did you sign a reaffirmation agreement or are you just continuing to pay? If you reaffirmed, it should update eventually. As for the credit card, sometimes the close one account and open a new one when you reaffirm. That sucks majorly, as they report the old one as included in bankruptcy.
I signed a reaffirmation agreement for both accounts. I'll have to pull those out and read the fine print. The auto loan really disturbs me because that was always current (still is) and was a perfect tradeline for me. The credit card went behind 60 days only because my attorney told me not to pay anymore CC's, until he and I realized that my car was cross-collateralized to that balance. I guess what I am looking for is an answer as to whether or not the credit union has to report the accounts in good standing now that I have reaffirmed the agreements.
They cannot do this! If you reaffirm and they close it and open a new one they MUST delete the old one because it would NOT be included in the BK. That would be inaacurate reporting....they can't leave 2 TL's in there for the same debt and report 1 as "incl in BK" and the other as "reaffirmed".....regarding TL's, reaffirmed means just that, reaffirmed. Incl in BK means it was discharged in the BK and you no longer are obligated to it; the bank takes a loss on it. The only other acceptable verbage for the TL would be both wordings..."Included in BK/reaffirmation of debt" however I am not sure what this would do to a score. I have never heard of closing one to open another if reaffirmed. Ususally they only close old/open new if the account was discharged. They do this because (apparently) it makes a difference for their write offs and accounting. How I am not sure but it does. Just keep an eye on your TL's and be sure they say what they are supposed. You might want to nip it in the bud and fire off letters to all the creditiors that you reaffirmed with to be sure they report it accurately. I have been fighting over this with 2 loans I reaffirmed, now for about 3 mos and they just cannot seem to get it right. Be prepared for a fight! Your in a better spot because your BK is new. Mine was 2 yrs ago and it hurt me for those 2 yrs with the incorrect TL's. Good luck!
Re: Re: Reaffirmed account reporting???? One other note!! If they do close one discharged account and open another for "their records", as they'll tell you, be sure they are not reporting BOTH accounts of them on your CR's. They cannot do this. That would mean that you now have 2 accounts with them, and inaccurate reporting! They cannot report it even as $0 balance because it's not accurate. This was also the case with me. I learned the hard way and it took forever to get it fixed, but I did. It was confusing because it was in fact, 2 different accounts and I knew I only had 1 with them. Just watch carefully! They change the account numbers and do not update it with the CRA's; they just send in the new information and BAM...BAM BAM BAM your score sinks even lower!
Re: Re: Reaffirmed account reporting???? So, is there a consensus that the "legal" thing for the credit union to do is to report my accounts in good standing? That means that the way they are reporting the accounts now is "illegal?" Any clarification is appreciated.
Re: Re: Reaffirmed account reporting???? If you had any lates at all on this account, I'd leave it IIB. If it was paid perfect, then dispute with the credit bureaus as "not IIB". There is a chance that it might get deleted though, but from the way I see things, a negative deleted far outweighs any positive benifits the account may have on your scores.
Re: Re: Reaffirmed account reporting???? Thanks for the repsonses so far. I am just wondering if anyone has a direct statute from the FCRA that covers the issue I presented in the original post. To me, if I reaffirmed a debt that was never late and always current, then it should not be listed as "included in bankruptcy." Final thoughts, anyone?
Re: Re: Re: Reaffirmed account reporting???? Here is the closest you are gonna get. You'll need to make the creditors aware of the wrong tradelines first, and send them a copy of the reaffirmation agreement. It's in the FCRA and pertains to ANY furnisher of information to a CRA: ---623. Responsibilities of furnishers of information to consumer reporting agencies [15 U.S.C. § 1681s-2] (a) Duty of furnishers of information to provide accurate information. (1) Prohibition. (A) Reporting information with actual knowledge of errors. A person shall not furnish any information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if the person knows or consciously avoids knowing that the information is inaccurate. (B) Reporting information after notice and confirmation of errors. A person shall not furnish information relating to a consumer to any consumer reporting agency if (i) the person has been notified by the consumer, at the address specified by the person for such notices, that specific information is inaccurate; and (ii) the information is, in fact, inaccurate. (C) No address requirement. A person who clearly and conspicuously specifies to the consumer an address for notices referred to in subparagraph (B) shall not be subject to subparagraph (A); however, nothing in subparagraph (B) shall require a person to specify such an address. (2) Duty to correct and update information. A person who (A) regularly and in the ordinary course of business furnishes information to one or more consumer reporting agencies about the person's transactions or experiences with any consumer; and (B) has furnished to a consumer reporting agency information that the person determines is not complete or accurate, shall promptly notify the consumer reporting agency of that determination and provide to the agency any corrections to that information, or any additional information, that is necessary to make the information provided by the person to the agency complete and accurate, and shall not thereafter furnish to the agency any of the information that remains not complete or accurate. (3) Duty to provide notice of dispute. If the completeness or accuracy of any information furnished by any person to any consumer reporting agency is disputed to such person by a consumer, the person may not furnish the information to any consumer reporting agency without notice that such information is disputed by the consumer. (4) Duty to provide notice of closed accounts. A person who regularly and in the ordinary course of business furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency regarding a consumer who has a credit account with that person shall notify the agency of the voluntary closure of the account by the consumer, in information regularly furnished for the period in which the account is closed. (5) Duty to provide notice of delinquency of accounts. A person who furnishes information to a consumer reporting agency regarding a delinquent account being placed for collection, charged to profit or loss, or subjected to any similar action shall, not later than 90 days after furnishing the information, notify the agency of the month and year of the commencement of the delinquency that immediately preceded the action. (b) Duties of furnishers of information upon notice of dispute. (1) In general. After receiving notice pursuant to section 611(a)(2) [§ 1681i] of a dispute with regard to the completeness or accuracy of any information provided by a person to a consumer reporting agency, the person shall (A) conduct an investigation with respect to the disputed information; (B) review all relevant information provided by the consumer reporting agency pursuant to section 611(a)(2) [§ 1681i]; (C) report the results of the investigation to the consumer reporting agency; and (D) if the investigation finds that the information is incomplete or inaccurate, report those results to all other consumer reporting agencies to which the person furnished the information and that compile and maintain files on consumers on a nationwide basis. (2) Deadline. A person shall complete all investigations, reviews, and reports required under paragraph (1) regarding information provided by the person to a consumer reporting agency, before the expiration of the period under section 611(a)(1) [§ 1681i] within which the consumer reporting agency is required to complete actions required by that section regarding that information. (c) Limitation on liability. Sections 616 and 617 [§§ 1681n and 1681o] do not apply to any failure to comply with subsection (a), except as provided in section 621(c)(1)(B) [§ 1681s]. (d) Limitation on enforcement. Subsection (a) shall be enforced exclusively under section 621 [§ 1681s] by the Federal agencies and officials and the State officials identified in that section I'd wait until about 45 days after the discharge, just to be sure. They may just not have sent the updated tapes to the CRA's. DO NOT EVER SEND THE CRA's COPIES OF THE REAFFRIMATION AGREEMENTS! You don't want to prove a BK to them!
