Credit Bureau file

I recommend

Contact the credit reporting company yourself to dispute the mark.
They will send the dispute to the creditor and the creditor will have
30 days to respond.

One of 3 things will happen
1) They'll agree with you and take the mark off
2) They'll ignore it and after 30 days the mark goes off
3) They'll say "No it's valid" and the mark stays.


Note that filing for the same mark repeatedly will get you a
nastygram
from the credit reporting company to lay off.



Although, keep in mind... not all companies respond the way you want
when you mention getting a lawyer. Some companies will say "Ok, we'll
transfer you to the legal department" and won't talk to you more.

I agree with the other posts. I don't think you have a legal case
here, you didn't pay them, they charged the account off and that is
what your credit shows. Honestly, it seems the bankruptcy would be
the bigger black mark anyway.

You have no legal claim for damages.

If we let people remove black marks from their credit history, there'd
be no point to having histories in the first place.

"The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), 15 U.S.C. § 1692 et
seq., is a United States statute added in 1978 as Title VIII of the
Consumer Credit Protection Act. Its purposes are to eliminate abusive
practices in the collection of consumer debts, to promote fair debt
collection, and to provide consumers with an avenue for disputing and
obtaining validation of debt information in order to ensure the
information's accuracy"

If HSBC isn't trying to collect the debt, this doesn't apply.

Your credit report simply reflects the fact that they lent you money,
and ended up charging off the debt. A bankruptcy protects you from
collection efforts, it does not give you a clean slate. HSBC is no
allowed to collect this debt, but they ARE allowed to publish the fact
that they took a loss on you.