Not where I should be after Bankruptcy Ch7

[risingup2day]

Hello all,

I have been lurking in the forums for a while now, picking up a ton of knowledge. However, after looking at where others are after their BK 7, I'm wondering if I am doing something wrong. So I decided to come out of the darkness and open my credit profile to see how I can improve. I wish to buy a house in the next year or two (Saving for down now). So any advice would be appreciated.

Background - DW and I filed Ch7 in 8/14 discharged 12/14. I have no clue where my scores where before filing. After filing I was was right @ 600. My DW was the first to venture out and was approved for a Cap1 QS one for $2000 on 2/15 I was kinda of jelly so I applied for the QS1 too, but only got $500 😪 ( Both of us was part of the credit step program) feeling a little depressed DW had a bigger SL, I applied for and got the BuyPower card from Capital on SL of $500. Ran up the bill and carried a balance across the board on both of my cards. Then I stumbled on this site. Truly a blessing. Started reading stories of people success and started down the path I'm on now. Paid off the balances and I did my best to keep my util low. Sadly, I got ahead of my self and started apping for stuff I could not get with my profile.

I won't bore you with the long story so fast forward to present day. My credit profile as it stands.

3/26 TU on CK is 630
Age of Credit is 1yr 6 months
Overall util of 26%
11 Inq.

3/26 Eq on CK is 645
Age of credit is 2yrs 4 months
Overall util of 28%
15 inq.

No late's since filing😃

I have a small personal loan and a number of TL with decent SL. If there is any details you would need to know, I will be happy to provide.

I feel like I have stalled out and not growing like others have. I understand that results may vary and patience is a virtue. Of course, I know there is room to grow and improve.

Thank you for reading and any insight would be appreciated!

[Anonymous]

Welcome to myFICO!

you've got the makings of a good profile, and you've made some of the right moves...now you just need to make some with the right lenders.

I'm going to recommend Navy Federal as your prime target.  They've been *FANTASTIC* to me right out of BK, and as you're further away from discharge than I am, no doubt they'll be just as good to you. Check this page for their primary membership requirements, and this thread if you don't meet those requirements.

PenFed would also be great for you as a secondary target.  If you qualify for Navy (even through the backdoor), then you qualify for PenFed.  But do Navy first.

Next advice - don't bother using or even referring to CK scores.  They're useless.  Absolute rubbish.  I obtain fresh reports and 100% real FICO8 scores once a week for all 3 bureaus.  I spend $1.00 every other week to do this using trial memberships at creditchecktotal.com.

Best of luck to you, and feel free (and encouraged) to reach out for help at every step of the way.

[risingup2day]

Appreciate the words of encouragement. I am with NFCU and it is my strongest lender. At first, it was slow going. I tried for a CLI about a year ago. Cost me a hp and I was denied. I waited a little shy of a year and reading the forums, a sp review by NFCU just happened a few weeks ago. I pulled the trigger. I was way too scared to ask for max so I requested 5K. Approved. I feel like I left some on the table. Right behind comes Discover.

I have thought about going for Penfed, but I feel like my score is too low for them at this point. Plus I would be taking to HP's if I'm not mistaken. I did take a look at the hyper link and was curious how you keep getting your score pulled for a $1. Do you sign up and cancel the subscription. Then re sign up?

[sarge12]

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@Alawishes524 wrote:
Hello all,

I have been lurking in the forums for a while now, picking up a ton of knowledge. However, after looking at where others are after their BK 7, I'm wondering if I am doing something wrong. So I decided to come out of the darkness and open my credit profile to see how I can improve. I wish to buy a house in the next year or two (Saving for down now). So any advice would be appreciated.

@Background - DW and I filed Ch7 in 8/14 discharged 12/14. I have no clue where my scores where before filing. After filing I was was right @ 600. My DW was the first to venture out and was approved for a Cap1 QS one for $2000 on 2/15 I was kinda of jelly so I applied for the QS1 too, but only got $500 😪 ( Both of us was part of the credit step program) feeling a little depressed DW had a bigger SL, I applied for and got the BuyPower card from Capital on SL of $500. Ran up the bill and carried a balance across the board on both of my cards. Then I stumbled on this site. Truly a blessing. Started reading stories of people success and started down the path I'm on now. Paid off the balances and I did my best to keep my util low. Sadly, I got ahead of my self and started apping for stuff I could not get with my profile.

I won't bore you with the long story so fast forward to present day. My credit profile as it stands.

3/26 TU on CK is 630
Age of Credit is 1yr 6 months
Overall util of 26%
11 Inq.

3/26 Eq on CK is 645
Age of credit is 2yrs 4 months
Overall util of 28%
15 inq.

No late's since filing😃

I have a small personal loan and a number of TL with decent SL. If there is any details you would need to know, I will be happy to provide.

I feel like I have stalled out and not growing like others have. I understand that results may vary and patience is a virtue. Of course, I know there is room to grow and improve.

Thank you for reading and any insight would be appreciated!

---

Best results repairing credit is achieved by applying for a few cards that you can qualify for...then hitting the garden for sis months or so at least, while maintaining those few cards AZEO, maintaining perfect payment history while having <9% utilization, as your score increases while in the garden you should later qualify for higher tier cards...and then back to the garden once again....the race to high scores is a marathon, not a sprint, quit wasting inqueries on cards you clearly do not yet qualify for. Patience is the key.

[DollyLama]

If your ultimate goal is buy a house in 2 years, I would not app any more credit cards. Even though EX won't show inq after a year, the underwriters will and see all hard pull inquires on all your credit bureaus for the last TWO years. I would garden what cards I have, hoping for a credit line increase with low util and perfect payment records on all tradelines. If they are a soft pull, it won't affect your inquiries, but hard pull inquires will ding your reports. Let them fall off. Also focus on the "mortage scores" in this process, as lenders do not typically used FICO 8, and most mortgage scores are a bit lower than your FICO 8 scores. The higher the better for interest rate on a mortgage. 

[Anonymous]

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@risingup2day wrote:
Appreciate the words of encouragement. I am with NFCU and it is my strongest lender. At first, it was slow going. I tried for a CLI about a year ago. Cost me a hp and I was denied. I waited a little shy of a year and reading the forums, a sp review by NFCU just happened a few weeks ago. I pulled the trigger. I was way too scared to ask for max so I requested 5K. Approved. I feel like I left some on the table. Right behind comes Discover.

I have thought about going for Penfed, but I feel like my score is too low for them at this point. Plus I would be taking to HP's if I'm not mistaken. I did take a look at the hyper link and was curious how you keep getting your score pulled for a $1. Do you sign up and cancel the subscription. Then re sign up?

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That's pretty much it in a nutshell

[Anonymous]

Hi Rising,

I am in a similar situation.  I was discharged January 2015 (ch 7).  I just started the effort to improve my scores and was dissapointed to find my scores were in the low 600s two years after discharge.

Anyway, I have read a lot of posts and found that a lot of people have been where we are.  I have found quite a few answers to the questions i have by searching around the forums.  A big help to me was the 700 in 24 months thread.

Good luck! have a great day.

[risingup2day]

Well, thank you all for your words of wisdom. I just wanted to see if I am doing this right. After reading others people rebuild and with my score hovering around 640's two years out of my CH 7, (24 to 700) I was doing something wrong. I guess mileage will vary depends on how your drive😜.