topic Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge in Bankruptcy

BK 13 / CH 13 - Discharged & Now Closed!

FLLGuy — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 16:57:20 GMT

Curious to know how long other fellow BK CH 13 individuals had to wait between last payment and discharge?

I'm located in South Florida and made my last BK 13 payment in June 2021 after 5yr long years. Called Trustee's office and was told all creditors checks have to clear before discharge can be granted. I felt deflated since I have 32 creditors that I need to wait on and as of July 19 (1 creditor cashed their check leaving 31 more to go). At this rate, I feel i'll be here 4-6 months.

Anyone else gone or going through the same experience?

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

coreyb80 — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 16:17:46 GMT

Sorry to hear that OP, but I've read what you're experiencing on here before. My last payment is coming up in September and I'm honestly not expecting my discharge to happen until Nov/Dec. Please keep us posted with your progress.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FLLGuy — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 18:57:00 GMT

@coreyb80- Oh man, congrats!

Hope you in your case your creditors cash their checks quick and move on to greener pastures. I'll keep this channel posted with results, please you do the same as well.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

coreyb80 — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 18:58:18 GMT

@FLLGuy wrote:
@coreyb80- Oh man, congrats!

Hope you in your case your creditors cash their checks quick and move on to greener pastures. I'll keep this channel posted with results, please you do the same as well.

I definitely will. It's been a long 5 years, but the light is finally here.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

Horseshoez — Fri, 23 Jul 2021 16:12:27 GMT

@FLLGuy wrote:
Curious to know how long other fellow BK CH 13 individuals had to wait between last payment and discharge?

I'm located in South Florida and made my last BK 13 payment in June 2021 after 5yr long years. Called Trustee's office and was told all creditors checks have to clear before discharge can be granted. I felt deflated since I have 32 creditors that I need to wait on and as of July 19 (1 creditor cashed their check leaving 31 more to go). At this rate, I feel i'll be here 4-6 months.

Anyone else gone or going through the same experience?

Sorry, late to the party here...

My gut tells me someone in the Trustee's office confused the discharge with the closure of the case. At least in the case of my Chapter 13 and others I've known who've weathered the 5-year stint in credit prison, the discharge was grated four weeks after my last payment was posted, the closure didn't happen for three or four months as that is what requires all of the checks to be cashed and the money to be disbursed.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FLLGuy — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 03:01:14 GMT

@HorseshoezThank you for sharing & you're not late - we kept the light on for you.

I'm like a hawk watching NationalDataCenter (NDC) & Pacer.Gov for movement. July 7th motion was filed allowing creditors 21 days to object my motion requesting discharge. NDC Case Status in the right hand corner in pretty bold "orange" color states "COMPLETED". Then under General Information case status is "Completed Pending FR". Research shows pending FR means "waiting for Final Report". I also show $1,799 on hand - not quite sure what that means hope it's a return to me, which would be nice but i'm not holding my breath.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

SB_F — Sun, 25 Jul 2021 17:43:17 GMT

All I can say is watch online for disputes between Trustee and your attorney, and make sure all of the amounts look correct. My discharge was delayed 6 months after the last payment. Trustee filed to dismiss thr whole case because a non discharegable IRS debt had not been completely paid, but that was because his office had applied payments to dischargeable accounts instead. Neither my attorney nor I caught it for month or so, and we had to actually file for a hearing before the trustee took care of it. By they got the payments back and redirected them to the IRS, 6 months had passed. No big deal some say, but if you want a conventional mortgage (not VA or FHA), you won't be considered for 24 months from the day of discharge.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FLLGuy — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 13:36:53 GMT

(Update of as 7/31/21) - thought i would include some data points for others going through the tail end of their Chapter 13 bankruptcy. I've been stalking both NDC.org and Pacer.gov. Later afternoon 7/30 an Order for Discharge was filed, almost fell out of my chair. Not out of the woods yet but tracking in the right direction.

Date Filed: 07/05/2016

Debtor discharged: 07/30/2021 <-----(Order for Discharge - “A discharge under 11 U.S.C. § 1328(a))

Plan confirmed: 02/02/2017

341 meeting: 08/24/2016

Research shows the process before you're 100% discharged from BK 13: Be advised YMMV it's not one size fits all I'm only sharing what Pacer.gov provides through public access and you should do your own research get acclimated what ever helps hedge the anxiety. And of course doesn't hurt to reach out to both your Attorney and Trustee to get a pulse on where things stand. There's other factors that can delay a full discharge which I've omitted to avoid falling into the dreaded rabbit hole. Hence keep your attorney close.

Order Discharging Debtor (Done!)
BNC Certificate of mailing (Done!)
- some in pacer have this before the Order to discharge is entered and others have gotten it 2 days after.
Chapter 13 Trustee's Final Report (Pending)
- this can take anywhere from 1-6months to complete but most on avg by 3 months.
Final Decree and Discharge of Trustee (Pending) ***Golden Ticket***
- most cases I've seen this completed 1 month after final report. however, some have waited upto 3 months.

Hope this helps

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

Horseshoez — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 13:47:28 GMT

@FLLGuy, that is more like what happened to me, roughly four weeks after my final payment was posted (confirmed via NDC), my discharge was ordered (confirmed via Pacer). The next step is the closure, and that won't happen until all of the checks have been cashed and the monies have been accounted for; in my case, mid-COVID, it took three to four months.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

SB_F — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 13:50:50 GMT

@FLLGuy That's a VERY good explanation that this site has been lacking. There is still little BK13 info on here, especially compared to BK7. I remember checking every few days and being pleasantly shocked/ surprise to finally see DISCHARGED! Due to trustee delays, mine took an extra six months.

Good job getting through it. Very few of us do.

Thanks.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FLLGuy — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 14:13:05 GMT

@Horseshoez- ahh yes, "twirling my fingers like a mad scientist". The good'OLE checks must clear. You are absolutely correct my friend the other "variable". Checks not clearing will definitely hold things up. I"m glad you broke through and looking at your siggy things are looking good for you. thank you for your experience - you've given me a true sample of succes in the right direction.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FLLGuy — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 14:10:17 GMT

@SB_F- i'm glad you got through as well. I'm sure that was the longest 6mos post last payment. i kid myself sometimes, what's another few months after 5yrs.....no biggie. (while deep inside i'm screaming gettin the McShivers and rollercoaster of emotions

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

Horseshoez — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 14:40:52 GMT

@FLLGuy wrote:
@Horseshoez- ahh yes, "twirling my fingers like a mad scientist". The good'OLE checks must clear. You are absolutely correct my friend the other "variable". Checks not clearing will definitely hold things up. I"m glad you broke through and looking at your siggy things are looking good for you. thank you for your experience - you've given me a true sample of succes in the right direction.

I completely understand where you are these days, I was there in early March 2020; my discharge had just come through and after not having any credit cards for nearly seven years (I had to stop using them long before I finally filed for my chapter 13), I was over anxious when it came time to start my rebuild. Said another way, I screwed up, BIG TIME.

Under the heading of, "Do as I say, don't do as I did!"...

Following your discharge, wait six weeks, and check all of your credit reports to make sure your accounts are correctly reflecting the discharge and nothing is still reporting as being late. Once you're happy the dust has settled, start your rebuild plan.

What did I do wrong at this stage? The day after my discharge, I applied for an unsecured credit card from CapOne, DENIED! I appealed, denied again. I then applied for a secured card from my bank of many years (BofA), denied again! Still without doing lots of research and going on the say-so of others, I applied for a CapOne secured card (which had a measly $1,000 max limit). Yes, I was approved for that card, but by then I'd already racked up seven hard pulls against my credit. To add insult to injury, the CapOne card with the low limit was totally insufficient for my monthly spend and I ended up closing it after less than seven weeks.

Putting together a better plan...

I found this site, did some research on BK tolerant financial institutions when it came to secured cards; my short list was TDBank, Discover, Navy Federal (NFCU), and First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO); given TDBank was the only one in my area with local branches, I opted to move all of my banking from BofA over to them and open a secured card with a $5,000 limit. This turned out to be the single best move I've made since discharge; the card "cost" me an annual fee (half of which was refunded) of $29, in exchange, TDBank pays interest on the security deposit (not much I'll grant you) and it pays rewards (which were nearly ten times what I ended up paying in the annual fee). Better still, the card graduated to unsecured at exactly six months, and even better still, the card also graduated to a full Signature Visa.

With the above said, in your shoes, I'd shoot for the following:

Open a relatively high value secured card, there are other financial institutions out there, but TDBank, Navy, Discover, and FNBO all get high remarks here.
Hit up the CapitalOne pre-approval site, lots of folks have recently reported getting an unsecured Quicksilver card with a $3,000 limit within a couple months of a Chapter 13 discharge.
Then after a few more months, open an account with a credit union (if you have a secured card with Navy Fed, I'd use a different credit union), such as PenFed, deposit some money in the account, let it age a bit, and then apply for one of their unsecured credit cards.

Had I played it smart and followed the above plan instead of screwing up like I did, I probably could have gotten the three cards I now have in less than six months; instead it took me just over a year.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

SB_F — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 15:54:01 GMT

@HorseshoezGood suggestion.

I'm not saying someone should follow my plan, but here is what I did:

-I was an AU on a Cap1 for my parents as I handle all of their finances ($6500 SL)

-I was an AU on GF Home Depot as that's what we use for home stuff ($3500 SL)

-4 mo after discharge, applied and opened Cap1 ($1000 SL, 3 HP), Barclay ($1000, 1 HP) and OLLO ($2100, 2 HP)

-6 mo after discharge, opened $1000 secured personal loan on old, unused CU account, paid off over 8 months

-6 mo after discharge, opened Penfed savings and checking, deposited $5000, no activity since

-gardened and churned cards to near AZEO

-15 mo after discharge, requested $5000 increase on Cap1, got $1000 SP (so $2000 SL), none available for Barclay or OLLO

-15 mo after discharge, applied for Penfed PCR, hoping for $5000 SL but got $25,000 (at 2% cash back, became main spender card)

-Gardened and churned PCR but put small subscriptions on other cards w/ auto pay in full.

-18 mo after discharge, opened NFCU savings and checking with $100, no activity since

-24 mo (and 8 days) after discharge (which was last week), applied for NFCU AMEX expecting low SL being first card but got instant $25,000

I plan to garden at least until I refinance my mortgage for a renovation and addition.

I've watched others grow faster with a little envy, wondering why my score wouldn't go up faster, but about a year in, it started to climb steadily with a few jumps. All are now 150 to 175 points higher. After Penfed PCR, all went up to 840, 850 and 850. I knew that wouldn't stay which it didn't. With no changes, they dropped and settled to 819-840 (from 672, 643 and 663 at discharge). I'm happy with how it turned out, but I'm sure I would do things differently now. Other than 3 HP on Cap1, the three starter cards served me well, but I might have gone with Penfed or NFCU sooner instead, if I knew what I know now. My main goal was to minimize HPs as I knew a mortgage refi was in my plans and more important to me than a bunch of high SLs on cards that I would be foolish to ever run up.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

coreyb80 — Sat, 31 Jul 2021 17:59:01 GMT

Great plans and execution as well @Horseshoez & @SB_F. I started with NFCU 2 years ago, while still in my 13, and was able to obtain a secured card for $200. Woke up one morning in April 2020 and noticed it graduated and I received a bump up to $2K. I then asked for a CLI and was bumped up to $4K. I'm now sitting at $6500 after PC'ing to the Flagship card. Recently approved for the PCR with Penfed for $2500 and an auto loan for a new vehicle. I'm closing my commerical bank accounts next week with BoA and Wells and rolling with the CUs moving forward. They give the best bang for your buck IMO!! Hoping my cards continue to grow even more after my discharge and hoping to obtain my white whale AMEX, in the near future as well.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FLLGuy — Sat, 07 Aug 2021 01:34:14 GMT

Quick Update: Bankruptcy Chapter 13 (BK13 / BK 13 / CH13 / CH 13) needle is moving according to both Pacer.Gov and NDC.Org. Hope this is useful to anyone undergoing BK 13 to help manage expectations and most of all "anxiety".

7/30/21 - From Pacer.Gov - Order Discharging Debtor (pacer.gov) shows discharged date 7/30/21.
- Pacer Pending Statuses show "Awaiting Closing" since 7/30 and currently 7 days Time in Status.
8/2/21 - From NDC - Balance on hand ($1800) reduced to ($0). NDC Case Status (no change) Completed - Pending Final Report
8/3/21 - From NDC - Last Disbursement entered as 8/3/21.
- Plan Base, Total Paid into Plan, and Total Paid to all Parties now match.
8/4/21 - Trustee Offices, Called on check statuses (32 checks cut / 1 check cleared in 3weeks / 31 more to go)
8/5/21 - MyFico alerts both EQ & TU bankruptcy discharged entered (3 point gain) waiting on EX expected to be last advice from forums.
- Cap1 now allows me to prequalify for 3 (Plat, QS1, Secured) - holding off for now. Recently app'd for NFCU secure $200 and added as AU to AMEX Cash Magnet new account $15,000 SL w/3% utilization.
- However, my wife gets Cap1 prequalify for 6 different cards including Savor One and Venture. She app'd Savor w/$1,000 SL sucks but she's happy to accept considering our circumstances glad Cap1 let us back in after burning them over $10K in BK 13.
8/6/21 - Received "Order to Discharge" in the mail signed by the judge dated 7/30/21.

Patiently waiting, waiting with Patience, just a little Patience...yeaaahhh. I keep running through the Cap1 prequalify page like a kid in a candy store over and over again feels good to get PreQualified for both CC and Auto. I'm also stalking Discover waiting on them to show me some love with a secured option. I'm focused to sell and buy a new house by EOY or Q1' 2022.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FLLGuy — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 19:41:19 GMT

Update -

@Anonymous, @Horseshoez , @SB_F , @jmw1 , @FireMedic1

I reported earlier the CRAs have started to report Bankruptcy disharge and noticed 3 point increase from TU and EQ. However, now individual accounts are reporting "discharged" with point drops between (6-16points). It's nerve wrecking to watch this fluctuate and learned from you all not to dispute and let it organically do it's thing. I take it this is normal?

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

FireMedic1 — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 19:58:53 GMT

Yes give it 30 days or so. Dont dispute. In time once the smoke clears. You should have a small score rise. Thats why we say to people dont go run out and get credit until the waters are calm again. It will happen. Patience grasshopper.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

Horseshoez — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 21:42:42 GMT

@FLLGuy wrote:
Update -

@Anonymous, @Horseshoez , @SB_F , @jmw1 , @FireMedic1

I reported earlier the CRAs have started to report Bankruptcy disharge and noticed 3 point increase from TU and EQ. However, now individual accounts are reporting "discharged" with point drops between (6-16points). It's nerve wrecking to watch this fluctuate and learned from you all not to dispute and let it organically do it's thing. I take it this is normal?

Totally normal, my scores fluctuated nearly 50 points over the first six months.

Re: BK 13 / CH 13 - How much time lapsed from last payment to discharge

SB_F — Fri, 20 Aug 2021 02:16:08 GMT

@FLLGuy wrote:
Quick Update: Bankruptcy Chapter 13 (BK13 / BK 13 / CH13 / CH 13) needle is moving according to both Pacer.Gov and NDC.Org. Hope this is useful to anyone undergoing BK 13 to help manage expectations and most of all "anxiety".
7/30/21 - From Pacer.Gov - Order Discharging Debtor (pacer.gov) shows discharged date 7/30/21.
Pacer Pending Statuses show "Awaiting Closing" since 7/30 and currently 7 days Time in Status.
8/2/21 - From NDC - Balance on hand ($1800) reduced to ($0). NDC Case Status (no change) Completed - Pending Final Report
8/3/21 - From NDC - Last Disbursement entered as 8/3/21.
Plan Base, Total Paid into Plan, and Total Paid to all Parties now match.
8/4/21 - Trustee Offices, Called on check statuses (32 checks cut / 1 check cleared in 3weeks / 31 more to go)
8/5/21 - MyFico alerts both EQ & TU bankruptcy discharged entered (3 point gain) waiting on EX expected to be last advice from forums.
Cap1 now allows me to prequalify for 3 (Plat, QS1, Secured) - holding off for now. Recently app'd for NFCU secure $200 and added as AU to AMEX Cash Magnet new account $15,000 SL w/3% utilization.
However, my wife gets Cap1 prequalify for 6 different cards including Savor One and Venture. She app'd Savor w/$1,000 SL sucks but she's happy to accept considering our circumstances glad Cap1 let us back in after burning them over $10K in BK 13.
8/6/21 - Received "Order to Discharge" in the mail signed by the judge dated 7/30/21.

Patiently waiting, waiting with Patience, just a little Patience...yeaaahhh. I keep running through the Cap1 prequalify page like a kid in a candy store over and over again feels good to get PreQualified for both CC and Auto. I'm also stalking Discover waiting on them to show me some love with a secured option. I'm focused to sell and buy a new house by EOY or Q1' 2022.

Hard to be patient, but it will work. And just a reminder, Cap1 does hard pulls on all three.