By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-01-05 17:08:06 | Word Count: 664
Bankruptcy is becoming more and more common in this slumping economy. With people loosing their homes and jobs, sometimes bankruptcy is the only way out. Some credit repair companies may advertise that it’s possible to remove bankruptcy from credit, however the technique often isn’t legitimate. It involves sending letters to dispute individual charges that led to the bankruptcy, and having the charges removed from your credit report. However, once the charges are verified, they often return, after you’ve paid a credit repair company.
Really, the only way to remove bankruptcy from your credit is to pay your dues. It takes 7 years from the filing date for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy to fall off your credit report on its own. It’s 10 years for Chapters 7, 11, or 12 according to Experian – one of the three major credit reporting bureaus.
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That’s why it’s so important to avoid bankruptcy and monitor your credit to prevent such a catastrophe from happening. Before you dig yourself into such a deep hole, be proactive. Order your credit report from the three major credit bureaus. Experian (www.experian.com), TransUnion (www.transunion.com) and Equifax (www.equifax.com) all report slightly different information, and to have a totally accurate picture of what your credit score is, you’ll need to get reports from all of them.
Once you have your credit report you’ll better know how to proceed. Should you find anything you want removed before you reach a state of bankruptcy, a company like Creditelves can often help. They’ve been working for years to help people improve their credit by contacting the various credit bureaus to remove various entries from their credit reports. They will help you compose a letter that states the details of your claim, any proof you may have of an error on your credit report, your personal information that will help the bureau identify your account easily and any other pertinent information that will make the process easier for the bureau.
Sometimes, if the entry is legitimate you can still get it removed as a result of the way the laws are written. It’s almost like when you fight a traffic ticket hoping the police officer won’t show up in court so that your ticket will automatically be thrown out. Here’s how it works: After the bureau is notified, they have 30 days to respond to your letter, and if the creditor doesn’t advise the bureau how to handle your dispute within the allotted time the entry is automatically removed. However, with bankruptcy cases, once proof is produced the entry is reinstated. That’s why this process can work for single, small entries like one late payment, but isn’t a legitimate technique for the repeated offenses that lead to a bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy is a difficult road to sow, and one doesn’t get there over night. Neither does one get out of it over night. It’s important to resist the appealing claims by some credit repair companies that they can remove bankruptcy from your credit, because the only legitimate way to do it is by doing the time.
