Removal of Bankruptcy From Your Credit Report

If you are wondering about whether bankruptcy will ever get erased from your credit report or not, then the answer is yes. But for that you need to understand consumer bankruptcy and credit reporting first and what you need to do if the record doesn’t get erased properly. Read on to know how our Pittsburgh bankruptcy lawyer suggests you a few things.

Consumer bankruptcy is a process of filing that is designed to erase or reduce consumer debts or personal debts like credit card bills or medical bills. While chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy deal with personal debts, chapter 11 primarily deals with business debts. Consumer bankruptcy is an effective tool that can help you deal wipe of unsecured debts in the case of chapter 7 and help you restructure your payment plan with chapter 13. The discharge of bankruptcy relieves the filers from being a “debtor.” They become a consumer again like any other person. However, there are certain ramifications of filing bankruptcy and one of them is the effects on the credit reports.

The credit report bureaus are of three types:

• Equifax
• Experian
• TransUnion

These bureaus generate the FICO credit score which is a number between 300 to 500. The credit report given by these agencies can include:

• Personal identification number
• Public records containing tax liens
• Credit history
• Inquiries

The Fair Credit Reporting Act or FCRA is a government-run consumer reporting agency governing the fairness of credit reports of each individual. They are also responsible for asking for investigation when there is a claim of inaccuracy in credit reports. Now, chapter 7 and chapter 13 bankruptcy can stay in your credit report for up to 10 years. However, there are certain types of loans that will require the credit report to keep the bankruptcy record for longer depending on the loan amount.

Chapter 13 bankruptcy gets erased from the credit report after 7 years as it requires partial payments while chapter 7 bankruptcy will remain in the report for 10 years as it potentially wipes of a majority of your debts. According to FCRA, the bankruptcy filing will not be reported for any longer than the 10 years of your original filing date.

When you are obtaining consumer information from any of these three agencies you find out some inaccuracy in them, you need to file a claim with FCRA. They have outlines very specific guidelines for the consumers who find discrepancies regarding the elimination of bankruptcy records. You will need to follow these two steps.

• Send a dispute letter to the credit reporting company telling about the information you have found is inaccurate so that they can start their investigation for your claim
• Share this information with the information provider as they have the power to contact the reporting agency and redact an inaccurate claim

If you need more assistance about this process, then connect with our Pittsburgh bankruptcy lawyer at Pittsburgh Bankruptcy Law Group. Get a free consultation today.