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Credit Reports After Bankruptcy

By M. Stan Herring

Our good friend Matthew Dunaway, bankruptcy and consumer lawyer in Birmingham, Alabama, recently blogged about the growing problem of false entries on a credit report. As Matthew puts it,

Also, if the account continues to show a balance is owed, and the debtor eventually attempts to purchase a home or car, or refinance an existing home loan, the debtor will many time be forced to pay-off the old debt in order to get the loan approved. Thus, the debtor is strong-armed into paying off a debt that was legally discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding. Creditors collect millions of dollars each year with this tactic.

One solution is to

Dispute the errors. Send a letter, via certified mail, to the credit reporting agency (Experian, Equifax or TransUnion) explaining why you are disputing the account. The credit reporting agency must respond to the dispute within 30 days. If the credit reporting agency refuses to correct the error after sending them a dispute, you may need to contact an attorney to discuss your other options.

There are other solutions beside disputing through the credit reporting agencies which we would be glad to discuss with you. We also recently blogged about this growing problem - please go to here or here to read more about this. If you find you are the victim of this type of problem, please contact us so we can advise you of your rights and options which include suing the creditors who are defaming you by putting false information on your credit reports.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on February 07, 2008 (boomark / email).