Was my understanding that if credit card debt was canceled or forgiven the creditor would issue a 1099-C which is considered taxable income and in which case you would have to pay tax on that amount at the end of the year. The only way to avoid paying that tax was if the debt was discharged through bankruptcy proceedings. Once the debt is discharged you do not have to pay tax on that debt even if you receive a 1099-C from a creditor, you just had to show your bankruptcy discharge paperwork.
Well you are getting closer to reality.....but here is the everyday problem that credit card companies have with debtors who simply quit paying......they really never forgive the debt. Most will try to sell the paper and get about ten cents on the dollar. They do not send out a 1099 because they did not forgive the underlying note....they simply sold it and took a loss. They will report that loss to the IRS. The assignee of the commercial paper will still try to collect. They might even get a judgment. However, if they go to court and get a judgment.......there is no duty to send out a 1099 because they have a judgment for the full amount which is owed......nothing has been reduced. So the entire premise you have created that you meant going bankrupt on credit cards.....as if bankrupt meant something else is still completely void of what is really happening in the real world.
What made your discussion of liens particularly amusing is that everything you said about them becoming secure and not discharged in bankruptcy was true as it relates to the attached property which the lien is placed, but the personal liability beyond the lien has been discharged......but most importantly.....no 1099 would be sent out to the debtor.....so the entire conversation was an absurdity.
The real world where your concern about a 1099 becomes relevant is when a person is not bankrupt or insolvent, but does not have the salary or means to keep up with their credit cards. In those situation where an offer of compromise reduces the debt as part of a settlement, in fact the credit card company may issue a 1099, but the reality is that most credit card companies usually have already sold the paper to a third party, and if that third party reaches that compromise amount......they may actually be making a profit......and there is no reduction from their cost basis in the commercial paper.....so no 1099 will issue.
The simple fact is that in the context of a mortgage foreclosure, it is usually a short sale which creates 1099 problems for a debtor....not credit cards......but if I continue......It would assume that you really want to discuss reality......not fantasy, or Orwellian concepts of doublethink.