Can someone provide me guidance on our responsiblity of reporting to the credit bureaus once we become notified of a bankruptcy.

I don't think you have a responsibilty to report to the CRA. In our area the CRA's pick this up automatically thru the Bankruptcy system and reflect on reports pulled.

You might review your contract with your CRA but if like ours your only responsibilty is to report your direct payment experience with the customer.

You may be considerd a CRA yourself if you provide other information to the CRA.

Of course I have been known to not know what I'm talking about.

The credit bureaus pick up and report bankruptcy filings as a public record. If your account is included in the filing, CDIA's Metro II credit reporting format provides a way to report that your account is part of the bankruptcy.

The account can be coded on your end to report the bankruptcy to the credit repository. Check your Metro or Metro II format for the proper codes.

How do you get the credit report to show a zero balance if you do not submit anything the CRA?

You can change a balance using E-Oscar. If you don't have E-Oscar access, you should call the credit reporting agency or agencies that you want the account balance changed on and ask them how to do it. You should also ask them about getting E-Oscar access.

Is there anything in FCRA that defines how something is reported to the bureau or is that per CRA contract? We have a customer who was a co-signer on a loan that was consistently late. The original borrower paid off the loan but the co-signer filed Chpt 7. The loan was never reported as charged off and since it was paid, it was not included as part of the co-signer's bankruptcy record. However, she wants the credit report to show that the loan was part of her Chapt. 7 so that the late payment history will not show. Is it possible for the bank to do this? Would this affect the original borrower is some way?

Go to the Consumer Data Industry Association website for instructions on how to report information to the credit bureaus. For information specific to data reporting, click on the Metro 2 option at:

www.cdiaonline.org

They have their manual online and it is very specific.

Does anyone know if we have to report a zero balance to the credit bureau if the loan was discharged in bankruptcy? Or, can we just report it as discharged and leave the balance out there?

When the debt is extinguished by the discharge and you are not able to collect, it should go to zero.

From the FCRA commentary.

A consumer report need not be tailored to the user’s needs. It may contain any information that is complete, accurate, and not obsolete on the consumer who is the subject of the report. A consumer report may include an account that was discharged in bankruptcy (as well as the bankruptcy itself), as long as it reports a zero balance due to reflect the fact that the consumer is no longer liable for the discharged debt. A consumer report may include a list of recipients of reports on the consumer who is the subject of the report.