Consumer Law

Alabama Consumer Sues Bank Of America For False Reporting After The Bankruptcy Discharge

By M. Stan Herring

On April 14, 2008, we filed suit on behalf of an Alabama consumer against Bank of America (FIA Card Services, N.A.) related to its false reporting of an account which had been discharged in bankruptcy several years earlier. Bank of America received notice of a bankruptcy and instead of following the law and properly updating the account to show that it is discharged in bankruptcy and has a zero balance, Bank of America deleted the account and then created a new account with a different account number (which was, in fact, the same as the original account) and reported it with a large balance that was past due.

We have previously blogged about errors in post-bankruptcy discharge reporting. In other words, oftentimes when you receive a discharge, the creditors refuse to follow the law and instead will either leave a balance (known as ?Parking?) or will update the account but refuse to tell the credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion) that the account has been discharged and should have a zero balance.

We will be curious to know what the explanation from Bank of America is as to why a new account number was put in which certainly gives every indication that this was an attempt to avoid having to comply with the law. Of course, anytime your attempt to comply with the law is based upon providing false information, that in and of itself violates the law.

As we often point out, we suggest that everyone should check their credit reports, review them for errors, and dispute them if errors are present. There are situations where it is appropriate to sue before a dispute when it is apparent that the furnisher/creditor has put false information on your report. If you have any questions about a Bank of America Account or how account should be reporting after bankruptcy, or credit report errors in general, please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).