When an attorney files a Chapter 13 after he has been told not to and it gets reported and dismissed what can be done to fix it?

Answer 1

There are some things one can try, but PROBABLY nothing will get the Chapter 13 off of your credit report since credit reporting agencies list bankruptcies in the Public Record section of your credit report for the full reporting period (7 years for Chapter 13) even if the Chapter 13 was dismissed for any reason (i.e. even if it was voluntarily dismissed). However, one thing I have heard people try in that situation is to contact each of the three national credit reporting agencies in writing and advise them the bankruptcy filing was COMPLETELY accidental and to remove it. See the Fair Credit Reporting Act, Section 611(a)(1)(A), which states that "[i]f the completeness or accuracy of any item of information contained in a consumer's file at a consumer reporting agency is disputed by the consumer and the consumer notifies the agency directly of such dispute, the agency shall reinvestigate free of charge and record the current status of the disputed information, or delete the item from the file in accordance with paragraph (5), before the end of the 30-day period beginning on the date on which the agency receives the notice of the dispute from the consumer." It would be really helpful if the letter to each reporting agency included a letter from the attorney also indicating that the filing was accidental. I believe good addresses for the three national credit repoting agencies are: Trans Union Corporation ATTN: Public Records Department 555 West Adams Street Chicago, IL 60661 Experian Profile Management P.O. Box 9558 Allen, TX 75013 Equifax P.O. Box 144717 Orlando, FL 32814 If the agencies refuse to remove the Chapter 13 after the reinvestiagtion, then the Fair Credit Reporting Act, in Section 611(b), states that "[i]f the reinvestigation does not resolve the dispute, the consumer may file a brief statement setting forth the nature of the dispute. The consumer reporting agency may limit such statements to not more than one hundred words if it provides the consumer with assistance in writing a clear summary of the dispute." Therefore, one can at least explain on their credit report what happened to hopefully positively influence future credit providers (though there is some debate as to how much the 100 words help, or even if they hurt, one's credit prospectives). Please note that nothing in this posting or in any other posting constitutes legal advice; this is simply my understanding of the facts, which I do not warrant, and I am not suggesting any course of action or inaction to any person.