On another non-Usenet forum someone posted the following situation and I am wondering if anyone here can offer any information or suggestions: The poster reported that he filed a no-asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy in California and recently received a final discharge. Apparently, he had a property with a first and second mortgage and there was a foreclosure on the property before his bankruptcy filing. Now, after the bankruptcy, he said there is a judgment against him which shows up on his credit report. Here's part of what he wrote, "I live in CA. The house was foreclosed in San Diego and they placed a lien on me in Los Angeles county. I do not own real estate now. I foreclosed and the bank sold the debt to a debt collector. They filed a default judgment against me in court for the 2nd mortgage. I'm worried the lien will affect my future purchase of a home." He did have an attorney represent him in the bankruptcy filing, and his attorney indicated to him that maybe he (the attorney) would need to file a motion to re-open the bankruptcy case and then get the bankruptcy court to void the outstanding judgment. The problem is that it would cost a lot of money to do that. My thinking is that most likely the outstanding judgment is an unsecured debt based on a deficiency judgment following the foreclosure, and that underlying unsecured debt would automatically be discharged as part of the no-asset Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding whether or not it was actually listed as a known debt at the time of the bankruptcy filing. If that's correct, and the underlying debt is an unsecured debt, wouldn't the judgment now be null and void, and wouldn't the judgment holder be obligated under the FDCPA to release the judgment and cause it to be removed from the judgment index? Would one option for this person be to get a copy of his credit reports, then write back to the 3 credit reporting agencies and state that the judgment is for a debt that was discharged in bankruptcy and should be removed from his credit reports?
he needs to look at his discharge paperwork. If the 2nd mortgage is included, just send the copy of the discharge papers to the credit agencies, they will have to take it off. If the 2nd was not included in the Chapter 7, I would make the attorney correct it for free. I mean, really? The attorney forgot about a mortgage? If there really is a judgement he would have to get some documentation showing that a collection agency bought that debt. Then he would have to show the court that somehow this debt was missed. Once he can prove that he had that debt at the time of filing then it should not be that hard to get that included into the bankruptcy. From what I understand it is a few pieces of paperwork that will have to be filed at the court, but I would call the attorney and get it done for free, that is a pretty big mistake. Tony
