10 Years Later - Post discharge of CH-7 - Now what?

[Anonymous]

Hello. Newbie here ! I "filed" for CH-7 in June, 1997. It was "discharged" in November 1997. It's been 10 YEARS now. YIPPEEEE !! I hold the following charge cards: AMEX ("authorized user") Bank of America VISA (infrequently used) Capital One MasterCard (hardly used) Capital One business VISA (hardly used) For many years I have concentrated on using the single AMEX card as an "authorized user". I would like to now apply for a good cash-rebate credit card in MY OWN NAME, and discontinue using the "authorized user" card. I haven't requested a credit report in almost a year now. I typically request one from each of the agencies once a year, since they are free (1/year). I noticed that all of them have a comment like "this item will be removed on/about MM/DD/YYYY", and yet all of those dates seem to vary some, but typically close to the "filed" date of the CH-7. How long should I wait before applying for ANY credit, in order to ensure that the CH-7 has been COMPLETELY removed from my credit record. Do they go by the "filed" date, or the "discharge date", and how accurate are they to the day (of 10 years)? Thank you in adavance.

[Anonymous]

The best thing you can do is pull your own credit report and make sure it's actually fallen off before you apply for something prime.  Your scores should jump a bit when it finally falls off and that will give you a little extra boost when they are deciding CL and APR's.

If you pull your actual 3 in 1 report you will be able to see if it's still on there.  A service like TrueCredit.com might be the thing for you as you can pull your report once a day if you like and keep pulling until you see it drop off all 3 then app away!

Van

[Anonymous]

Do they go by the "filed" date, or the "discharge date", and how accurate are they to the day (of 10 years)?

[Anonymous]

I seem to recall (but don't take this as gospel) that Ch 7 is from the filed date.  They are NOT accurate to the day as to when they fall off.  The BK should fall off on it's own within 90 days or so give or take. 

You could if your anxious dispute it as should be aged off on the 10th anniversary of your filing date, but I'd give it a month or 2 and let it fall off on it's own.

This is just what I would do, others might have a different opinion.

Van

[Anonymous]

Interestingly, the "filed" date was 5 months earlier in June. The "discharge" date was November. So there's a big difference!

[Anonymous]

That being the case, I'd start looking at some sort of monitoring service and keep an eye out for it to start dropping off. 

You can if you wish wait till the end of November and if it still shows on your reports start with one CRA and just dispute it as past reporting date and see if it falls off.

Van

[Anonymous]

Well, I just HAD to satisfy my curiosity. I couldn't bear to wait any longer. And boy was I pleasantly surprised.

Firstly, it seems that there is NO RECORD of my BK on any of the CRs.

Secondly, my FICO scores from all three of the agencies seem to be pretty good. They are all above 775. From what I've read that will get me the best rates (not that I'm looking for anything).

I guess at this point the BK is truly "behind me" now, and I can put it further out of my mind.

[Anonymous]

By the way, I purchased the "FICO CREDIT COMPLETE" package, which gave me all 3 FICO (not FAKO) scores, all 3 credit reports, and some interesting suggestions.

[Creditaddict]

with those scores pick ANY cards in the world you want. you should see some nice cl too!

I would say go for an AMEX!

Message Edited by Creditaddict on 11-29-2007 01:12 PM

[Anonymous]

They go buy the filed date on chapter 7 because I filed in January of 2002 and it was discharged October 2002 and my reports states that it is scheduled to fall off in January of 2012.  Hope that helps!