Possibility of filing second bankruptcy

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I have been here lurking for a good few months now, and have decided it is time to make a change. 

A little background: 

I filed for my first BK back on November 24, 2008 and was discharged on April 14, 2009. From there I worked on things to fix my credit, and was able to get my scores up, decent credit card lines with Capital One, Low car loan with Chase Bank and things were going good till last year. 2014/2015 was a hard time, I lost my job became behind on multiple credit cards charged off, utilities that went to collections, and had my car Repo'd from Chase. 

I felt hopeless, and still do at times. My FICOs went from 680s down to currently 502. I have roughly $7,000 in charge offs from Capital One. $2,000 from merrick bank, roughly $11,000 in collection from Chase for the Repo, and roughly $5,000 in misc collection accounts. 

Right now, I am trying to do better. I have made changes to my life in regards to spending. But I will never be able to pay back all of those colletions, and charge offs. 

My question is: I want to make a SECOND FRESH START, by filing for BK again.  

I read online that you have to wait 8 years from the date you filed first (not was discharged) is this correct? 

Second what would you think would happen to my scores (Ficos currently at bottom 500s across the board) if I filed for BK. 

In BK do I have to give up positive credit accounts also? I have a $1,000 Fingerhut account that I use a payoff monthly as well as a Express Credit card that I've been using with SCT. and a small Total Visa CC with a $300 limit. 

Would I be able to rebuild any credit with two bks on me 

Any advice would be helpful. 

Thank you! 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, you maybe should consider. The main concern is with the amount of debt, you could get sued/garnished. There is a waiting period but I'm not sure of the time frame. The other option is perhaps get a second job and try to get on a payment plan with the collection agencies. 

Good luck and keep us posted. 

[ScottsdaleDad]

There is an 8 year waiting period, and I believe it's from last filing date. I just went through the same thing, and had to wait 8 years after the filing date to file the second BK7. I now have 2 BK7's on my report, with 1 scheduled to fall off in December 2017. Once I disputed all of the incorrect information on my credit report after the discharge, my scores increased dramatically because the BK resolved all of the delinquencies. 

Yes, you have to include everything in your BK filing. I had great credit with Navy Federal, but issues with my other creditors. I had to include Navy so I wouldn't have shown preferential treatment to any creditors. It killed me to include them because they had been so good to me after my first BK. I still have an auto loan with them after reaffirming in the BK, but I know they will never give me new credit. Navy won't give you new credit if you don't pay back their loss, and the loss is too large to pay back, so I burned that bridge.  

After my most recent discharge in May 2016, I have been able to get good unsecured credit limits from Cap One, Discover, Barclay's, HSN (SCT), and Overstock (SCT). I also opened a share secured loan with Alliant Credit Union (No credit check and they put up the funds to secure). Now slowly building with these accounts. 

Prime banks still won't touch me, but I'll be patient and try again after I build up some history. I was close with a Chase credit card. I was initially declined, but reconned. The loan officer sounded like he was going to approve me for something, but then grilled me about the 1st BK7, and eventually turned me down. I'm going to wait until the old BK falls off before applying with a prime bank again. 

You'll be fine if you file. As you can see, I was able to rebound quickly. 

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Hi scottsdaledad. Can I ask a few questions....

1) what types of credit did you put into your 2nd BK.

2) I have collections with Cap 1, do u think they would welcome be back? Burned them with almost $5k.

3) how soon after BK did you apply. What were your scores before BK and after BK?

Thanks for the help

[ScottsdaleDad]

 Hi,

Sure, here you go:

1) I included a mortgage, 3 auto loans (1 was a deficiency balance; the other 2 were cars I reaffirmed through the BK), and lots of revolving debt and personal loans. My creditors were Navy, Cap One, Pay Pal, IRS (Discharged 3 years of back taxes), and a few local credit unions. The only issue I had was a loan I took out a few months before filing. I wasn't thinking about filing when I was approved for the loan, but the credit union fought me on including it in the BK saying I planned it. I had to reaffirm, but my lawyer negotiated 0% interest until paid in full, so it worked out OK.  

2) Yes, I think they would. I discharged a $1,000 line of credit and a $750 credit card with Cap One, and they approved me for a $3,000 unsecured QS1 credit card 2 months after discharge. I still can't believe they did that. Maybe it was because I have a long credit history, and only recently had credit issues. One month later, I called in for a billing question, and they offered me an upgrade to a no AF QS card. I didn't get the normal bonuses with the upgrade, but I still think it was worth it. 

3) My scores before discharge were in the 520's and soon after were in the 620's when I was approved for my first cards. My EQ got as high as 663 a couple of weeks ago, but I made some large purchases that have dinged my utilization and scores. They're back in the 620's again. I'm sure they'll improve once I pay everything down. 

The first card I was approved for was an unsecured Discover IT for $1,400, approved 1 month after discharge. I did their pre-qual and it came back with a recommendation (I now know their pre-qual's mean nothing, but I was still approved). I was approved for a Cap One card 2 months after discharge, and a Barclay's Cash Forward card for $1,500 a few days after that. I have since used the SCT to get HSN and Overstock cards. I have also taken out SSL's with Alliant CU (They fronted the money; I don't think they check credit for the loan) and Pen Fed ( I fronted the money and had to wait 30 days to activate the loan; I don't think they check credit for the loan). My last card was a secured credit card for $250 with State Dept. Federal CU (No credit check). I'm taking a break for now and just giving my accounts time to age.

The key to rebounding is disputing your accounts as soon as you get your discharge. My scores shot up after I did this. Once everything is reporting correctly, start rebuilding. The mistake I made soon after was applying for credit with prime banks (Chase, Citi, Amex). I don't know what I was thinking. They were just wasted HP's. I would focus on rebuilding with lenient creditors or ones that don't check credit at all so you don't waste inquiries. From what I've read on here, I got lucky with Discover and Barclay's as they can be hard to figure out. Cap One seems to be forgiving (As in my case), but I've read on here that they also decline people who have burned them. It's hit and miss. I would recommend the SSL with Alliant. Very easy and quick process. After the loan, I made them my primary CU, and I'm very happy with them so far. SDFCU was easy too with no credit check.

I hope this helps.

Let me know if you have any other questions.  

[Anonymous]

I just filed my 2nd bankruptcy Jan 2017. I hope I'm as successful. Just waiting on my discharge. My first bankruptcy is scheduled to fall off July 2017,

[dlynk196]

Good afternoon-

I unfortunately have to come back to these forums due to a 2nd filing - Original file date 4/14/09 (Should, from what I read) fall off April 2019. 2nd chapter 7 was just filed yesterday 4/17/17... Keeping the home, but surrendering vehicle with USAA - 341 meeting set for 5/23/17...

Few questions for those who had to go througha 2nd filing -

1) Has anyone surrendered a vehicle with USAA? if yes, how long after the file date was the vehicle possesed? We are trying to determine how long we will have the vehicle before surrendering.

2) Anyone get approved for a car loan after a 2nd chapter 7 filing? with?

3) Will we ever be able to get a car loan or unsecured card after dishcarge while we carry 2 bankruptcies on our reports for the next 2 years?

Any insight would be so helpful from those who went through this twice.

Thanks so much!

[ScottsdaleDad]

Sorry for the late response to your post, but I just saw it. 

I have 2 BK7 on my record (Discharge dates May 2016 and December 2007). I was able to get an unsecured Capital One Quicksilver One card 1 month atfer discharge and that was after including them in my BK7. I was also able to get a Discover It card and Barclay's Cash Forward card 2 months after discharge. I was also able to get Comentiy cards for HSN, Lexus, and Overstock through the shopping cart trick with no hard credit pulls. That is it for me on the unsecured route. I don't have any experience with your questions 1 and 2. 

I would start your rebuild with Capital One as they are very BK forgiving. If you need or want to go the secured route, Alliant Credit Union (You deposit at least $500, but they give the money back to you the next day) and Pen Fed (You deposit at least $500, and they release the funds back to you as you make payments) are good options with no credit check for the loans (Only for membership). State Department Federal Credit Union also offers a very low rate, low minimum deposit ($250) secured credit card with no credit check. These are the lenders I started with. I haven't been approved by any prime lenders yet (Chase, Citi, Amex, etc.), but I'll give it a couple more years of rebuilding. I hope this helps. Good luck!      

[CreditExpressNJ]

If you don't mind me asking how do u do the sct for the Lexus card

[dlynk196]

Thanks so much for the detailed response! My wife and I are anticipating our discharge within the next week..

Can I ask what the "shopping cart trick" is??

Thanks again!
Dan