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Bankruptcy Law/Bankruptcy Credit Reporting Mortgage
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Question
We filed banruptcy (TX) and it has gone throught the court. We did not reafirm our mortgage but have always been on time. Our mortgage company will not report this to the credit bureau. They are reporting that we have not made a payment since Nov 2005 and that our mortgage was charged off. The mortgage company claims that they can not report our account activity to the credit agency unless we sign a reafirmation. We have auto loans that were not reafirmed and are being reported as current and never late. We are trying to determine if this is just the mortgage companies policy not to report our account informtion without a reafirmation or is this due to the bankruptcy laws?
I am assuming that you filed before the law changed on 10/17/05. If so, the law did not require you to reafirm. This is just a quirk of the particular loan company. I recommend that you start shopping to possibly refinance the loan, unless the interest rate that you now have is very much lower than what you could get on a refi. If you refi, your new lender will report the payments and you will gain the good credit reputation which goes along with making your loan payments timely.
If you go to refi you may encounter a difficulty. The new lender will need a letter from the old lender that gives an itemized loan payment history, (so that they can see that you pay on time, contrary to what the credit report says) since the credit report is wrong. I am sure they will give you the letter, when the time comes. As an alternative, you could sue the credit bureau and the old lender for failing to accurately report the loan, because saying that it is unpaid since 11/05 is incorrect and they have refused to correct it. However, I think this is an expensive remedy, and will likely be drawn out and costly-prbably not worth pursuing.
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Answers by Expert:
Los Angeles Bankruptcy Lawyer Leon D. Bayer
Expertise
Leon Bayer has successfully represented clients in bankruptcy for over 30 years. He is frequently called upon by the media, the California Bar and other associations to provide insight and help educate attorneys on bankruptcy issues. If you or other readers want to keep up with my blog postings about life in and out of bankruptcy, you can follow my blog at http://www.bankruptcyblogger.org/ and my personal web site at http://www.debt-relief-bankruptcy.com and A Human Guide to Bankruptcy at http://www.thebankruptcyguide.net/ Leon also writes about bankruptcy law for Nolo, see http://www.nolo.com/law-authors/leon-bayer.html and his "Ask Leon" bankruptcy law blog column at http://blog.nolo.com/bankruptcy/
Experience
Leon is a Certified Specialist in Bankruptcy Law by the State Bar of California, and has been a practicing bankruptcy lawyer in Los Angeles, California for 33 years.
Organizations
National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Lawyers, California Bar Association, Los Angeles County Bar Association.
Publications
Author, ?The Essentials Of Chapter 13,? Daily Journal Report, December 18, 1987.
Contributing Editor, Basic Bankruptcy, California Practice Handbook, Matthew Bender 1992, 1993.
CEB Consultant, CEB-Personal and Small Business Bankruptcy Practice in California, 2003.
Education/Credentials
B.A., J.D.
Awards and Honors
President, 1995-1996-Los Angeles Bankruptcy Forum; Member - Los Angeles County Bar Association Committee on Commercial Law & Bankruptcy, 1988. Law Advisory
Commission-Personal & Small Business Bankruptcy Law of the State Bar of California, 1996-2000
MR. BAYER SAYS: The big banks and credit card companys have been working overtime for many years to undermine the Consitutional right of the American people to be able to claim bankruptcy protection. In 2005 the banking lobby successfully convinced Congress and the President to make the laws and proceedures more complicated, hopeing that it will stymie legitimate people from filing bankruptcy. They succeeded in gaining these complex new legal proceedures by greasing the legislative system with hundreds of millions of dollars in "campaign contributions." The good news for the American people is that while the new laws have made the proceedures needlessly complex to the point where inexperienced people can't help but trip over the maze of new rules and regulations, the process is still doable, especially with a lawyer who is well trained and experienced in this specialty.
Past/Present Clients
I have probably handled something on the order of about 15,000 bankruptcy cases thropughout my career.
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