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  Dear
Dr. Don,
What is the exact date that a credit reporting
agency uses as the start date in determining when to take negative
items from my bankruptcy off my credit report -- the date filed
in U.S. Court, the date the trustee contacted me concerning the
meeting of creditors or when I made my first payment to the trustee?
When exactly do I begin to count off my seven years for the Chapter
13 case, noting it was completed in 2003?
-- Tod Timely
 Dear
Tod,
The consumer reporting organizations (CROs) use the first date that
negative information is reported to start the clock on how long the
information remains on your credit report. If a late payment turns
into a nonpayment that becomes a charge-off that goes to collection,
it's the initial late payment on your credit report that determines
the start of the seven-year period.
A Chapter 13 bankruptcy remains on your credit report
for seven years from when you filed with the bankruptcy court, or
the filing date. Any credit accounts included in the bankruptcy
will remain on your credit report for seven years from the date
that they were reported by the CROs as included in the bankruptcy.
The Fair
Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) spells out the rules for the CROs
in Section 205 of the act, stating, "...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." Title 11 is the portion
of the U.S.
Code devoted to bankruptcy and the different chapters in title
11 are the different types of bankruptcy filings.
By completion, I'm assuming you mean that you have
completed the court-approved repayment plan and that any remaining
eligible debts have been discharged by the bankruptcy court. Since
the repayment plan typically runs for three to five years, you should
be more than halfway home toward getting this negative information
off your credit report.
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