Credit report necessary to file bankruptcy?

Credit report necessary to file bankruptcy?

No, you don’t have to pull a credit report before filing bankruptcy. You are required to disclose all your debts, but a credit report is not required to do that. Typically debtors know who they owe and don’t need a credit report to remind them.

Often times, though, people aren’t certain who their creditors are, in which case a credit report is a helpful tool in preparing a bankruptcy petition (paperwork filed with bankruptcy court). Still, credit reports are not always accurate and shouldn’t be considered the definitive document defining your debt.

If your debt is old, mixed in with a spouse (or ex-spouse) or otherwise not certain, a credit report is a good source to help disclose your debt. If you miss or fail to disclose a creditor because of a bad memory or credit report, you are still protected through your bankruptcy filing. All debts before your bankruptcy are automatically part of your bankruptcy whether they are included in your bankruptcy petition or not. A creditor, then, cannot claim you still owe a debt because it wasn’t properly listed in your bankruptcy paperwork. This is particularly true in collection company cases where debts are parceled out amongst numerous collectors, many of whom you may never even be aware of.