topic Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey in Bankruptcy

Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

BoomerSooner1 — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 22:30:12 GMT

Figured I'd share our rebuild story over the past 5 months since CH 13 discharge. My wife and I filed in May 2014 and were discharged early July 2018. Surprisingly, all 3 CRAs updated to reflect 'discharged' the next day, though we still had 10-12 accounts on each that were listed a derogatory due to BK. My FICO 8 scores at discharge were EX 585, EQ 567, TU 549; my wife's scores were EX 559, EQ 621, TU 560. We thought it'd be at least a couple months before we could obtain any decent credit to start our rebuild, but we were able to start much sooner.

Mid-July... My wife was approved for a CapOne Platinum card, $500 SL. Upgraded in October to CapOne Quicksilver, same CL.
Mid-July... I was approved for a CapOne Quicksilver One card with a $1,000 SL.
Late-July... I was approved for a NFCU Secured nRewards Visa with $500 deposit/SL.
Late-August... Jointly approved for CapOne Auto Navigator auto loan, up to $35,000 @ 9.2% APR (based on the vehicle chosen, plan to refi in 6 months).
Early-August... My wife was approved for Overstock with $1,800 SL (CLI to $2,600 in October, then $3,400 in November, and $4,200 a day later!)
Early-August... My wife was approved for Wayfair with $3,100 SL (CLI to $3,900 in November, then $4,700 a day later!)
Mid-August... My wife was approved for Target Red Card with $300 SL (auto-CLI to $800 in December).
Early-October... I was approved for Ikea Visa with $550 SL.
Early-October... I was approved for Merrick Visa with $1,100 SL (no AF, auto-CLI to $2,200 after 5 payments (on pace for March 2019).
Early-November... I was approved (after 24 hr review) for PenFed Power Cash Rewards Visa with $10,000 SL.
Mid-December... NFCU Secured nRewards Visa graduated to unsecured with $2,000 CLI, deposit released. This happened the day after I was denied (and again on recon) for NFCU Flagship Rewards Visa (thought it was worth a try based on feedback here at myFICO... I haven't received my denial letter yet, but it appears the only reason is the time post-discharge.)
Early-January 2019... CapitalOne Quicksilver One CLI to $1,500 after 5 on-time payments.
Early-March 2019... I was approved by PenFed, on recon, for a new auto loan - $36k @ 6.2% for 72 mos, same as the lowest rate CapOne offered on a second Auto Navigator pre-qual invitation.
Mid-March 2019... My wife was approved for Discover Chrome card with $2,500 SL. I'm still on their **bleep** list since they were IIB.

So, about five and a half months into our rebuild, my FICO 8 scores are EX 675, EQ 703, TU 665; my wife's are EX 682, EQ 684, TU 680. I feel we've made a lot more progress in a shorter period of time than I thought we would in July. Posting this in hopes to help others about to emerge from CH 13. I'll continue to update our journey periodically. Our next milestone is aiming to have both of our FICO 8 scores on all 3 CRAs at 700+ by the one-year mark post-discharge.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

princessornurse — Sun, 16 Dec 2018 05:38:00 GMT

Thank you very much for sharing you and your wife's journey. I look forward to the day I can share my journey for Ch 13 Discharge hopefuls.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

cf2701 — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 00:06:35 GMT

Congrats on the completion of Ch13 and excellent job on the rebuild so far!

I really appreciate you taking the time to post your progress and overwhelming success. This both gives others hope and provides valued informaiton that can be very useful.

Now comes the harder part....knowing when to garden and staying there! I wish you and your's nothing but the best.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

BoomerSooner1 — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 01:58:39 GMT

Thank you, both. I'd say we're pretty much in a mini garden for a few months starting now. Plan to let things grow and further distance ourselves from discharge, then try to refi the CapitalOne auto loan and, maybe, try again for the NFCU Flagship Visa, then into the garden we go!

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

BoomerSooner1 — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 04:47:57 GMT

Update... after hitting the 90 day mark earlier this week on my $10K SL PenFed PCR card, I thought I'd try a CLI today. Instantly denied due to...

Too many accounts with balances
Length of time revolving accounts have been established
Serious deliquency, and derogatory public record or collection filed

I suppose the first reason is technically correct, though a couple of my cards haven't updated balances (that are now paid off) since December (as of my last 3B pull 5 days ago). If the "magic number" for the second reason is, say, 12 months, I guess that's understandable. The third reason will be the case for awhile as I'm just now closing in on 7 months post-discharge.

Strange thing is that my last HP from PenFed was in August and I haven't gotten any alerts from myFICO or LifeLock that they did a HP with my CLI request this morning. I was a little disappointed for it to have not even gone to a loan officer for review. Guess I'll see if I get a survey soon and try to recon that way, as I've heard sometimes works. If not, I may just call for one.

Next month, after the 6th payment on my CapOne auto loan, I plan to try a refi through PenFed to get down from 9.29%. I'll post an update as to how that goes and all my data points at the time.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

BoomerSooner1 — Sun, 27 Jan 2019 18:52:45 GMT

So it turns out, PenFed did do a HP for the CLI request. Since each HP is good for 90 days, I decided to try for their Amex card. Denied this morning after loan officer review, for the same reasons they denied the CLI. I may call them tomorrow to recon the CLI. I don't really need another card at this point, I'm just looking to increase my total available credit.

At this point, I'm not even sure if the auto refi would be approved, so I'm going to wait until closer to the end of the 90-day period for this HP and apply for it at that time.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Feb 2019 22:11:40 GMT

Did you have to go to another meeting/heraing at the end of your CH13? If so, what happens in that meeting/hearing? im due to be done in October and am nervous of what will happen at that meeting/hearing.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

BoomerSooner1 — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 01:39:51 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Did you have to go to another meeting/heraing at the end of your CH13? If so, what happens in that meeting/hearing? im due to be done in October and am nervous of what will happen at that meeting/hearing.

No additional meetings, but I reached out to our rep at the attorney's office early in May 2018, when we knew we'd be making our last two payments. The main thing I wanted to make sure of is that the payroll deductions would stop on-time, rather than having to wait for a refund from the Trustee. We still had to do that - they took one extra payroll deduction - but the refund check came within the week. So we didn't have to do anything after the final payment was made, other than wait for the Trustee to do her thing and keep checking the 13Network website to see our status updated to DISCHARGED. That happened on July 3, 2018.

I can't say with absolute certainty that every CH13 is the same, but based on our experience, I'd say you have nothing to be nervous about as October approaches.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

Anonymous — Sat, 23 Feb 2019 17:02:38 GMT

Congratulations on your rebuild journey.

I'm post chapter 13 discharged 2/17. (Filed 12/13).

In my experience so far, any creditor involved in the BK, or I had a relationship with, in the past won't issue credit. (pre-bk) For example, I had a Target card pre-bk, paid a closed several years before the BK, same with Chevron. They will not issue credit.

Has this been your experience?

I have found a few new banks but most have been sub-prime cards.

I know a lot of banks have consolidated, so I check that now.

Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

BoomerSooner1 — Sun, 24 Feb 2019 23:38:43 GMT

My plan was to stay away from any creditor I had included in BK for quite awhile... until my wife was approved for her CapOne Platinum card very shortly after our discharge. I then had my own success with them letting me back in, but the other majors that were IIB - USAA, BoA, Discover, Citi, and Chase (auth user) - I've read enough about how they typically deal with post-discharge BK and, at least as long as it's still showing on your CR, they're not very likely to let you back in. We have until May 2021 until I try to apply for anything from any of them... but at that point, I hope to be further established with PenFed (new customer since discharge), as well as NFCU (same). A little more than two years down the road, I may not even be in a hurry to apply with any bank I had IIB. It would be nice to eventually get back in with Citi and/or Chase, though.

Re: Chapter 13 Post-Discharge Journey

BoomerSooner1 — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 22:43:40 GMT

Couple of updates in the OP and a bit more detail on my recent PenFed new auto loan approval. I received an invite from CapOne after 6 on-time payments on our current CapOne auto loan, to pre-qual for a second. I'd given my 2006 truck to my son over the holidays and quickly realized how convenient it was having a truck all those years. So after truck shopping thru CapOne for a few days, the lowest rate I saw was 6.26%. I still had a valid HP from PenFed in late January (per their 90-day "rule"), so figured I'd see if they would beat CapOne's best rate, if approved at all. After LO review, got the denial, but the only reason was "pyramiding debt". Read up on that here at myFICO and decided to recon... "pyramiding" seemed to only make sense to me if I had applied for another CC, not an auto loan. After sending my lengthy recon letter (via secure messaging), it went back to LO review. After 2 days AND AN UNEXPECTED ADDITIONAL HP, I finally got a conditional approval email!!! They wouldn't disclose my interest rate until I provided collateral info, so I found a great truck at a great price, sent them the info, and finally had to call a couple days later to get the details and finalize the loan process. They did reference my recent BK13 discharge (July 2018), but, technically, did still beat CapOne's rate - 6.2% for 72 mos, 0% down. Not great, but again, much better than I expected to do still within 12 mos of BK13 discharge. Maybe I'll refi with NFCU a year or so from now, since I've heard PenFed does not refi their own auto loans.