Long story short: During my college years, I went overboard with private student loans and credit card debt that I didn't need. Sounded great at the time until it was time to pay and there was no chance for a consolidation. Didn't let my wife know (yeah, big mistake) until we applied for our first home loan back in 2011. At the time, payments were too much and and decided for some relief through Ch 13 bankruptcy by myself, Bankruptcy ends November 2016
4 years later and close to $8k saved up, we gave it the ol college try through a mortgage broker. After 3 days and a lot of documents, we were preapproved for the $220,000 house that we wanted at 4.00% interest. With an extremely low DTI ratio for the both of us, her excellent credit and my improving credit (640, 630 609) we breezed through underwriting and got our keys on July 24th. So satisfiying that there is hope even when things may seem down.
Here are some tips that may help those who are in the same situation:
- Speak with your attorney and see what he thinks how the local trustee, especially the judge. Do allow at least 45 days max in case you need to challenge it in court
- Pay all trustee payments on time, every time. My lender required 18 months of on time payments
- No car payments! We started off with two cars in our plan and we paid them off a few years back, helped us out a lot for DTI
- Helped that my wife has great credit
- My credit scores were in the dumps for about a year until my wife added me as an authorized user which raised my scores a ton
- Be upfront about EVERYTHING. I needed to write a letter explaining why and ow I got into the mess and where I'm at now
- Do wait until your last "bump" of payments before applying for the mortgage.
- Traditional banks did not want to touch me with a 10' pole until 3 years AFTER my bankruptcy was over. A broker is the better way to go, IMO.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask! 
@Anonymous wrote:
- No car payments! We started off with two cars in our plan and we paid them off a few years back, helped us out a lot for DTI
How did that work exactly? My Ch 13 payment amount was the same the entire 4 years... It never changed. The car I had at the time was NOT included in my plan and I made the payments on schedule. The payment amount I sent the trustee that went to my unsecured debt never changed.
Grats on the home... there's also life after Ch 13. I'm a few months away from everything derogatory falling off my reports and am going to look into buying a home later in 2016. Better scores... better rates.
@Anonymous wrote:
The same for me. I had the same payment for the entire five years and made car payments separately. My Chapter 13 fell off my reports the end of April. My scores have skyrocketed. It's a great feeling after all the despair of bankruptcy to feel the joy of the good!
Absolutely... I'm counting down the months till everything falls off my reports.
I've given some thought into buying a home but right now isn't the best time. I bought a new car in January and would rather continue gardening until everything falls off my reports. 2016 is looking to be better than 2015 for a home purchase.
In the meantime I'm content living rent free... I have a 3BR lease and I added 2 roommates and charge them enough to cover the rent... leaving me with just the utilities.
@Anonymous wrote:My plan was the same as yours, leaving me with paying the cars on my own to the bank outside the plan. I just sent more money towards the cars every month, including bonuses and income tax just to get it off my budget.
My plan has gone up 3 times since I started and now it's stable to where it will not rise anymore.
Ahhhh ok... the way you worded the original post it looks like your cars were part of the Ch 13 plan.
At any rate... grats on the home. I plan on doing the same but as said, 2016 looks like a better year than 2015. The way things are going I'll have no new accounts and no inquiries in over a year and even lower DTI... both of which will have me looking better to mortgage lenders than I do now... plus scores well into the 700's. I'll also have a 3 year rental reference at a $1700 payment per month for this 3BR... in case anyone asks.
So yeah, I'm waiting out these last few months of this 7 year marathon. 
@TRC_WA wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:My plan was the same as yours, leaving me with paying the cars on my own to the bank outside the plan. I just sent more money towards the cars every month, including bonuses and income tax just to get it off my budget.
My plan has gone up 3 times since I started and now it's stable to where it will not rise anymore.
Ahhhh ok... the way you worded the original post it looks like your cars were part of the Ch 13 plan.
At any rate... grats on the home. I plan on doing the same but as said, 2016 looks like a better year than 2015. The way things are going I'll have no new accounts and no inquiries in over a year and even lower DTI... both of which will have me looking better to mortgage lenders than I do now... plus scores well into the 700's. I'll also have a 3 year rental reference at a $1700 payment per month for this 3BR... in case anyone asks.
So yeah, I'm waiting out these last few months of this 7 year marathon.
That's awesome! We had to act now since where we live it's a huge seller's market and prices were only gonna go up. I went into this thing with such a negative mindset that I wasn't gonna even get the house. Hell, I didn't bother checking my credit since I filed so imagine the surprise when it was what it was haha. So at the end of this whole ordeal, my only debt will be my house and nothing else
@Anonymous wrote:
That's awesome! We had to act now since where we live it's a huge seller's market and prices were only gonna go up. I went into this thing with such a negative mindset that I wasn't gonna even get the house. Hell, I didn't bother checking my credit since I filed so imagine the surprise when it was what it was haha. So at the end of this whole ordeal, my only debt will be my house and nothing else
That's what's terrifying to me. I'm in Seattle metro where the median home price is $500k. Rental prices are also beyond crazy which is why I have the roommates. If I'm going to throw money away renting I'm going to throw their money away... not mine.
The market here has to change at some point. I find it absolutely mind boggling that my neighbor's house down the street (2 BR, 1 BA 840 sq ft) sold for $210k. I moved here in 2011 from southeast Georgia where $210k would get you 4x the house.
Best of luck with the new home.
