A Bankruptcy Lawyer’s Blog

Is it Possible to Remove a Bankruptcy?

There is much circulation that there is nothing we can do about a bankruptcy after it is all said and done. It is basically implied that we’re powerless consumers who are forced to put up with it until it completes its years long life cycle. But 7, even 10 years? Come on… Is this all a misconception? Somehow, the idea of being powerless doesn’t settle well with me and I have a really hard time believing it.

The truth is, most people recover from bankruptcies, foreclosures, repossessions, charge-offs, etc within 2 years! Usually less! However, as we all know, these items stay on our credit reports to haunt us for much longer than 2 years… Chapter 7 bankruptcies stay on there for 10 years!!!

I know this firsthand because my husband filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2001, completely recovered from it and bought a condo in 2003, and is still stuck with its backlash even now in 2008. He has a 750ish FICO with otherwise flawless credit (he learned his lesson obviously), but can’t get simple things such as most credit cards solely because of the BK! He somehow managed to get one Washington Mutual credit card, and that’s it.

All of this and hours of research led us to the notion that maybe there is something that can be done about removing a bankruptcy (or even other derogatory items such as foreclosures, etc). Do those shady credit bureau executives remove things from their own credit reports? I don’t know, but if I had to guess I’d go with yes… I mean, they can get away with it, right? Who would know?

So maybe it’s not necessarily what you know, but who you know when it comes to removing or deleting a bankruptcy from your credit report? I’m yet to find out the answer to that, but I hope to find out soon.