Discharged!!! A few final questions...

[Kelli38]

YIPPPPPEEEEEE, we have been discharged - received our papers, and I see it noted on PACER too! Three long, very difficult and stressful years of making our chapter 13 payments... finaly HISTORY! YAY!!!

Now that it has FINALLY happened, I have a few final questions. How soon should I see the discharge noted on our credit report? (I'm in NY, if that makes a difference.) I know that I'll need to get copies of our report to make sure everything looks as it should, but I don't want to bother getting them before the discharge will be noted.

Also, I know that the chapter 13 will show up on our credit report for x number of years (I've usually heard either 7 or 10, I think the 10 is correct). What happens after that amount of time - is it removed from our report completely, so that future creditors will not be able to tell that we ever went through a bankruptcy? Or will they still see it there, but not take it into account after that length of time has passed?

Thanks for any info you can offer!

 

[Ladynred]

Give the CRAs at least 60 days for the discharge to show up and if its still not there after 90, then you'll have to do something about it. All the debts that were discharged should be reported as 'included in bankrputcy'.

Ch 13's are reported for 7 years from the FILING date, so you should only have 4 years left. It should drop off and it should NOT show up to any future creditors. However, most credit apps will ask if you've ever filed for BK

 

[Kelli38]

Ladynred, thanks very much for your response!!!

 

[InsulinRules]

>>>>However, most credit apps will ask if you've ever filed for BK <<<<

Actually LadynRed, potential creditors may have limitations:

Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), it appears that asking about bankruptcy within the last ten years is permissible.

FCRA Section 605 (15 U.S.C. 1681(c)) states:
Requirements relating to information contained in consumer reports.
(a) Information excluded from consumer reports. Except as authorized under subsection (b) of this section, no consumer reporting agency may make any consumer report containing any of the following items of information:

(1)Cases under title 11 [United States Code] or under the Bankruptcy Act that, from the date of entry of the order for relief or the date of adjudication, as the case may be, antedate the report by more than 10 years.

According to this section of the law, inquiries regarding bankruptcy are permitted as long as applicants are not asked to submit information that is more than 10 years old.

Keep in mind that some state laws may place further restrictions on your ability to ask about an applicant's bankruptcy. For example, in certain states, institutions are not permitted to go back further than 7 years. In yet other states institutions are prohibited from asking about an applicant's bankruptcy at all. Therefore, you should verify with counsel that your inquiries regarding bankruptcy are in accordance with your state law.