Hi all.
We are about to get discharged from our chapter 13 plan. Paid the plan off about 8 months early. Ours was a "100%" plan meaning that we repaid all of our debts both secured and unsecured completly. Our payments were $1800 per month not icluding our mortgage. We ended up here through a combination of unexpected changes in my income and good old fashiond poor financial decisions.
We kept both of our cars (and a boat) that we had loans on. These, plus some student loans, back taxes, medical bills and misc. other debt were paid through our plan. The vehicles (2012 Mustang 110k miles, and 2014 F150 160k miles) are still operational but we would like to purchase a newer car for road trips that also gets better fuel ecconomy. I will keep both the Mustand and the F150 - The Mustang was totalled during the BK (it was rebuilt, repainted and is actually very nice now, has a lot of sentimental value to my wife and will be kept for nice days for her to enjoy driving top down) it would have dismal trade value anyway with the rebuilt title. The truck is my primary work vehicle and is fine for that plus it can tow the boat so it stays too.
My current scores are in the low 500 range. They show the (still active) BK13 and a handful of collections (about $2300) we racked up during BK. All of these were medical - I have enough cash to pay them off and plan to do so before discharge. Did I mention my 13 payments and mortgage totalled about $3500/mo? There were some lean times without a lot of "extra" for medical and so on. Given the medical issues I and my wife have had - this amount could have been much worse I guess.
Our mortgage, paid directly to lender outside of plan, has been late a number of times during (and prior to) the BK but is presently current. It does not show up on any reports at the present time.
So what can I expect to have happen in the next few months? My BK will be discharged likely in late July based on the timeline my lawyer provided. I will pay new collections off this month. I have read that medical collections will be removed once they are paid? Any truth to that?
Am I going to get hammered my the late mortgage payments that occured while I was in BK? The lendor quit reporting anything since the case was filed in 2018.
Any steps I can take beyond paying off the collections, to increase my scores? I'd like to be able to buy a new car in the $32K range (Accord or similar) but I won't even attempt to until I can qualify for a reasonable interest rate. I need one but not that bad thankfully. Also may be looking at selling / buying a house at some point in the future depending on markets, rates and personal needs.
Appreciate any info you all can provide !! Have a great Day!
