https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5619309#M64114 I have been learning from the forums for a while now and felt it was time to share my rebuild story so far in case someone else could benefit from my experiences.<BR /><BR />Prior to filing, I had a ton of medical debt weighing down my scores. I was on the verge of being sued by multiple medical collection agencies and I finally got tired of feeling like I was drowning so I contacted a bankruptcy attorney. Best decision ever. It has been a long hard road to recovery but without those medical bills ruling over my finances, I have managed to make more progress with my credit than I could have ever dreamed of prior to bankruptcy.<BR /><BR />Prior to bankruptcy, my payment history was 99% (one late car payment a year before.) I had high credit utilization most of the time but never missed a credit card payment and all of my credit accounts (cards and loans) were paid on time up until the day I filed bankruptcy. Between all of my medical collections and high credit card balances, my scores struggled to remain just barely above 600 for years, often falling down to the 570s to 580s. By discharge, all but one of those collections disappeared from my reports and that one that remains has had a zero balance since 2013. My scores post discharge have began to climb higher than I had seen in years.<BR /><BR />Below are the details of my scores and an outline of my credit file, before and after bankruptcy:<BR /><BR />Chapter 7 BK: Filed January 2018, Discharged May 2018<BR /><BR />Starting scores for rebuild - February 2018<BR />TU 555<BR />EQ 548<BR />EX 554<BR /><BR />Credit Scores after Discharge - May 2018<BR />TU 630<BR />EQ 595<BR />EX 615<BR /><BR />Current Scores - May 2019<BR />TU 663<BR />EQ 644<BR />EX 660<BR /><BR />Included in BK:<BR />Capital One Auto - $15k<BR />Capital One Platinum &amp; QS - $1300<BR />Credit One - $500<BR />Merrick - $700<BR />Walmart Card/Synchrony - $300<BR />Fingerhut - $2900<BR />World Finance personal loan - $2650<BR />Multiple medical collections that were removed by my discharge date<BR /><BR />My only accounts that remained open after bankruptcy were student loans, all in good standing with no late payments.<BR /><BR />Rebuild Journey:<BR />First Investors Auto Loan 13.49% APR - $22,500 June 2018<BR />First Premier Bank Credit Card - $500 June 2018<BR />Oklahoma's Credit Union Credit Card - $250 July 2018, CLI to $500 April 2019 (became a member 3 weeks prior to BK)<BR />First National/Legacy Credit Card - $750 Aug 2018<BR />First Savings Credit Card - $500 Sept 2018<BR />Money Lion Plus Loan - $500 December 2018 (paid off April 2019)<BR />Fingerhut Fresh Start - $230 December 2018, graduated to $500 limit at payoff in March 2019<BR /><BR />Current Utilization - 7%<BR /><BR />Recently approved for the following, not yet reporting:<BR /><BR />Overstock Card/Comenity - $500<BR />Target RED Card/TD Bank - $500<BR />Capital One Platinum - $3000<BR /><BR />I sent certified letters to all 3 credit bureaus this week to clean up inaccuracies on a small handful of accounts as an aftermath of the bankruptcy, such as late payments on accounts IIB reported after BK date, duplicated entries, charge-off statuses not being updated, etc. Hoping the removal of those duplicated negatives and late marks reported after filing will increase my scores a bit more. In the meantime, I will work on growing and aging my current accounts. My credit union advised that I may be a good candidate for their in-house mortgage and just need to be a year out of BK with a 620+ score, but I want to get my scores up to 725 to qualify for their best rates so I am holding off until I reach that goal.<BR /><BR />I hope the details of my journey helps someone in their own journey! And of course if anyone sees room for improvement in my own rebuild, I welcome any advice, although this post is meant more to try to be beneficial to others as this forum has been for me during my rebuild this past year! Tue, 21 May 2019 05:31:13 GMT Anonymous 2019-05-21T05:31:13Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5619309#M64114 I have been learning from the forums for a while now and felt it was time to share my rebuild story so far in case someone else could benefit from my experiences.<BR /><BR />Prior to filing, I had a ton of medical debt weighing down my scores. I was on the verge of being sued by multiple medical collection agencies and I finally got tired of feeling like I was drowning so I contacted a bankruptcy attorney. Best decision ever. It has been a long hard road to recovery but without those medical bills ruling over my finances, I have managed to make more progress with my credit than I could have ever dreamed of prior to bankruptcy.<BR /><BR />Prior to bankruptcy, my payment history was 99% (one late car payment a year before.) I had high credit utilization most of the time but never missed a credit card payment and all of my credit accounts (cards and loans) were paid on time up until the day I filed bankruptcy. Between all of my medical collections and high credit card balances, my scores struggled to remain just barely above 600 for years, often falling down to the 570s to 580s. By discharge, all but one of those collections disappeared from my reports and that one that remains has had a zero balance since 2013. My scores post discharge have began to climb higher than I had seen in years.<BR /><BR />Below are the details of my scores and an outline of my credit file, before and after bankruptcy:<BR /><BR />Chapter 7 BK: Filed January 2018, Discharged May 2018<BR /><BR />Starting scores for rebuild - February 2018<BR />TU 555<BR />EQ 548<BR />EX 554<BR /><BR />Credit Scores after Discharge - May 2018<BR />TU 630<BR />EQ 595<BR />EX 615<BR /><BR />Current Scores - May 2019<BR />TU 663<BR />EQ 644<BR />EX 660<BR /><BR />Included in BK:<BR />Capital One Auto - $15k<BR />Capital One Platinum &amp; QS - $1300<BR />Credit One - $500<BR />Merrick - $700<BR />Walmart Card/Synchrony - $300<BR />Fingerhut - $2900<BR />World Finance personal loan - $2650<BR />Multiple medical collections that were removed by my discharge date<BR /><BR />My only accounts that remained open after bankruptcy were student loans, all in good standing with no late payments.<BR /><BR />Rebuild Journey:<BR />First Investors Auto Loan 13.49% APR - $22,500 June 2018<BR />First Premier Bank Credit Card - $500 June 2018<BR />Oklahoma's Credit Union Credit Card - $250 July 2018, CLI to $500 April 2019 (became a member 3 weeks prior to BK)<BR />First National/Legacy Credit Card - $750 Aug 2018<BR />First Savings Credit Card - $500 Sept 2018<BR />Money Lion Plus Loan - $500 December 2018 (paid off April 2019)<BR />Fingerhut Fresh Start - $230 December 2018, graduated to $500 limit at payoff in March 2019<BR /><BR />Current Utilization - 7%<BR /><BR />Recently approved for the following, not yet reporting:<BR /><BR />Overstock Card/Comenity - $500<BR />Target RED Card/TD Bank - $500<BR />Capital One Platinum - $3000<BR /><BR />I sent certified letters to all 3 credit bureaus this week to clean up inaccuracies on a small handful of accounts as an aftermath of the bankruptcy, such as late payments on accounts IIB reported after BK date, duplicated entries, charge-off statuses not being updated, etc. Hoping the removal of those duplicated negatives and late marks reported after filing will increase my scores a bit more. In the meantime, I will work on growing and aging my current accounts. My credit union advised that I may be a good candidate for their in-house mortgage and just need to be a year out of BK with a 620+ score, but I want to get my scores up to 725 to qualify for their best rates so I am holding off until I reach that goal.<BR /><BR />I hope the details of my journey helps someone in their own journey! And of course if anyone sees room for improvement in my own rebuild, I welcome any advice, although this post is meant more to try to be beneficial to others as this forum has been for me during my rebuild this past year! Tue, 21 May 2019 05:31:13 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5619309#M64114 Anonymous 2019-05-21T05:31:13Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5619379#M64117 <P>Congrats on your rebuild so far. Keep up the great work!</P> Tue, 21 May 2019 10:30:53 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5619379#M64117 Anonymous 2019-05-21T10:30:53Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5712717#M66172 <P>Hi.&nbsp; Were is able to get the charge off status removed?&nbsp; I have a lot from experian.&nbsp; Thanks.</P> Thu, 15 Aug 2019 20:32:43 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5712717#M66172 Anonymous 2019-08-15T20:32:43Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5712981#M66174 <P>Nice. Keep at it. You'll be rewarded in the end. Good job.</P> Thu, 15 Aug 2019 23:26:00 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5712981#M66174 FireMedic1 2019-08-15T23:26:00Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714521#M66223 <P>I called all three and disputed with no problems.&nbsp;&nbsp;</P> Sat, 17 Aug 2019 15:41:58 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714521#M66223 tammyjk 2019-08-17T15:41:58Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714724#M66226 <P>Stay at it and dont give up. If they wont report correctly. You can file with the CFPB. They dont play and the CRA's will fix the wrongs.</P> Sat, 17 Aug 2019 20:58:52 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714724#M66226 FireMedic1 2019-08-17T20:58:52Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714800#M66228 Awesome. Experience is giving me a difficult time and I can’t get a live person on the phone. Thank you! Sat, 17 Aug 2019 22:07:47 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714800#M66228 Anonymous 2019-08-17T22:07:47Z https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714814#M66230 <P>Congrats on the great work OP and definitely serves as an inspiration.</P> Sat, 17 Aug 2019 22:29:24 GMT https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/My-Rebuild-After-Chapter-7/m-p/5714814#M66230 coreyb80 2019-08-17T22:29:24Z