Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia

Instead of wasting another year with letters, hire a consumer debt lawyer. Depending on the paper trail you have you may have a claim for damages against the lender and their counsel. I hope from your post that you did mostly letters and not calls, and that you properly did written disputes (the calls are irrelevant).

I am not quite sure I get your complaint here and I don't understand how this is negatively affecting your credit even if it is being inaccurately reported. You have a bankruptcy on your record - so before you think about suing, how is it that you have specifically been harmed by the negative reporting of this debt???

Instead of doing what you have done, the starting point is the Fair Credit Reporting Act. If there is inaccurate or stale information there is a specific process to dispute this. You first have to send certified letters to the credit bureaus. The credit bureaus have 30 days to investigate. the investigation is a joke - your dispute is reduced to a 2-line code by a person in India and sent off to the creditor. All the creditor has to say is "the information is correct" in a timely manner and the credit bureaus treat this as "verified." If you still think the information is incorrect, you can ask the credit bureaus to add a 100-word statement to your credit reporting indicating why you are disputing this. Choose the statement carefully - 100 words is the limit.

The next step in the process is to send a certified letter to the creditor explaining why the information is inaccurate. In your case, you should be presenting information that this debt WAS NOT included in your bankruptcy (attach the creditors schedule listing all your creditors - if you are correct this debt should not be on it). Do you have any proof that the debt was paid in full - like a copy of your cancelled check and credit card statement? You would also indicate that the debt was paid in full prior to the filing of the bankruptcy.

By sending a writing then the creditor is obligate to tell you in writing why they think that what they have done is fine. Assuming they do, then you go to a lawyer who specializes in FCRA/FDCPA law. You show him/her copies of your certified letters and the materials that you sent (your proof of payment and bankruptcy petition and schedule of creditors). Then the lawyer needs to research how the federal courts in your district have interpreted and applied the FCRA. Further, you have to have an idea as to how you have been harmed by whatever the creditor is reporting.

The FCRA allows you to bring an action against the furnishers of information, i.e., the creditors who report information about your debts. If successful, you can recover attorney fees and your actual damages or $1000 whichever is greater.

Which brings me back to the initial question. Since you have a bankruptcy, your credit is already impacted by that. So how is the reporting of this debt making things worse or stopping you from getting credit?

Unless you are trying to get a mortgage or credit (like a car loan) I don't see how this is hurting you. If this is not worth pursuing legally and if you have done all that you can do, you can try having a lawyer write a letter to the lender if you are trying to obtain new credit and explain. I have done this for a client in the past and helped them obtain a new mortgage with a past foreclosure on their record - I explained the circumstances and the new lender agreed to the mortgage. However, this would depend on your circumstances and what you are trying to do here. I think a letter (include the documentation again) explaining that this debt was paid in full prior to bankruptcy and is being reported inaccurately despite your best efforts, and ask that the lender do a "rapid rescore" for you not counting this. Its worth a shot.