When you apply for a loan (or an apartment, insurance, or some jobs), your credit history will be checked to determine whether you are “creditworthy.” A credit reporting bureau compiles information from various sources – stores where you have charge accounts, the bank where you have your car loan or bank charge cards, and the like – and puts together a credit report on you. A credit report essentially is a list of your current and previous loans, credit cards, and other debts, and your record of paying them. The date each loan was made or each charge account opened is listed, as are the initial loan amounts or credit limits and the current balances of each loan or credit account. The amount of the monthly payment and other terms are shown also. Most important to the prospective lender and your credit rating are any delinquencies, including missed payments, past due accounts, whether a company has ever written off a loan, whether you have been arrested or sued, and whether you have filed for bankruptcy.
If you have fallen behind on your bills and are being harassed by creditors contact a Sacramento bankruptcy attorney Tom Conlon at (916) 971-8880 to see if you qualify to file bankruptcy and get a new fresh start.
What rights do you have if your application is denied because your file at the credit bureau is incomplete or contains inaccurate information that indicates you are a bad credit risk? The Fair Credit Reporting Act protects consumers from having inaccurate, incomplete, and obsolete information about their credit histories circulated. Under the Fair Credit Act, a credit report is called a “consumer report”, and the credit agency that furnishes the report is a “consumer reporting agency”. The Fair Credit Reporting Act mandates that bad credit marks – “negative information” – can be kept on file no more than seven years, except bankruptcy, which can be reported for up to ten years. It also requires credit reporting agencies to adopt fair standards for gathering, maintaining, and reporting information concerning your credit. The Fair Credit Reporting Act applies only to consumer credit and insurance, and does not cover commercial credit or business insurance.
If you have fallen behind on your bills and are being harassed by creditors contact a Sacramento bankruptcy lawyer Tom Conlon at (916) 971-8880 to see if you qualify to file bankruptcy and get a new fresh start.
Here’s another important public policy issue that gave rise to an exception to the bankruptcy discharge. If you injured or killed someone while you where driving intoxicated, you cannot discharge any debts resulting from the injuries or deaths you caused. This includes driving while under the influence of illegal drugs. A Chapter 13 wont help you here, because these debts are exempted from discharge in Chapter 13 as well as Chapter 7. But any debts you owe due to property damage you caused while driving intoxicated can be discharged.
