Cops-R-Us' and they told me how they took care of all the paperwork and the whole filing process, when in actuality they had no idea what they were doing. This was a huge scam for them. They were making lots of money and still do today. They did all this just to steal our money and I wasn't paying attention to these things so I ended up owing them alot of money. I ended up having to pay them back and then tried to recover on them through debt collection. After my lawyer told me this guy was so dirty and I had little to no chance of winning I told my lawyer to drop it and then contacted my credit counselor. He helped me with the entire bankruptcy process and was very involved in helping me get my credit score where it needed to be and now all my credit is clean. The only thing is my credit report shows a chapter 7 bankruptcy as 'discharged' but if they want to see a bankruptcy on your credit report they can. It doesn't matter what chapter you filed under. If they request your credit report you will have to give it to them even if you didn't file. You can't just stop giving your credit out once you have it clean. Once you give it out, you have to give them your credit report every 4 years. When you file bankruptcy you can't file for another 7 years. After that time has expired you can still go back into bankruptcy and keep the process going. They can file on you anytime after that. They can really ruin your credit this way, I went through it and it almost killed my credit rating. It was a major time commitment to going through all that but it will help with a bad credit score, especially if you have any collection agencies or have defaulted on a credit card in the past. It's not cheap but what's the point in just paying these bills? When I needed my car fixed I was told they are going to have to repossess my car because of how much I owe on my credit cards and student loans. The lawyer wouldn't even answer my calls anymore and my credit counselor said to just file for bankruptcy. The credit counselor was my best friend through this process and he really guided me in the right direction. He showed me what my problems were and how to fix them. I would have never thought to go to a credit counselor. I thought they were only supposed to help you when you were having a problem. I'm so happy I finally found this man. If anyone wants to hire him or have their credit counselor he is the man for you. I'm so glad he was there for me when I really needed him. Now I'm starting to rebuild my credit and that will help me save money and I'll be able to start my life over again. It's been really tough and I'm still not there but things are starting to look up. I'm trying to get things back together and start my life over again after I had a really hard time for so long. I recently had the same exact problem with a credit card. Unfortunately for me, my only avenue was the credit bureau so I couldn't ask the company for their info, or the balance on the card. However, I got some new information on that from another site, for that credit card company. The information I had was that the account was in default, the phone number I had was an incorrect cell phone number. When I went online to find out more information on the particular credit card company, I realized that my wife had never reported the card in question as stolen when it was stolen. I called the credit card company and gave them my information. The first agent I spoke with said he couldn't get me the account information and to call back in an hour or two. So, I called back later, and the second agent asked a few more questions. At this point, I told them I would start paying off the balance and that I did not want to pay another bill as the balance already shown up as paid. All of that stuff has been removed from my credit report, and they sent me a card that looks to be from a different company. It's not my first choice. I'm in the process of paying it off and calling them when that is done. From reading these comments and seeing how many times you have been hit by this, this happens a lot. It's one of the reasons why you should ALWAYS check your credit reports, especially if you've had a bad credit card for a long time. If they have sent your info to the credit bureaus and reported that card lost or stolen as stolen, it's possible that if someone else is now using the card, it's possible that they have a very good card. They also reported your number lost, or never reported it to begin with. With this much information given to the credit bureaus, this may just be a clerical error. However, the credit bureaus never make mistakes (they don't even make mistakes that aren't clerical errors), they get information from credit reports. Also, people seem to think that once your credit reports are closed, no one else can view them. They can and it's more common that you think. Many employers and landlords check credit reports as a part of the pre-employment background check. The bureaus and the various companies don't report to each other, and all use the same credit files. I just wanted to thank you for all the information you have posted. You do a great job. I was going to write an extremely long post on why everyone should be extremely careful with giving out your credit information to anyone. However, if you are worried about you not having a good credit rating, maybe you can wait a little bit. As far as credit counselors go, I think you have to use common sense here. Anyone can say they're a credit counselor and you should be careful, but there are credit counselors who really don't know what they're doing. If someone is going to help you clean up your credit, get a credit counselor who has a degree in the subject (they are few and far between), or at least has some experience in the industry. I would even go as far as to suggest that you try to find a consumer credit counselor, and not someone who works for a credit counseling agency or some other financial entity. These companies get people in lots of trouble because they just want to make money. I'm sure you realize this, but if you don't already have the proper credit reports and don't understand them, you have to do your research. This is crucial. I can't stress it enough! We are in the country illegally and had a home which we purchased with stolen money we were given a real estate contract. We have had trouble every day with bill collectors. They call daily and leave messages on our phone. Our landlady is a problem for our landlady, if she doesn't like your face she makes it hard for you to get a job and pay bills. I have 2 children who need to go to school, I am a single mother and I need a lawyer that understands me and my case because they get soooooo many calls and letters. i am thinking of starting a credit counseling agency in my area (hialeah, florida) and i am looking for people who are already in the business. do you know of anyone? i would greatly appreciate your help. email me if you have time to answer questions: bernard.martin100@gmail.com I used to be with a credit reporting agency (a few years ago, before this blog was created). I was responsible for providing our clients with the most up-to-date information on the credit report. We offered credit counseling programs for those that were in trouble with their credit card companies. We reported to creditors (bankruptcies, bankruptcies from 6 years ago, judgments, and unpaid judgments). If you didn't make your payments you were contacted by creditors who demanded payment or they would sue you. I can remember getting at least one phone call every day for the first couple of months that I was here. I can remember how many of our clients didn't even have a job. Most of them were a handful of dollars over their credit limit on one credit card, and some of them had no clue about credit. They were in the age range of 18 to 65. The majority of them I can tell that they have to be single or very lonely. These people were just looking for someone to talk to because their lives were so boring. I had one single lady who was in school. She said that she couldn't keep track of all of the bills. The only bill that she had to pay that would be reported to the credit bureaus is her student loan, so we have nothing else to go off of. I think that she will have a difficult time getting a job and paying bills because she has only been out of school for