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400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

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RonM21
Valued Contributor

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!


@Anonymous wrote:

Yes, yes yes! My student loans are my longest positive tradeline and oldest tradeline. It is what allowed me to get approved for a mortgage! DO IT!


@Anonymous wrote:

REHAB THOSE STUDENT LOANS !!!!!

 

I swear it's the BEST thing that can turn your credit in such a positive direction. I just completed rehab. Although it took 9 months (10 months for scores to boost) IT WAS SO WORTH IT. Check out the Student Loan section of the forums. There is a lot of golden nuggets there for you to read up on. My defaulted lines went from being one of the worst things on my reports to being the best things. ALL of my negative lates were deleted. 

 

Ultimately you will have to decide if banckruptcy is best for you, however you can rebuild without it. Do you mind letting everyone know what your monthly income is, as well as the amounts of your monthly bills?


 At the very least, try to do this


 



Total CL: $321.7kUTL: 2%AAoA: 7.0yrsBaddies: 0Other: Lease, Loan, *No Mortgage, All Inq's from Jun '20 Car Shopping

BoA-55k | NFCU-45k | AMEX-42k | DISC-40.6k | PENFED-38.4k | LOWES-35k | ALLIANT-25k | CITI-15.7k | BARCLAYS-15k | CHASE-10k

Message 11 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!


@Anonymous wrote:

 

 


I don't see bankruptcy really being a viable alternative for you as the majority of your debt is student loans. The truth is that you can discharge your student loans if you can prove undue hardship but it is very difficult. As for the medical debt google the HIPAA Letter Process follow it as laid out. If you have problems finding the website or any questions PM me.

I agree with this.  You only have about $14K that could be discharged.  Do you really want to go through BK for $14k?

Message 12 of 29
surferchris
Valued Contributor

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!


@Anonymous wrote:

Don't worry you have great resources available to you here! If you have 6 months to a year to wait, I would suggest NOT filing bankruptcy. Your debt is mostly medical and government debt, which is the most straightforward to deal with.

 

1. Dispute any old addresses, phone numbers, name variations etc. with all 3 bureaus. They won't remove addresses associated to current collections accounts, but having this clean as possible will help later.

 

2. Whatever you do, when it comes to collections, don't acknowledge that you owe the debt in writing or via phone! You lose all leverage once you acknowledge the debt.

 

3. Student loans - Contact each lender (or collection agency) that has your loans and ask for a rehab with IBR (income-based repayment). They'll ask you to fill out a form about your income, and you will have to make payments for 9 out of 10 months. If you are going to be late, call them and let them know. After rehab you are going to have a hell of a payment, so I would pay more than required to get it down while the interest is low. Also, read this - http://www.studentloanborrowerassistance.org/collections/federal-loans/getting-out-of-default-federal/rehabilitation

 

4. Medical bills - google the HIPAA process. It's a pain in the butt but it works. 

 

5. Give us some more info on the collections and judgements. It will be easier to help that way. When is the DOFD? Have you made payments? What is the debt for?

@Anonymous wrote:

Oh wow! This Forum really does help- I wasn't expecting any responses and quite honestly, gave up on all hopes for myself so I really appreciate your reply!!!

 

I will take that advice to rehab my student loans immediately- do you have any suggestions on how to start? Is there a company that can consolidate them all & help me with the rehabbing at the same time? I was under the impression that you are only allowed to do this once during the lifetime of the loan and without a stable source of income, I didn't want to risk missing a payment and using up my one-time chance back when I was 100% commission. Now that I have a good salaried, secure position; I don't know where to start. 

Student Loan Companies: GLHEGC, US Dept of Edu., SLM Financial Group (which I'm sure was previously Sallie Mae)
Comments: Student Loan Permanently Assigned to Government, Account transferred to another office, Account seriously past due date/account assigned to attorney, collection agency, or credit grantor's public collection department. 

Total Student Loans Amount Owed: $108,897

Total Accounts charged off in collections: $3875

Medical Bills from no health insurance with the 100% commission jobs: $10,330

Judgement from Midland Funding: $735

 

I've already tried to call and ask for the lates removed on my car note but they refused to help since my car was a reposessed load re-instatement. I paid over $4k in fees and fines late 2015 to get my car out of repossession.  I am still trying to catch up on the remainder of that and can only afford the payment each other so there is always a balance that I'm carrying- which leads to the 30day late every month. 

 

I'm in bad shape.. 

 


 


Agreed.  Excellent advice.

Current Cards:
AmEx Hilton Honors Surpass//AmEx Platinum Card//Ann Taylor Rewards Mastercard//Capital One Platinum Card//Credit One AmEx//Credit One Platinum VISA//Fingerhut//Navy More Rewards AmEx//TruWest Platinum VISA//Aspire VISA//Costco Anywhere VISA//Lowes Advantage//Apple Card
Loans:
1 Mortgage/////Navy FCU Auto Loan (2020 Jaguar I-Pace)//Capital One Auto (2016 BMW i3)
Next Cards (4th QTR 2022):
Navy Flagship Rewards VISA//Chase Sapphire Preferred
Stats:
Scores: 700's // Inq's: 1 for mortgage // Util: 1% // AoOA: 21 yrs

Message 13 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

Like others have stated rehab the student loans. Not sure I would file bk just yet , look into the hippa thing and give that a try first and after you exhaust every other method then I would consider filing. It took m e 5 years before I actually filled , and even then I didn't want to but it was the more logical choice
Message 14 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

Not at all! I don't mind being transparent especially with all the help from everyone. 

Income- $55,000 gross so my after tax net is $1414.96 every 2 weeks

 

Monthly Expenses: I just created a budget for the first time using Mint - any other recommendations? Evernote? 

Rent- $795

Car- $600 (not a purchase but I was young and dumb at the time. It is $20k underwater so I cannot even trade it in for a more economical car)

Insurance- $85

Utilities- $200 total (electric, gas, cable, internet)

Parking- $200 (I live inside Philadelphia so parking is expensive)

Groceries- $200

Restaurants/Food- $200

Pharmacy- $100

Taxi- $50

Gas- $120

Gym- $20

Spotify- $20

Laundry- $60

 

Thats all I could think of for now. I have a bad habit with Amazon, Ebay and Groupon and have refrained from logging on at all costs recently. I initially started online shopping to save money but found myself spending way more on unnecessary things. 

 

Message 15 of 29
Pway
Valued Contributor

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

Your rent and car note is taking a huge chunk out of your income that you are bringing home.  I know some is saying no on the bk, but that may be the only way to get out of that car that is 20k underwater and get into something more cost effective.  

Thank you for the wealth of knowledge I have learned from these forums. I am logging off as of November 9, 2022. I wish everyone great success.
Message 16 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

I think acknowledging where you are and facing it is half the battle.  I have 2 sons your age and my heart goes out to you.  Hang in there, you will get lots of good advice on this forum.  Good luck to you.

Message 17 of 29
JustinA
Frequent Contributor

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

Your student loans are going to be the biggest fight. In my opinion.

List your collections...I've had 8 (1 now)...may be able to shed light

Starting TU: 536
Starting EQ: 573
Goal: 640


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 18 of 29
JustinA
Frequent Contributor

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

And what car do you have that's 20k under? That's asinine. 600month crazy

Starting TU: 536
Starting EQ: 573
Goal: 640


Take the myFICO Fitness Challenge
Message 19 of 29
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: 400 Credit Score - Considering Bankruptcy! HELP!!

I bought a BMW 328xi coupe with an M-sport package... I'm telling you guys, made some really dumb decisions but I was also making over $100k at the time with all commission pay so it made sense. Now that I cut my pay in half for the salaried stability and dig myself out of financial trouble, I'm stuck with that decision. 

My car was repossessed then after $4k in repossession fees, towing and storage fees to take it out of reposession, they reinstated the loan which dug me even deeper in the hole. 

Message 20 of 29
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