3 Months Until Ch13 Discharge

[leahnc]

Hi, My spouse and I filled Ch13 in March 2018. What was your game plan for rebuilding credit after Ch13 discharge? 

We are just 3 months away from discharge. It's been a very long 5 years with lots of ups and down.  I'm getting excited.  

Our number one goal is Refinancing our home, but will have to wait to do that. We have a conventional loan and I think the waiting period to refi after discharge is 2 years. We bought our house 20 years ago (30 year mtg) but we've had to modify the loan years ago after a job loss and then we decided to file bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure.  Unfortunately we no longer have a 30 year term mtg after all the financial hardship.  We're hoping refinancing will take some years of the terms?  

Our CreditKarma Scores today:

Mine are TU 550 and EQ 589.  

Husbands are TU 637 and EQ 681. He has a credit builder checking and we pay all our bills from that account. His scores have improved drastically. 

Thank you. 

[hoosier64]

From BK7 discharge to 700 in 24 months or less 

This post was my starting point. After my discharge, I checked the pre-approval sites for Capital One and Discover. I was approved for Capital One Quicksilver with no annual fee and the Discover secured (which graduates), so I was able to skip getting a subprime card with an annual fee. 

[FireMedic1]

You can get your free EX FICO score on EX's website. CK is Vantage. You might be higher than you think. Click on the banner above for a free FICO.

[Lurker22]

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@leahnc wrote:

Hi, My spouse and I filled Ch13 in March 2018. What was your game plan for rebuilding credit after Ch13 discharge? 

We are just 3 months away from discharge. It's been a very long 5 years with lots of ups and down.  I'm getting excited.  

Our number one goal is Refinancing our home, but will have to wait to do that. We have a conventional loan and I think the waiting period to refi after discharge is 2 years. We bought our house 20 years ago (30 year mtg) but we've had to modify the loan years ago after a job loss and then we decided to file bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure.  Unfortunately we no longer have a 30 year term mtg after all the financial hardship.  We're hoping refinancing will take some years of the terms?  

Our CreditKarma Scores today:

Mine are TU 550 and EQ 589.  

Husbands are TU 637 and EQ 681. He has a credit builder checking and we pay all our bills from that account. His scores have improved drastically. 

Thank you. 

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Here's my road back (which is still underway, I'm only a couple months ahead of you)

10/31 made my last payment (which wasn't due until 11/17/22)

Somewhere around 3 weeks later I received notice from the trustee all payments were made

around another 3 weeks I received the audit the Trustee filed with the court

Then about a week later the Judge signed the discharge (the day after my mortgage co filed their paperwork that they agreed there was nothing past due)

Oct 21 - 13 months out (from finishing) I obtained USB Secured Cash +

Feb 22 - 9 months out I obtained USB Secured Altitude Go & NFCU Secured GoRewards

GoRewards graduated in August 22 (3 months before the finish line)

both USB have no graduated but Alt GO isn't eligible until March, Cash + my 13 hadn't discharged when they reviewed my account

4 Days after discharge (after I was sure the discharged was now showing in the credit bureaus) I applied for CapOne QuickSilver (granted $10K) and WF Active Cash (granted $3k), 2 days later I gambled and checked the VerizonVisa prequal app and it said they'd give me $4K - applied and granted....gardening now

In my case the trustee didn't consider secured cards as loans so it wasnt an issue for me, before I obtained these (a couple years ago) I cleaned up the errors on my CR's and then just monitored them to be sure they stayed accurate 

Hope this helps 

PS yes Refi is 2 years 

PPS I did call the auditor at my trustee before making the last payment as I suspected there would be a $100 shortfall in payments if I made a regular payment (attorney said to make the regular payment)....the auditor confirmed there would be a $100 shortfall and not wanting to delay anything I just included that amount in my last payment (we couldn't agree on a plan and ended up having a hearing in front of the judge, while we didn't get everything we wanted, we got more than the trustee did because I didn't receive a bonus that year, in this case the issue was the date I started making the modified payment versus when the trustee expected it to begin)

[Lurker22]

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@FireMedic1 wrote:

You can get your free EX FICO score on EX's website. CK is Vantage. You might be higher than you think. Click on the banner above for a free FICO.

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I'll second what FM is saying, when the banks pulled my CR - their internal scores are 744-757 range Fico8 with Fico9 a bit higher 

Good luck and keep us posted!

[SweetCreditObsession]

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@leahnc wrote:

Hi, My spouse and I filled Ch13 in March 2018. What was your game plan for rebuilding credit after Ch13 discharge? 

We are just 3 months away from discharge. It's been a very long 5 years with lots of ups and down.  I'm getting excited.  

Our number one goal is Refinancing our home, but will have to wait to do that. We have a conventional loan and I think the waiting period to refi after discharge is 2 years. We bought our house 20 years ago (30 year mtg) but we've had to modify the loan years ago after a job loss and then we decided to file bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure.  Unfortunately we no longer have a 30 year term mtg after all the financial hardship.  We're hoping refinancing will take some years of the terms?  

Our CreditKarma Scores today:

Mine are TU 550 and EQ 589.  

Husbands are TU 637 and EQ 681. He has a credit builder checking and we pay all our bills from that account. His scores have improved drastically. 

Thank you. 

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I started with a Fingerhut account, then a secured card from a local CU four months later. I got an Overstock card via SCT and got a Cap One Platinum and Cap One QS 1 - at that time you could use the same HP and get two cards within a day.