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http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/debts-canceled-by-bankruptcy-still-mar-consumer-credit-scores/?_r=1 Now lawyers with the United States Trustee Program, an arm of the Justice Department, are investigating JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Synchrony Financial, formerly known as GE Capital Retail Finance, suspecting the banks of violating federal bankruptcy law by ignoring the discharge injunction, say people briefed on the investigations. ------------ But the banks have offered defenses in court documents filed in conjunction with those lawsuits brought by Charles Juntikka, a bankruptcy lawyer in Manhattan, and George F. Carpinello, a partner with Boies, Schiller & Flexner. Those lawsuits — seeking class-action status on behalf of the borrowers — accuse the banks of bolstering the value of their debt by refusing to erase debts that were discharged in bankruptcy. The banks have moved to throw out the lawsuits, arguing that they comply with the law and accurately report discharged debts to the credit agencies. Their lawyers have argued that the banks typically sell off debts to third-party debt buyers, and have no interest in recouping payments on the stale debts. Some bankruptcy judges, however, have questioned whether the banks’ sale of the debts is precisely what the problem is. Judge Drain, who is presiding over the cases, posited that the banks’ ability to sell the soured debts depends on ignoring the bankruptcy discharge in order to collect money from people who don’t have to legally pay it. In July, the judge refused to throw out the lawsuit against JPMorgan, saying that the “complaint sets forth a cause of action that Chase is using the inaccuracy of its credit reporting on a systematic basis to further its business of selling debts and its buyer’s collection of such debt.” During a hearing last year on a related case, transcripts show, Judge Drain said, “I might refer this, if the facts come out as counsel’s alleging, to the U.S. attorney,” for criminal prosecution. Newly unsealed court documents reviewed by The Times illustrate how the banks handle payments from borrowers on stale debts, including those voided in bankruptcy. In contracts with debt buyers that were filed with the court, the banks outline the steps they will take when payments are made on charged-off debts. In one contract between FIA Card Services, a subsidiary of Bank of America, and a debt buyer, the seller can keep any payments it receives 18 months or later after the sale. Before then, the contract shows, the lender will send any payments to the debt buyer. Another contract between JPMorgan and a debt buyer allows the bank to keep a percentage — the exact amount is redacted in the court’s copy of the contract — of any payments sent in on the debts. Those contracts shed light on the shadowy market of soured debts, including tens of billions of dollars that were voided in bankruptcy. Some banks sell off long overdue bills, which eventually wind up being extinguished in bankruptcy after the sale, for steeply discounted prices to debt buyers.

Hi new the forum, i been reading alot of posts and really help me, so i wanted to share back.thanks to you all for the help i app for amex 11-4 after 20 years of not having the card, i said let try for the amex blue.pulled ex. i called recon they said since you had a card and it was in your bk you can not get one. i said after 20 years i cant come back the rep said no, i called again two hours later same answer, i was blown away. the same day i went for the barclays arrival got the message will let you know 7-10 days, i called recon they asked a few questions,approved 5,000 pulled trans i went also for the discover it card approved 800.00 pulled EQ, so i said let me try one more pulled the trigger went for the apple barclays card 1000 pulled EX fico -710

4 years post Ch7, unfroze the 3 CRs for a bit since my scores were pretty good (low 700's) and ~1% util, 1 inq on each. Currently have Priceline The Shat 8K, CapOne 5K, BBRZzzz 500 (pffft!), Macys 2K, Kays 5k. BK'd some big boys, BOA, Chased, Wally, USAA, so don't have much of a choice where I can apply. Immediately got shot down by Amex, HP on EX. They are not BK friendly, that was reason given, but no longer on BL there. Not IIB, but burned them many moons ago pre BK. Got instant 5K recon to 8K by SSFCU/Security Service FCU for the Travel Rewards card, 3% on gas, airfare, dining, hotels. Pulls Chex to join, TU for credit products. Great CU that has business accounts too, very rare. Got 1.5K on Discover It, tried recon but no go for more. Pulled EQ. Not IIB, but burned them way back pre BK. So-so limit results but got back in w/Disco for the shopping discounts and the monthly FICO. CR's back to locked mode.

On a whim, I decided to apply for an Amex even though in 2013 I was denied due to BK. I figured it was worth a shot and the new Delta card offer of 50k points / $50 statement credit was too good to pass up. I signed into my Amex account (I am an AU on my dad's Amex that has never been used - was opened in 2008 for a BT @ 4.9% fixed rate for life of balance - paid off ~2 years ago). Filled out the app for Delta Gold and walked away for a few minutes. Came back and boom, " you are approved". Surprised. Decided then to go for the two cards/one pull deal. Put in an app for the Amex PRG card with 25k bonus offer. Boom - approved. Called to check on limit but it was after hours for new accounts last night. This morning, my Amex profile is showing a $20k Delta card. The PRG was not letting me register with the existing user name, so I figure I will wait for the card to come and then manually add to my existing login. Checked USAA monitoring today. One hard pull on EXP yesterday from Amex. Score is showing 781 on EXP, 785 on EQ/TU. Only negative showing on EXP is the public record from the BK dated 7/2006. Existing profile has mortgage, auto loans, CC's with low utilization.

Hi there, I'm trying to help sort out some last few issues related to some property that was recently foreclosed on. The history: My mother purchased some land in Florida. She took out a mortgage to pay for the property. At the time, she did not live in the area but my wife and I did...so for purposes of inheritance and to legally allow us to maintain the land, we were put on the title (but NOT the note). Fast forward 10 years...My mother declared BK CH7. She was discharged back in May 2014. The property had already started the foreclosure process...it was put on hold for a short time until after discharge, and in July was sold in foreclosure auction (the lender took possession at auction). Prior to the foreclosure sale, we got permission from the BK trustee to remove my wife and myself from title so we could avoid having the foreclosure public record be associated with our names. We got this done in June 2014...just after Discharge of the BK in May...and prior to the foreclosure sale in July. So we've now requested to have my mother, my wife and my name removed from the HOA. But they are indicating that the current years dues have not been paid. So my questions and thoughts are: 1. What is the current law (Florida) surrounding HOA fees for a property that is foreclosed on? I did some research and found mention of statues that indicate the fees are the responsibility of the new owner (i.e. the lender) up to 12 months in arrears, but that seemed to be specific to condos. 2. I'm thinking worst case, since we were joint on the HOA...my mother's responsibility would be removed due to her BK. So would we only owe 1/2 of the HOA dues? 3. If the HOA forces us to pay, what is preventing them from collecting from the bank as well? Would that constitute fraud? Thanks!

I have a lot of baddies (25 with 17 being collections) I need to work on including a unexpected Tax Lien from 2009. Yesterday, when I got off work and got the mail, there was a letter from irs. I thought it was my monthly tax bill statement but the letter said Certificate of Release of Federal Tax Lien. It says to keep the letter in a safe place and it has already been mailed to the place of filing. Do I need to do anything? How soon will this be off my credit report or will it just say the lien is satisfied and keep reporting? I would love for this to finally be off my report. Thx

I'm in the midst of rebuilding my credit after getting my defaulted student loans discharged and cleaning up my credit report, and I've got a quick question about authorized users, bankruptcy, and card utilization for some of the more expert folks here on CB. In 2012/2013 I was an authorized user on a relative's (not spouse) Capital One card which had a $500 CL. She declared bankruptcy in early 2013 and of course the Capital One card was closed and discharged in that bankruptcy. Even so, the card is still showing up on my credit report, although as a Satisfactory account which is showing as current, but with a date of last payment & date reported of 05/2013. However, it appears from CreditKarma and what I can make out of my credit report it's showing up with the a balance of $474 and the $500 CL, which of course is effecting (increasing) my utilization. My question is, should I go ahead and dispute this hoping to get the balance changed to 0 and therefore reduce my utilization? Or would that just be asking for trouble and I'm much better off leaving it be? I'm not sure how the CRA's handle bankruptcy on CC's when the authorized user didn't file, and obviously I don't want the tradeline to go from showing up as a current, satisfactory account w/ a balance to one that shows up as a negative bankruptcy. Thanks in advance for anyone that can weigh in on how I should handle this, or not!

My husband and I are starting our journey back after BK in 2011. It will be 3 years this summer. The only credit we have now is a car loan that is 2 years old and several small loans through our credit union (not sure they are reporting, though they are supposed to). We reaffirmed our home loan with Wells Fargo because it was always paid as agreed and we thought it would continue to report but it is not. Our current scores are husband 602 and mine 640. These are through TU. I have been an authorized user on my daughter's BOA Visa for over 4 years. It has a good payment record but it is now at the $10,000 limit so it makes my utilization really bad (she will not be paying it down anytime soon.). Should I ask her to remove me or would it hurt worse to lose an aged account? What would be the best way to proceed at this point to raise those scores within the next 6 months? Do you think we would be able to get either a Walmart or Amazon card? We've gotten offers for cards but I've avoided them mainly because of the annual fees. Thanks, Kate

So after reading about all the people on here about Logix, I decided to give it a shot. A bit about me first. I filed for BK7 (thank you ex-wife) in January of 2012. At the time, my FICO scores were in the 530 range. In June of 2012, Cap One approved me for a Platinum Card for $2000 (currently upgraded to Quicksilver and $3500 limit). After waiting a year, I apped for a few more cards in June of 2013. I was approved for a second Cap One Quicksilver One card ($750 limit). I was also approved for a Merrick Card ($700 limit), a Barclays reward ($1500 limit), and a DCU Visa ($500 limit). I also have a car loan with DCU for about $13000 at a rate of 5.49%. Currently, My FICO scores are EX- 655, TU- 680, and EQ- 674. My annual income is $81000, and I have 6 INQs on my reports. Right now my utilization is a bit on the high side (thanks Santa) at 64%. So last week I opened a savings account with Logix. The process was very easy, and I e-signed all the docs. Yesterday, I decided to give it a shot with a Logix credit card, as I have been reading about very generous approvals and limits. They asked me what I wanted for a limit, and I told the rep to ask for $15000, but that I was willing to take less. I was denied outright. Ouch. Kick in the gut! The rep told me that the BK7 was still too new, and that my utilization was too high. I thanked her and figured I would try again in a few months after paying down my cards. Last night, after considering that Logix uses the same hard pull for any credit apps for 60 days, I decided to see if I could get a better rate on my auto loan. This morning, I got an email from Logix that I was approved, but at the same rate (5.49%) as my current loan at DCU. About an hour later, I got a call from a rep at Logix, about the car loan email. I explained that what they offered wouldn't save me any money. She explained that to qualify for a rate of 2.99%, I would need an EX score of 680. I thanked her for calling, and before hanging up, she asked if there were any other financial needs that she could assist me with. I told her that I was hoping to get a credit card with them. She said that looking over my credit report, that she might be able to get Logix to match my limit that Cap One gives me, if I did a no-fee BT of my balance from Cap One. I asked her to see if $4000 was possible, and she said she would check. About 3 minutes later, she came back on the phone, to tell me that I was APPROVED for the $4000 limit, pending my sending over my most recent pay stub. Wahoo! So Merry Christmas to me! Now I will sit back and see if my other CC issuers will step it up a notch. One thing for sure is that I am grateful to Logix for giving me an opportunity to prove my credit-worthiness. Thanks to all the others on these board who have been posting about Logix. You have been so helpful to me!

Well I decided to apply with logix. Mainly because I have been recently hearing good things about them though that information may not be 100% correct. I applied for the regular savings. Then I decided to apply for the credit card. After the application it said I was pre approved for the following: Platinum Rewards: 15K 13% Platinum :15K 12% I selected the rewards card since the interest rate does not matter to me. If approved for that rate it would be my lowest. If approved for that limit it would be my highest. Blowing Navy's out of the water at 12K I have a discharged bk 7 two years ago. I have multiple inq's on EX (8 or so). Scores are around 650's. Utilization is 3% or so. Several other credit cards in the 1000 dollar and up range. Current auto loans with nothing but good history. Current personal loan with good history. Ect ect. Now, I wonder if they will approve me. I know they are funny and even though I was pre approved someone still has to review it. Impatiently waiting here.....

Hey Everyone, Been away for a bit - but I am back, hope you all are well . Just wanted to share my recent CU app-o-rama results, especially for those with BK histories. I am a little over a year out, and I am having good results - Got Discharged in 7/2012. Also to share some insight into a few of the popular CU's and trends that we hear about. Before 1 year Mark: Nfcu Nrewards Secured: 1K - 7/2012: This was AUTOMATICALLY unsecured unbeknownst to me at the 12 month mark. I know we have all heard stories that they do, and then we have heard that they DONT. Well, they did for me. It was when I called to find out who I could speak to about starting the process, the rep was like "sir, your card was unsecured 2 weeks ago and we have deposited your Funds back into your savings. Needless to say I was shocked Apple FCU Secured Visa: 1K -9/2012 - I just this week got this unsecured and transferred to a MyRewards Visa They use TU98 Fico, which they said was 643. Toyota Financial: 0% APR 3 months out of BK, said Auto-Fico TU was 650 at the time. Barclay Apple Visa - 2.2K - 1/2013 - They did not increase me at the 6th statement, but I don't want to push them too hard just yet. First unsecured card 6 months Post-BK. Nfcu CashRewards - 2.5K - 3/2013 - They started me at 2.5K, my second unsecured card 9 months out, and recently as last month upped it to 6.5K, at the time last month my EQ Fico was 649. My recent Results: SDFCU (State Dept) EMV Visa - Took a chance with them since they use EX, waiting for this month's PSECU Fico, but they said it was 663 today. They do seem to be fairly BK friendly, I know they can be hit or miss, but they just called as I am typing this and gave me 3K to start. American Heritage FCU - Another EX puller, gave me 3K Card to start, and 2K PLOC and also said my EX was 663. They want to take it slow they said, but feel confident it will increase within a few months. GE-Walmart - Applied in store last week and had to call in, they approved 1.5K and I am waiting on the card. FUNNY thing with this one is, I applied in February and they declined and pulled from EX. In December they pulled from TU and declined as well. THIS TIME, and almost 10 days later, still no INQ on any of the bureaus, but instant approval and it is already reporting on all 3 bureaus? Oh well, I will take it Overall 1 year later: all Ficos are close to or over 650, and I have lower APR cards then before BK when I was in the 700's, plus more overall credit.

So I deleted all old Addys off EQ and Transunion and obviously didnt fly with Experian... I opted out... and i no longer live at the address I was at when these things were filed.. I sent off my own version of a SAME NAME DISPUTE and disputed all the public records in one swoop... So far with Transunion the judgement is gone (they only recorded one) but both BKs still show But as far as EQUIFAX... THE PUBLIC RECORD SECTION IS CLEAN! Experian dispute as far as I know (i cant get in the backdoor anymore) is still in dispute as of about 2 days ago... BKs were supposed to fall off in October 2014 and 2015 respectively... i filed 13 in two desperate attempts to get an Automatic stay on the property i was trying to save at the time that had a ridiculous ARM on it that i knew no better about. Soooo.... how does it go now with disputing accounts that have the bankruptcy notation on them on the report. Does this make it easier...no difference?.. Any special strategies? Will keep everyone posted on the Transunion and Experian outcomes.. I havent received letters from any of the 3 but signed up for monitoring today to see this progress.

I have a BK from 2005. I am also paying off FED student loans. Hoping the CC will help me with some bonus funds through the UPromise program. I also have a fraud alert on all three bureaus d/t ID Theft. I have a Barclays CC, zero balance. I hate to waste a HP if I'm going to get declined. FICOs are mid 700s.

If you have a BK will Penfed still ( possibly ) offer a pre-approval? thanks in advance.

Hello all. I've been patiently plugging along but once again need some advice. I think it's about time to try for more credit, but I don't know where to go from here. Perhaps an app spree is in order, but I'm worried about a bunch of inquiries affecting my chances of obtaining a mortgage within the next two years. Maybe it's just a couple apps and otherwise concentrate on cleaning up reports. Help? Ch7 BK filed 3.14.11, discharged 6.20.11. Included PenFed , Citi, Barclay, CapOne, Chase, and HSBC. So far I have the following accounts, at 0% utilization at the moment: NFCU Secured Visa $1,000 Cash Rewards Visa Signature $15,000 (12.1.11) [WOO-HOO!] UMe FCU Secured Visa $1000 (6.1.12) [Eligible to apply to un-secure at 1 year] NFCU Auto Refi (6.1.12) NFCU LoC $1,000 (6.1.12) Dell Preferred $2,000 (6.1.12) Current scores, according to USAA/Experian CreditCheck Monitoring: EX 672 EQ 672 TU 643 Many thanks to anyone who'd like to chime in.

Hi Forum, Here is my issue, I currently have a car that i've been paying $886 a month on since 2008. During this time, i have been paying on time with no lates until i was laid off in 09. I had a couple of lates until i was able to get a new job and back on track also in 09. In 2011, i was laid off again and this time i was out of work until the summer of 2012. So currently i have a bunch of lates on my report, the car has 130K miles on it and the payoff is around 25K. The new job i have has a lower salary and i can't afford to make the $886 payments anymore, i can't refinance because of the high mileage. So I am wondering if i should run out and try to get another car and let them repo my current car or should i file a BK Ch.13 and get the payments reduce and pay it off. I file a BK back in 03 and its not on my credit anymore, other than the lates, i have two CC that i've been paying on time since i had them. I think my scores are around 575 - low 600s. I also have a repo on my report from 05 that i've been trying to get off, the SOL has ran out and they still are on my report. So I am not sure what to do here, i know either way my credit will take a hit. My question is, which is worse... thanks