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Change to bankruptcy law doesn't affect credit reports

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Topics addressed on July 8, 2009:

Change to bankruptcy law doesn't affect credit reports

Dear Max,

We filed chapter 7, and it was discharged on Jan. 31, 2002. Because we were under the old law, the bankruptcy should be off our credit, right?

- EPE

Dear EPE,

The federal bankruptcy law was amended, affecting the requirements for declaring bankruptcy and the bankruptcy chapter a person would qualify for when filing. However, it did not change how bankruptcy is reported in a credit report.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) specifies how bankruptcy is reported and for how long. Those requirements remain the same as they have been since the FCRA was first enacted more than 30 years ago.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy remains in a credit report for 10 years from the filing date. The discharge date has nothing to do with when a bankruptcy is removed. The status of the accounts included in the bankruptcy will be updated to state they are included in the bankruptcy.

Because accounts included in bankruptcy are usually already delinquent, they typically are deleted from your credit report before the bankruptcy public record.

If the bankruptcy filing is reported accurately, it will not be removed until the ten years have expired.

Thanks for asking.

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