Bankruptcy, Trailer, and Charge-off

What is the name of your state? CA

I suspect I know the answer to my question, but here it goes anyway.

In 1997 I filed for bankruptcy in the state of California, which was discharged in November of 1997. At that time I owned a mobile home located in Georgia, which I was still making payments on. I had someone living in it and paying me in a kind of rent to own deal (no contracts or anything he was a friend).

The mobile home was listed in the bankruptcy in schedule D - Creditors Holding Secured Claims and schedule C - Property Claimed as Exempt.

In 1999 the guy took off and let me know through a third party that he wasn't going to buy the trailer any longer (I had been pressing him to get his own financing so I could pay the thing off and get it in his name).

I was unable to pay the payments and wasn't in a position to travel across the country to try and take care of the thing, so as of April of 1999 called the finance company (Greenpoint Credit) and told them to go get it, which they did as of 04/19/1999 (according to the 1099-A form).

According to the 1099-A, the principal outstanding was $10,650 and the fair market value was 7,600.

They have been and continue to report a charge-off on my credit report of $7050.

My question is, since it was included in the bankruptcy is this something they can still do? Would it benefit me to add a comment on the credit reports stating that it was part of the bankruptcy? Anything I can do (short of paying them) to get this off the credit report, or at least get them to stop reporting it so it can roll off the credit report in 7 years?

Am I basically stuck?

[Ladynred]

Did you reaffirm the loan on the trailer ?

Originally Posted by Ladynred

Did you reaffirm the loan on the trailer ?

No, unless simply continuing to make the payments would be considered reaffirming it.

[Ladynred]

No, it doesn't, you would have signed an actual agreement.

With no reaff, the debt was discharged. It should be reported as included in bankruptcy, zero balance owed. Reporting to the bureaus IS considered collection activity, so if they're reporting anything that implies you owe them money, they're violating the law.

Dipute it as included in bankrutpcy, s/b zero balance and closed. If it was not charged-off BEFORE you filed for BK, then they can NOT report it as such now.

Originally Posted by Ladynred

No, it doesn't, you would have signed an actual agreement.

With no reaff, the debt was discharged. It should be reported as included in bankruptcy, zero balance owed. Reporting to the bureaus IS considered collection activity, so if they're reporting anything that implies you owe them money, they're violating the law.

Dipute it as included in bankrutpcy, s/b zero balance and closed. If it was not charged-off BEFORE you filed for BK, then they can NOT report it as such now.

No, it wasn't charged off until 1999 when I let them take it back.

So, even though I continued making payments on it after the bankruptcy was discharged it would still be considered discharged as part of the bankruptcy?

Now, the only other potential problem that I can see with proving it is that the loan was sold, I believe after the bankruptcy, the bankruptcy does not list Greenpoint credit by name, it lists the original holder of the loan which was Bank of America Housing Svcs. I'm not sure if what I have is going to be enough to prove it's the same debt, I think I saved enough of the old paperwork and stuff to do so.

When you say dispute it, you mean to the credit bureaus and not to Greenpoint? Or both? Would it carry more weight if I got the lawyers office that originally did the bankruptcy to send Greenpoint a letter? Given that it changed from BofA to Greenpoint, should I be painfully detailed in laying out the proof that it was actually part of the bankruptcy?

What happens if I get it off the reports then they charge it off again next year?

Thanks for your responses, btw, I appreciate it.

[Ladynred]

So, even though I continued making payments on it after the bankruptcy was discharged it would still be considered discharged as part of the bankruptcy?

Absolutely. With no reaffirmation the debt was discharged. They accepted payments and let you keep the trailer - happens all the time.

Now, the only other potential problem that I can see with proving it is that the loan was sold, I believe after the bankruptcy, the bankruptcy does not list Greenpoint credit by name, it lists the original holder of the loan which was Bank of America Housing Svcs. I'm not sure if what I have is going to be enough to prove it's the same debt, I think I saved enough of the old paperwork and stuff to do so.

It does not matter, the ORIGINAL creditor WAS included, makes no difference who they sell it to later. In fact, whoever they sell it to is just buying bad paper, they can NEVER collect on it.

When you say dispute it, you mean to the credit bureaus and not to Greenpoint? Or both?

If its on your credit report incorrectly, then you MUST dispute it first with the credit bureaus. They will contact whoever is reporting it to verify the accuracy of the information. You just need to dispute it as 'included in bankrtupcy' and if they are reporting a charge-off AFTER your filing date, that is WRONG, the FTC says its a violation of the FCRA because it is not accurate - it was not a charge-off at the time you filed and any negative reporting after that is also a violation.

Charge-offs only happen ONCE -when they write off the debt, they can't do it again !