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How To Remove A Bankruptcy From Your Credit Report

A Regretful Debt Collector Tells Me His Story

A bankruptcy will be automatically deleted from your credit report in either 7 or 10 years from the bankruptcy filing date, depending on what chapter you file.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy will be deleted in 10 years because, in this case, none of the debt is repaid. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is cleared in 7 years since the debt is partially repaid.

Removing a bankruptcy from your credit report early can be a very difficult process (as you can imagine), but it is possible to do if you follow the steps I’ve outlined in this article.

Please keep in mind that this may or may not work. Your individual situation will ultimately determine if it’s possible to get a bankruptcy removed from your credit report.

Another thing I want to suggest before we get started is that you sign up for a credit monitoring service if you don’t have one already. You’ll need to monitor your credit reports closely while you’re going through these steps, so it’s pretty much a must have.

How Can I Remove A Bankruptcy From My Credit Report Early?

Here are 5 steps to remove a bankruptcy from your credit report:

  1. Check Your Credit Report For Bankruptcy Errors
  2. Dispute Inaccurate Bankruptcy Entries with a Credit Dispute Letter
  3. Send A Procedural Request Letter to The Credit Bureaus
  4. Ask The Courts How The Bankruptcy Was Verified
  5. Have a Professional Remove The Bankruptcy

1. Check Your Credit Report For Bankruptcy Errors

In this step, you’ll need a copy of all 3 of your credit reports.

This is where having a credit monitoring service comes in handy. TransUnion is the best credit monitoring service in my opinion, plus you get a free credit score.

The first thing you’ll want to do is look over the bankruptcy entry on your credit reports very closely for any errors.

2. Dispute Inaccurate Bankruptcy Entries With A Credit Dispute Letter

With a Credit Dispute Letter, what you’re looking for is anything that’s inaccurate. If you find inaccuracies, then promptly dispute the bankruptcy entry with the credit bureaus.

The best case scenario is that they’ll be unable to verify the bankruptcy and remove it from your credit report. This is unlikely if it’s a recent bankruptcy. The older the bankruptcy, the better chances you have of getting it removed from your credit report this way.

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Nonetheless, if it happens, then great, you can skip the other steps. If the bankruptcy is verified by the credit bureaus continue to the next step.

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3. Send A Procedural Request Letter To The Credit Bureaus

If the bankruptcy is verified by the credit bureaus, you will next need to send them a procedural request letter asking them who they verified the bankruptcy with.

More than likely the credit bureaus will respond and claim that they verified it with the courts.

This is more than likely not true because in most cases it’s my understanding that the courts do not verify bankruptcies for the credit bureaus.

4. Ask The Courts How The Bankruptcy Was Verified

Next, as you might have guessed, you will need to contact the courts that were specified by the credit bureaus.

Ask them how they went about verifying the bankruptcy. They will probably say they didn’t verify anything. Ask for that statement in writing.

After you receive the letter, mail it to the credit bureaus and demand that they immediately remove the bankruptcy as they knowingly provided false information and therefore are in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If all goes well, the bankruptcy will be removed.

Again, this process can be extremely difficult and time consuming, and there is no guarantee that it will even work. Nonetheless, it might be worth a try if you’re up for it.

5. Have A Professional Remove The Bankruptcy

If you’re the type of person who would rather have a professional handle the ins and outs of your credit repair process, I suggest you check out Lexington Law Credit Repair.

Ask Lex Law for Help

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