Update on Chapter 13/Mortgage Issues

Recently I mentioned in a post that I had some issues regarding my credit report and my ongoing Chapter 13 payment plan. I thought I'd post my findings here, in case it will help answer any questions anyone might have.

Mortgage Payments Not Showing on Credit Report

I called my attorney's office and asked about this. My credit report shows my mortgage as over $5,000 past due, with no payments being made at all since I filed for Chapter 13. The attorney's fees are paid first and foremost, before anything is paid to any creditors - and his fee was $3,000. At a rate of $184 a week, his payment should be done by now. (I filed August 31, 2006.) They referred me to the trustee. The trustee's office checked my records out, and advised that they had just started making payments to my creditors in January 2007, after the attorney's fees were paid off. So far, they've made two payments, so I'm in hopes that the payments on my mortgage will start showing up on my credit report soon. I was really kind of freaking out when I saw on my credit report that the mortgage was that far behind. I feel better about it now. The trustee's office also advised me that sometimes in these situations, the mortgage company's collection department doesn't communicate with the company's bankruptcy department and things don't get reported correctly. I'll wait to see if that's the case if the payments don't start showing on my credit report soon.

Creditors Showing the Chapter 13 on my Credit Report

Some of my creditors on my credit report have a statement below them now that says "Chapter 13 Filed", or "Discharged - Chapter 13". The trustee's office wasn't sure why it would say "discharged" when the plan hasn't been discharged yet (won't be for 2.5 more years). However, after investigating a little further, they told me that out of all of my creditors (over 35), only about 9 of them actually filed claims, which means they will be the only ones getting paid. The time has passed for the others to file claims, so since they didn't file, they don't get paid. It appears the ones that say "discharged" are the ones that didn't file, therefore they consider the debt already discharged - at least in their eyes. The creditors showing "Chapter 13 Filed" are the ones that filed claims and will be getting paid. Here's a funny for you, though - the cable company that I've had such trouble with in the past, that absolutely refused to remove incorrect information from my credit report by reporting it as paid (which it was - long before the Chapter 13), didn't even bother to file a claim for they kept insisting I still owed them.

If anyone has some pointers or helpful info to add, please feel free. I just wanted to post this to help others that might be in the same situation.