@christopherb222 wrote:I am 19 months into a chapter 13 BK. I know I'm not "supposed to" do the following but my credit rating is very important to me. So I have decided to rebuild during my chapter 13.
A few months ago I got 3 secured cards. $500 Wells Fargo. $500 U.S. Bank. $300 Bank of America. Always keep less than 9%. All 3 of my scores on here took 27-40 point jumps. I am now 618,585,609.
Well iin the last week I have been approved for the following VIA the cart checkout trick.
$500 Victoria secret
$1000 HSN
$1500 Overstock.com
I now have 6 credit trade lines reporting :-). With 31 more months of BK left on my plan.
This is makes me happy. I used to have pristine credit with 17 cards and over 200k in credit available. Now having to start over is embarrassing but I have to admit I have not been declined at all on all 6 apps. I am done for 6 more months. I feel lucky as most everything I read says no approval during chapter 13. I'm surprised by the limits too!!
If the trustee sees it. Oh well. I'll dismiss and pay off with my annual bonus!! I'm going to have great credit again much sooner than 7-10 years
Not to rain on your parade or anything but you won't have great credit until the bankruptcy public record and the IIB accounts associated with the filing fall off your credit report.
I'm 6+ years after filing and am counting down the months till mine fall off and I'm in the 670-690 range and am stuck here until the items fall off. Just the way it is. So if you are expecting 750+ scores while you still have a bankruptcy on your report... it's not going to happen.
I am surprised that you were approved for CC's with a open bankruptcy on your report. A bit risky IMHO given the trustee can file a motion to dismiss if he finds out you are opening new accounts without approval... but you knew the risk and did it anyway so good luck.
So you are 618 585 and 609? Yeah, I was 620's and 630's at discharge in 2013 and after 2 years I have built a solid lineup of major CC's and brought my scores up to the 670-690 range I mentioned earlier. Again, not to rain on your parade but your scores aren't going to magically skyrocket in a week and while you may have been approved for toy limit store cards I seriously doubt you would get approved for any major CC with the open bankruptcy.
I can tell you for a fact that I went car shopping 2 days after discharge in 2013 and every approval I got was conditional upon me showing my discharge papers due to the fact my credit report hadn't yet updated to discharge. So while you may have gotten some store card approvals be prepared that future apps can and most likely will want to see proof of discharge.
Not trying to be harsh... just don't want to see you disappointed. I'm 2 years post discharge... 6+ years post filing... and while I have a solid lineup of cards my scores are still suffering due to the Ch 13 that is lingering for a few more months on my reports.
Best of luck... 
@TRC_WA wrote:
@christopherb222 wrote:I am 19 months into a chapter 13 BK. I know I'm not "supposed to" do the following but my credit rating is very important to me. So I have decided to rebuild during my chapter 13.
A few months ago I got 3 secured cards. $500 Wells Fargo. $500 U.S. Bank. $300 Bank of America. Always keep less than 9%. All 3 of my scores on here took 27-40 point jumps. I am now 618,585,609.
Well iin the last week I have been approved for the following VIA the cart checkout trick.
$500 Victoria secret
$1000 HSN
$1500 Overstock.com
I now have 6 credit trade lines reporting :-). With 31 more months of BK left on my plan.
This is makes me happy. I used to have pristine credit with 17 cards and over 200k in credit available. Now having to start over is embarrassing but I have to admit I have not been declined at all on all 6 apps. I am done for 6 more months. I feel lucky as most everything I read says no approval during chapter 13. I'm surprised by the limits too!!
If the trustee sees it. Oh well. I'll dismiss and pay off with my annual bonus!! I'm going to have great credit again much sooner than 7-10 years
Not to rain on your parade or anything but you won't have great credit until the bankruptcy public record and the IIB accounts associated with the filing fall off your credit report.
I'm 6+ years after filing and am counting down the months till mine fall off and I'm in the 670-690 range and am stuck here until the items fall off. Just the way it is. So if you are expecting 750+ scores while you still have a bankruptcy on your report... it's not going to happen.
I am surprised that you were approved for CC's with a open bankruptcy on your report. A bit risky IMHO given the trustee can file a motion to dismiss if he finds out you are opening new accounts without approval... but you knew the risk and did it anyway so good luck.
So you are 618 585 and 609? Yeah, I was 620's and 630's at discharge in 2013 and after 2 years I have built a solid lineup of major CC's and brought my scores up to the 670-690 range I mentioned earlier. Again, not to rain on your parade but your scores aren't going to magically skyrocket in a week and while you may have been approved for toy limit store cards I seriously doubt you would get approved for any major CC with the open bankruptcy.
I can tell you for a fact that I went car shopping 2 days after discharge in 2013 and every approval I got was conditional upon me showing my discharge papers due to the fact my credit report hadn't yet updated to discharge. So while you may have gotten some store card approvals be prepared that future apps can and most likely will want to see proof of discharge.
Not trying to be harsh... just don't want to see you disappointed. I'm 2 years post discharge... 6+ years post filing... and while I have a solid lineup of cards my scores are still suffering due to the Ch 13 that is lingering for a few more months on my reports.
Best of luck...
Well said
@christopherb222 wrote:
If the trustee sees it. Oh well. I'll dismiss and pay off with my annual bonus!! I'm going to have great credit again much sooner than 7-10 years
Forgot to add... dismissing the bankruptcy and paying it off won't help.
The public record stays for 10 years for dismissals instead of the 7 years for discharges. There is no magical deletion from your credit report for paying it off early. Your scores will still be weighted down by the bankruptcy.
I'm at 20% utilization and my peak FICO scores have been 700 EQ ... 675 TU and my current 687 EX. I bought a car and opened a few CC accounts since then so I've lost a few points and am currently 678 673 687.
6+ years after filing.
Rebuilding is a marathon... not a 100 yard sprint.
@christopherb222 wrote:You are correct. I'm not expecting anything magical , but 40 months of 6 positive trade lines won't hurt me if I make it to discharge.
I took this risk cause now I'm in a financial position to just pay my BK outright or negotiate with lenders. If I was living off of the extra $30 a month I would not risk anything.
I figure with my large jump in income I'm going to get "caught " anyways and the trustee will raise my repay to 100%. Which is crap. I can negotiate much much better than full repayment . for example before I filed I got collection agency notices for one time payment of $933 on $5000 debts. So I'm confident I'll be able to pay off all at a cheaper price if caught.
Once again. What I'm doing is horrible advice for others. I have been obsessed with credit and here since 2008. My actions are reckless. I know better after 1000 hours of credit research ,but I'd love to see where I can be if I make it to the end with 6 or more trade lines reporting positively.
I cant find a Single article anywhere with someone else coming out of a BK with this scenario.
As I said in my previous post... it's wishful thinking at best.
Dismissing the bankruptcy and paying it off won't help.
The public record stays for 10 years for dismissals instead of the 7 years for discharges. There is no magical deletion from your credit report for paying it off early. Your scores will still be weighted down by the bankruptcy.