Credit Reporting

Can I Report My Mortgage Payments to the Credit Bureau?

Published on: July 9, 2014 | Frank Coxwell

The bankruptcy code does not require that you reaffirm, or sign an agreement to continue to be personally responsible for the payments on your mortgage. As long as you continue to pay the house notes they cannot foreclose. However, most mortgage companies will not report your payments to the credit bureaus if you did not sign a reaffirmation agreement. So it is important to know that it is still possible to get your payments included on your credit reports.

Request a payment history from your mortgage company. (The mortgage company is required by law to provide one every year free of charge.)
Send a letter to the three credit bureaus – TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian, and dispute the fact that your mortgage payments do not show up or that you have not paid your mortgage payments and attach a copy of the payment history you obtained from the mortgage company.

Can I Get Credit After Bankruptcy?

Published on: July 8, 2014 | Frank Coxwell

Can you get credit after filing bankruptcy? Absolutely. Will you have to wait for ten years to get a house or a car? Absolutely not.

Credit card companies will pack your mailbox with offers of credit. They want you back in the system using credit cards and carrying a large balance. It’s a temptation that few can resist. These cards and offers will be from lenders that will charge high interest rates. The same goes for cars and trucks. There are numerous companies that will be glad to give you credit. For a while, the question will be about how much interest they will charge you for that credit, which will be high until you’ve regained your footing.

Now, you shouldn’t run out and start charging up credit bills again, but if you need a vehicle or furniture and appliances you will be able to get credit. National creditors see people who file bankruptcy as a good credit risk since all their debts were wiped out, they can’t file Chapter 7 again for eight years and they have money to spend. Many Mississippi bankruptcy filers are able to reestablish their credit within one year of their bankruptcy discharge.

Will My Bankruptcy Affect My Spouse’s Credit Report?

Published on: July 7, 2014 | Frank Coxwell

Mississippi is not a community property state and in most cases, a husband and wife are not responsible for each other’s debts. There are some exceptions, but they usually would only come up in a divorce or action between the husband and wife, not in a situation between the husband or wife and a creditor. A bankruptcy filed by one spouse should not affect the credit of the other spouse because that spouse did not file bankruptcy. The spouse’s name and Social Security number would not be listed on the bankruptcy papers of the other.

If there are joint credit cards or other joint debts then the spouse that did not file would still owe the debts. Otherwise, if the debt is just in the name of the spouse filing for bankruptcy, creditors would not even know the other spouse exists.

Bankruptcy law allows a married couple to file together, but they are not required to do so. Either husband or wife can file by themselves, or not file, or even file two different types of bankruptcy at the same time. Your spouse may not need to file bankruptcy at all or one spouse may need to file a chapter 7 and the other may need to file a chapter 13. You are allowed to file a bankruptcy by yourself and wipe out the debts you can discharge. You have several options!

FCRA Gives Identity Theft Victims Specific Rights

Published on: September 12, 2012 | Frank Coxwell

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) provides specific rights to consumers who are or believe they are the victim of identity theft. If someone uses your name, Social Security number, date of birth, or other identification without the authority to do so in order to commit fraud, it is considered Identify Theft. For example, if someone used your personal information to get a loan or to get a credit card, they may have committed identity theft.

Here is a short summary of these rights that were designed to help you recover:

You have the right to ask that nationwide consumer reporting agencies place “fraud alerts” in your file to let potential creditors and others know that you may be a victim of identity theft.

FCRA Summary of Rights

Published on: August 24, 2012 | Frank Coxwell

The federal Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) was created to promote accurate, fair, and private filing of information by consumer reporting agencies. There are many types of consumer reporting agencies, including credit bureaus and specialty agencies (those that sell information about check writing history, medical records, rental history, etc). Most familiar to everyone are the 3 national credit bureaus: Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion. Here is a summary of consumer’s major rights under the FCRA:

You must be told if information in your file has been used against you.
You have the right to know what is in your file.