One month to discharge...

[Anonymous]

I still have 4 accounts that are not reporting a $0 balance or IIB.

Should I wait these last few weeks and see if they update? Or should I start disputing now? My husband has some accounts on his that are doing the same.

Also, what should I be looking for on Pacer now? I’ve read the last few weeks start to show some changes.

I appreciate any advice or input we’ve been given on this forum! You are all awesome!

[Anonymous]

Your accounts may not reflect accurately until several weeks after your discharge. Don't worry about how they look right now. Focus more on your rebuilding plan, or find a hobby completely apart from credit and money.

PACER may show your trustee has discharged themselves from duty. When it gets to your actual discharge date, that is when you will want to start watching PACER maybe once every few days or once a week. Your discharge will be posted there. Some districts have a turnaround time of one day, others - a month or more. This is where you will have to practice patience, and let time do its magic. This will be an important skill for you in your initial rebuilding and for the years to come, so might as well start now :-)

GL

[Anonymous]

Other than being able to jump up and down and congratulate yourself for making it to discharge, the day will be pretty similar to other days. It's going to take time for the dust to settle. Meanwhile, it's time to prepare for the rebuild. 

My BK13 was completed last June but officially didn't discharge until Sept. I had 5 years to get ready for post-discharge but remained ignorant until the last year. My life would be very different now if I had started the rebuild earlier. But I'll catch up in a year or so. 

The point is that now is when you get to set up that clean slate you've been looking forward to having. Make the most of the opportunity and get a plan to help you do that. 

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

Hey Joe,

I'm curious what you would have done differently.  Specifically I'm asking because it seems like in a  Chapter 13, there isn't a whole lot you can do until the five years is up -- aside from asking the trustee to allow you a secured card or perhaps getting added as an authorized user on some family cards.   Would you have done anything else differently?   Just curious.

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

I disputed everything on my report immediately after filing.   It gave me something to do.  

As I recall, most if not all cards responded to the dispute by zeroing out the balances and indicating included in bankruptcy -- even though the discharge hadn't processed yet.

My scores hit their nadir when I filed but by the time discharge went through my scores jumped a lot.   I also got two secured cards and a share secured loan while waiting for the discharge.   Some people discourage doing this but my lawyer said if they're secured it's fine.   I'm glad I did because on discharge day my scores jumped nearly 100 points so I hit the road running.    Then I started disputing everything on my reports for like six months.   I got probably half of the IIB accounts deleted then.   It greatly helped my rebuild and I didn't have to take any subprime cards like Credit One or First Premier.

[Anonymous]

That's true, you're very limited with what you can do during the repayment period (which isn't a bad thing). And the things you listed cover most of that. I didn't do any of those things until after my discharge, mostly because I felt I had screwed things up too much to fix it all. That really wasn't true at all. Fortunately, while I didn't do anything to fix my credit, I didn't do anything to hurt it. By the time I hit my discharge, nearly all my IIBs were hitting 7 years and falling off. I finally started to see improvement and got motivated to learn how to effectively dispute derogs. A few lates were successfully removed through GW letters. 

It was only then that I got a secured card and a few retail store cards to get some positive history building. Being added as a AU isn't really an option for me. Then I signed up for Rent Reporters and got two years of rent payments plus future payments added as a new TL. It should also help a lot when I app for a mortgage later this year since it shows rent verification and my current rent is comparable to the monthly mortgage costs. Finally, I started a Self Lender loan just a few months ago, which started reporting on all 3 bureaus last week. I added that mostly to round out my account mix with an installment loan since I've owned my car outright since before filing Chapter 13.

One thing I got right from the very beginning was avoiding HPs. While doing all those things, I didn't have a single HP. Usually someone just starting a rebuild does a lot of impulsive apping (most not being approved) and end up with a dozen HPs which can cause more denials later on right when you might otherwise be qualified for better cards.

An understanding trustee should allow for at least one secured card, and an installment loan if necessary and your income supports it. Usually if you say you just want a credit builder loan with a monthly payment typically around $25 it's approved. 

Most of the things I did only had an immediate impact of a dozen points at a time on my FICOs. Sometimes I'd lose 20 points with a TL delete affecting my AAoA, but eventually I got every single late payment (before and after the BK) deleted, which was probably a 100 point increase over time.

Then, when the BKs fall off, I see an 80 point jump overnight. You can go from 620 to 770 in a couple weeks. 

I dont think i ink I would have done anything differently except starting sooner and being more focused would have been less stressful. Also, I missed the opportunity to buy a specific house (FHA loan) last summer due to my FICO being 20 points short. That's not a problem now, less than a year later.