How Long Will Bankruptcy Remain on my Credit Report?

Tampa Bankruptcy — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:01:10 +0000

Although most people who end up filing for Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 need to do so because of an immediate crisis like a foreclosure, wage garnishment or even harassing phone calls, our attorneys and paralegals usually do get questions about how long a bankruptcy will remain on the debtor's credit reports.

Credit reporting agencies are private companies and each of the three major agencies has its own policies. The Fair Credit Reporting Act provides that a bankruptcy can remain on your credit report for as long as 10 years. We usually find that the credit reporting agencies report Chapter 13 for seven years and Chapter 7 for the full ten years.

Cleveland bankruptcy lawyer Justin Smith recently published an informative post on his Cleveland Bankruptcy Law blog entitled "Ohio Credit Concerns: How Long Will a Bankruptcy Filing Stay on my Credit Report?" In his blog post, Justin explains in some detail about bankruptcy and credit reporting and why your credit will look better the further in time you go from your filing date.

Thanks to Justin for providing the following addresses and phone numbers:

To get your free credit report you can write or call:

Annual Credit Report Request Service
PO Box 105281
Atlanta, GA 30348-5281
1(877) 322-8228

You can also contact any of the credit bureaus directly by clicking on the links below or calling the number listed:

Visit Equifax or call 1(800) 685-1111
Visit Experian or call 1(888) 397-3742
Visit TransUnion or call 1(800) 916-8800

Beware of Bill Collectors Who Try to Recover Debts Discharged in Bankruptcy

Tampa Bankruptcy — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:37:18 +0000

Would you be surprised to learn that there are collection agencies whose main purpose is to collect debt that has been discharged in bankruptcy. Would you be even more surprised to learn that these collection agencies are not fly-by-night operations – that five of them are traded on NASDAQ, and two of the largest of these debt buyers are owned by the respected investment firm Bear Stearns.

In its November 1, 2007 issue, Business Week published a disturbing investigative report about the very robust market in discharged debt. Discharged debt can be bought for pennies on the dollar. Collection agencies rely on techniques like harassment, ignorance of the law and timing (if your closing is being held up by a $500 debt that was discharged, you might be inclined to pay the debt to avoid a delay).

Here's how big – and lucrative this market is: Norfolk (Va.)-based Portfolio Recovery Associates (PRAA on the NASDAQ) earned $44 million in 2006 on $188 million in revenue, a margin of 23%. Portfolio Recovery said in its 2006 annual report that it had paid $55 million to buy debts with a face value of $6.3 billion that had gone into bankruptcies since 2004.

Often these debt buyers claim that they did not know about the bankruptcy as grounds to justify their collection harassment. Others contend that the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not obligate them to update credit reports.

Some debt buyers intentionally change the account number of the discharged debt in order to make it more difficult to link the original creditor's account with the new collection account.

Tampa Bankruptcy Blog » Recovering from bankruptcy

How Long Will Bankruptcy Remain on my Credit Report?

Beware of Bill Collectors Who Try to Recover Debts Discharged in Bankruptcy