I've been proud of dh and me, living within our means and such. We filed chapter 7 last year due to medical bills and 2 small cc that we just couldn't pay due to temporary job loss- one had $1200 and 1 had $800. The rest was 7 grand in medical bills. We have one car, small house.The issuer of my $1200 cc wanted to take us to court and we decided to file to get a fresh start, our credit was shot anyway. I would like to improve our credit and pulled our credit report and paid for our score to see where we stood since the bankruptcy. None of my medical bills show "included in bankruptcy". None of them. A few on dh's do, but most don't. They are all from the same collection place. I filed a dispute through equifax, but I'm really frustrated. Filing bankruptcy was necessary and time is the biggest factor in improving our credit rating. I don't even want a cc,they scare me, I just don't want to feel like a loser. Has anyone experienced this before? Are there any good websites out there for info? Thanks!

By Crystal915 on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 01:30 pm:

Contact the credit agencies, and dispute them, you will probably need to show documentation that it was included in your BK, but it should be an easy fix. Also, contact your BK lawyer, he or she should be able to advise you on making sure it shows properly on your credit report, and can verify that those bills were included in the filing. When was the bankruptcy discharged? If it was very recently, it just may not have updated yet. Good luck, and hang in there, there is life after bankruptcy.

By Ginny~moderator on Saturday, February 24, 2007 - 05:54 pm:

Crystal is right. Contact them in writing, by Certified Mail (it is worth the extra money to be able to document that they have received it) with a copy of the relevant bankruptcy discharge papers.

My purse was stolen a few years ago and I put myself on the "fraud" list with the big 3 credit reporting agencies. Part of the process is they sent me copies of my credit reports. Each had errors, and each error was different! I disputed the errors, and within 30 days they sent me corrected reports.

And yes, having been there done that, there is life (and credit life) after bankruptcy.

Did you know, a study by the medical journal, Health Affairs, in January 2005, found that over half of all personal bankruptcy filings were caused by medical bills. Another report I read said that over 70% of personal bankruptcy filings were due to medical bills, job loss, or other serious family event (that is, not irresponsible financial management).

By Debbie on Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 10:36 am:

Ditto Crystal and Ginny. My brother had a fraud account on his credit report. He had to go to the company, and reported it as fraud, they investigated and found out that it was. Once this was done, he had to send documentation to the credit agency, and within a few weeks it was taken off. You may have to provide some type of documentation. But, once you show that it is part of your bankruptcy, they can remove it.