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I filed Chapter 13 in 2007 and have found that a creditor listed in my bankruptcy is now on my credit (reported date of 02/2009) with a collection agency. I had the understanding that a collection agency was not allowed to pick up the debt any longer and report it after I had filed? If I have a correct understanding, what steps do I need to take to get this removed and how do I word this request properly?
You need to file a dispute on the entry with the credit reporting agency, provide them with the bankruptcy information and they will confront the collection agency with the information. They may not be aware that you have filed bankruptcy on the bill, many times they buy bulk collection accounts from a creditor and they are not aware of the status. They are just doing what collection agencies do, attempt to collect.
You may want to contact the collection agency directly also, it may get resolved quicker this way, then file the dispute after you contact them, then when the credit reporting agency contacts them they will have the account updated.
Send all correspondence certified mail, return reciept requested, this is all offered at your post office.
Bankruptcy
Thank you. One more question, wouldn't the collection agency need to delete their listing since it was in bankruptcy before they reported the account?
Yes, they would, that is why I would send the information to them first so they know what you have because as soon as you contact the credit reporting agency the will in turn contact the company and request the information to answer the dispute.
If you send them it ahead of time then they will have it at the time that they answer the dispute.
One thing you willneed to do is keep an eye on your credit report. Once the debt starts being sold as junk debt it tends to keep showing its ugly head. Sometimes they sell it once they can not collect it along with a ton of other uncollectable debts and then a few months down the road it ends up back on your report and collectors start calling again. If this does happen I woud inform them that the debt was part of a bankruptcy and uncollectable. Its not like they can sue you in court since a court already listed the debt in the bankruptsy.
This is another PRIME example of a violation...
The creditor and collection agency are both liable, and the bureaus would be if the account were disputed, and left unchanged.
As always, if you need help finding a local (to you) consumer law attorney, let me know!
Doc, Do you cover all states? Seems like you know a lot about where people can find atty no matter what their state is. This to me is a good thing. A lot of atty's do not like to take on any type of case involving credit cards or credit.
There are a few exceptions, just because the governing bodies aren't as friendly to credit repair, but finding the atty's is a piece of cake...
It's tru that there are a less consumer law atty's than other types, but mostly because they simply don't fully understand the applicable statutes... I recently hired an in-house atty to help market to atty's... We teach atty's how to sue for these types of FDCPA violations...
Good job. I think if these companies were fined for their violation we would see a lot less of them. These junk debt collectors are out of control and are becoming even more so with all the defaulted debt that has resulted due to the economy. Until someone starts doing something it will continue this way. One thing I could never understand is how some of these places gets judgments and the people are not served a summons. I see it posted here all the time. How can you fight something you do not know existed?
True, but what can one do about it? You can fight them and still lose out, they call you constantly they are so nasty, they report negative items on your report, etc. I think we need a refresher here on how one should handle a nasty collector.
1. Know your rights under fair debt collection.
anyone for 2.
Goodnatured I would be honored to take number two...Get as much information as you can when a collector first calls. Always ask who they are and for what agency they are calling. I had one just call and literally flip out on me on the phone for asking who they were. Looking back I was offended but I did find a little humor in it a bit later. In any case any information you want should be asked for in the beginning before they lose their tempers and refuse to give it to you. I wonder if they started hiring ex convicts with anger management problems?
3. Know where to look up information on a company and find out if they are a legitimate collection agency and what their habits are. Chances are if they have violated your rights then they probably have a history of it.
There are many ways to do research on a company, you can come here, you can search through google, better business bureau, budd hibbs and many others. If there is bad information out there on them it will not be hard to find.
4. Know when things are getting beyond your control. If you have to call others in on the matter. Your local atty general is an excellent source when you can not get an issued resolved. If handling the matter on your own is not working you will need to know when enough is enough.
I went though the same thing and sent my legal papers to the credit agency for two months disputing the listing and every time they would report back that the creditor said it was reported correctly. I had to end up calling the creditor myself before it was corrected. And I wasn't very nice at this point and they knew I meant business. So it was reported incorrectly for almost 3 years before I pulled my report and seen it was. My mistake I should have pulled it way before then. Listen learned.