The Discharge Injunction: What to Do if a Creditor Still Collects

If a creditor is still calling, mailing you, suing you, or reporting a balance due on a debt that was wiped out in your bankruptcy, that is not just annoying - it is very likely a violation of a federal court order, and you have real tools to stop it. When your bankruptcy court entered your discharge, it also entered a permanent injunction under 11 U.S.C. § 524 that bars anyone from ever again trying to collect a discharged debt from you personally. That order doesn't expire, and it applies no matter who now owns the debt - including a debt collector or "debt buyer" who purchased it after your case closed.

What the discharge injunction actually protects you from

Once a debt is discharged, § 524 makes it unlawful for a creditor to:

• Call, text, email, or mail you asking for payment on the discharged balance
• File a lawsuit or continue an existing lawsuit to collect it
• Garnish your wages or levy a bank account over it
• Repossess or foreclose based on the discharged personal debt (as opposed to a valid lien - see below)
• Report the account to a credit bureau as currently owing, past due, or "charged off" without reflecting that it was discharged
• Threaten you with any of the above to pressure payment

This applies to the debt itself, not necessarily to a lien. If you kept a house or car and didn't reaffirm the loan, the lender generally can't sue you for the money, but it can still enforce a valid mortgage or lien against the property if you stop paying. That's a property-rights issue, separate from an unlawful attempt to collect against you personally.

The injunction also doesn't cover debts that weren't discharged in the first place - for example, most recent tax debts, many types of student loans, domestic support obligations, and debts a court specifically ruled non-dischargeable under 11 U.S.C. § 523 (such as for fraud). Check your discharge order and case docket if you're not sure whether a specific debt was actually wiped out.

Why this has real teeth: the Supreme Court's Taggart standard

In Taggart v. Lorenzen (2019), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bankruptcy court may hold a creditor in civil contempt for violating the discharge injunction when there is "no fair ground of doubt" that the creditor's conduct was barred by the discharge order. The test is largely objective - a creditor's claim that it "didn't realize" the debt was discharged, or that it thought some exception applied, won't automatically excuse it if that belief wasn't objectively reasonable. Courts can order the creditor to pay your actual damages, your attorney's fees, and in some cases additional sanctions.

In plain terms: creditors and collectors are expected to check whether a debt was discharged before they contact you about it, and "we made a mistake" is not a free pass.

Document everything before you do anything else

A contempt motion lives or dies on your evidence. As soon as you notice a possible violation, start a file (a folder, a notebook, or a notes app) and keep:

• Every letter or bill - keep the envelope with the postmark
• Call logs - date, time, phone number, who called, what was said, and voicemails saved as audio files if possible
• Emails and text messages - screenshots with visible dates
• Court documents - your lawsuit summons or complaint, if you were sued or a suit continued after discharge
• Credit report pulls - a copy of the tradeline showing the account still reported as owing after your discharge date
• Your own bankruptcy paperwork - case number, discharge order, and the schedule listing the debt, so you can show the creditor was listed and notified

It's worth pulling your credit reports specifically to check this. Under federal law you're entitled to free reports through the official site, as explained by the CFPB; review each discharged account to confirm it shows a zero balance and a status reflecting the bankruptcy, not an active past-due balance.

What to do, step by step

1. Send one written notice. If it's an isolated letter or call, you can write back (keep a copy) stating the debt was discharged in your bankruptcy, citing your case number and court, and asking them to stop and correct any credit reporting. Many legitimate creditors fix genuine errors at this stage.
2. If it continues, don't keep negotiating - get help. Do not make a payment "just to make them stop." A payment can be used later to argue you reaffirmed or waived the discharge, and it undermines your claim.
3. Contact your bankruptcy attorney if you had one, or find a new one. If cost is a concern, look for legal aid, a law-school bankruptcy clinic, or your bankruptcy court's self-help resources listed at uscourts.gov.
4. Reopen your bankruptcy case. Enforcement generally happens back in the same bankruptcy court that granted your discharge, not in state court or a new federal case. Your attorney (or you, if self-represented) files a motion to reopen the closed case; many courts do not charge the standard reopening fee specifically for discharge-violation motions, but confirm current local practice with the clerk's office or on your district's uscourts.gov page.
5. File a motion for contempt (or, in some districts, an adversary proceeding). This asks the bankruptcy judge to find the creditor violated § 524, order it to stop, correct your credit report, and pay damages and fees under the Taggart standard.
6. Keep records of the harm. Any fees, lost wages from dealing with the problem, wrongly garnished funds, or documented stress the collection caused strengthens a damages claim.

Traps and deadlines to watch for

• Don't confuse a discharged debt with a non-dischargeable one. Before you accuse a creditor of a violation, confirm the specific debt was actually wiped out - check your discharge order and schedules, or ask your attorney.
• Reaffirmation changes everything. If you signed a reaffirmation agreement on that debt (common with car loans), you remain personally liable and the injunction doesn't apply to it.
• Act promptly once you notice a violation. There's no single universal deadline for reopening a case to enforce a discharge, but waiting lets evidence go stale and can weaken your position - don't sit on it.
• A lawsuit filed in the wrong court doesn't fix itself. If you're sued in state court on a discharged debt, you typically need to raise the discharge as a defense there and may still need the bankruptcy court to address the underlying violation - don't just ignore the state-court summons.

Beware debt-relief and "credit repair" scams during this process

Once collectors start calling again, it's common to also get pitched by for-profit debt-settlement companies, credit-repair outfits, or non-attorney "petition preparers" promising to fix everything for an upfront fee. These are not the same as, and cannot replace, enforcing your discharge in bankruptcy court, and non-attorneys are legally barred from giving you legal advice about it. If you need low-cost help, start with a legal aid office, a law-school clinic, your court's self-help center, or a credit counseling agency approved by the U.S. Trustee Program, and report suspected scams to the FTC and the CFPB.

Related reading

If you haven't already, check your credit reports after your bankruptcy to make sure discharged debts are showing correctly, and see our guide on reopening a closed bankruptcy case for the mechanics of getting back in front of your court.

This article is general legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If a creditor is violating your discharge, talk to a qualified bankruptcy attorney or a U.S. Trustee-approved credit counseling agency - and be wary of any for-profit debt-relief, debt-settlement, or non-attorney "petition preparer" service asking for upfront fees to handle it for you.