Bouncing back from Ch7

[_NERD]

Hi all,

DW and I emerged from ch7 in California with 243k in consumer credit card debt discharged as of the end of August. We were able to keep our home and both vehicles. I just landed the highest paying job I've ever had, and my income is 100% discretionary for our household. Our mortgage is our only debt and our cost of living footprint has shrunk considerably it's amazing how affordable our cost of living has become after years of being slammed with snowballing credit card debt.  

Is there a post sticker somewhere in the forums on steps to take to bounce back from ch7?  Do I establish 2-3 revolving TLs before approaching an auto loan lender?

Im going through the BK section of these forums and seeing various ch7 friendly auto loan lenders mentioned. I'm thinking of getting a newer vehicle soon. It's not a necessity and our existing cars drive fine. I'll be saving up my paychecks and the plan is to finance a newer car and my first payment will pay off 80-90% of the auto loan as I don't want to be in debt long. 

Everyone's opinion, tips and expertise matters. Thanks in advance! 

[DogwoodLynx]

---

@_NERD wrote:

Hi all,

DW and I emerged from ch7 in California with 243k in consumer credit card debt discharged as of the end of August. We were able to keep our home and both vehicles. I just landed the highest paying job I've ever had, and my income is 100% discretionary for our household. Our mortgage is our only debt and our cost of living footprint has shrunk considerably it's amazing how affordable our cost of living has become after years of being slammed with snowballing credit card debt.  

Is there a post sticker somewhere in the forums on steps to take to bounce back from ch7?  Do I establish 2-3 revolving TLs before approaching an auto loan lender?

Im going through the BK section of these forums and seeing various ch7 friendly auto loan lenders mentioned. I'm thinking of getting a newer vehicle soon. It's not a necessity and our existing cars drive fine. I'll be saving up my paychecks and the plan is to finance a newer car and my first payment will pay off 80-90% of the auto loan as I don't want to be in debt long. 

Everyone's opinion, tips and expertise matters. Thanks in advance! 

---

Congrats on the discharge! I should have mine by Christmas. 

Here is a great thread for the rebuilding process. Many on this forum have used it, and been successful.

HOW-TO-From-BK7-discharge-to-700-in-24-months-or-less 

Someone else will comment shortly and advise you on your specifics if you post some data points for us. Welcome to the community. 

Best of luck to you and your wife. 

[CH-7-Mission-Accomplished]

---

@_NERD wrote:

Hi all,

DW and I emerged from ch7 in California with 243k in consumer credit card debt discharged as of the end of August. We were able to keep our home and both vehicles. I just landed the highest paying job I've ever had, and my income is 100% discretionary for our household. Our mortgage is our only debt and our cost of living footprint has shrunk considerably it's amazing how affordable our cost of living has become after years of being slammed with snowballing credit card debt.  

Is there a post sticker somewhere in the forums on steps to take to bounce back from ch7?  Do I establish 2-3 revolving TLs before approaching an auto loan lender?

Im going through the BK section of these forums and seeing various ch7 friendly auto loan lenders mentioned. I'm thinking of getting a newer vehicle soon. It's not a necessity and our existing cars drive fine. I'll be saving up my paychecks and the plan is to finance a newer car and my first payment will pay off 80-90% of the auto loan as I don't want to be in debt long. 

Everyone's opinion, tips and expertise matters. Thanks in advance! 

---

To get a 100% chapter 7 discharge from $243K in consumer debt and be able to kee your home and your cars is pretty much a miracle.   You say your existing cars work fine.   Why don't you drive them for a couple of years until you can pay normal auto rates (like 3%) and not 18% or 24%?   Take all that money you now have from your reduced footprint and SAVE it.   Something caused your light to go upside down and you seem like you got a huge pass that most people don't get.   You should have better plans for your money than a nicer car when the ones you have drive fine.

[_NERD]

---

@DogwoodLynx wrote:

---

@_NERD wrote:

Hi all,

DW and I emerged from ch7 in California with 243k in consumer credit card debt discharged as of the end of August. We were able to keep our home and both vehicles. I just landed the highest paying job I've ever had, and my income is 100% discretionary for our household. Our mortgage is our only debt and our cost of living footprint has shrunk considerably it's amazing how affordable our cost of living has become after years of being slammed with snowballing credit card debt.  

Is there a post sticker somewhere in the forums on steps to take to bounce back from ch7?  Do I establish 2-3 revolving TLs before approaching an auto loan lender?

Im going through the BK section of these forums and seeing various ch7 friendly auto loan lenders mentioned. I'm thinking of getting a newer vehicle soon. It's not a necessity and our existing cars drive fine. I'll be saving up my paychecks and the plan is to finance a newer car and my first payment will pay off 80-90% of the auto loan as I don't want to be in debt long. 

Everyone's opinion, tips and expertise matters. Thanks in advance! 

---

Congrats on the discharge! I should have mine by Christmas. 

Here is a great thread for the rebuilding process. Many on this forum have used it, and been successful.

HOW-TO-From-BK7-discharge-to-700-in-24-months-or-less 

Someone else will comment shortly and advise you on your specifics if you post some data points for us. Welcome to the community. 

Best of luck to you and your wife. 

Thank you!  I read the info at that link, applied for the Credit One card with no AF, and received an instant approval with $1000 SL. I'm going to post about this approval in the approvals board. 

To anyone reading this comment, let me know what data points you'd be interested in knowing about our chapter 7 experience. 

[_NERD]

---

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:

---

@_NERD wrote:

Hi all,

DW and I emerged from ch7 in California with 243k in consumer credit card debt discharged as of the end of August. We were able to keep our home and both vehicles. I just landed the highest paying job I've ever had, and my income is 100% discretionary for our household. Our mortgage is our only debt and our cost of living footprint has shrunk considerably it's amazing how affordable our cost of living has become after years of being slammed with snowballing credit card debt.  

Is there a post sticker somewhere in the forums on steps to take to bounce back from ch7?  Do I establish 2-3 revolving TLs before approaching an auto loan lender?

Im going through the BK section of these forums and seeing various ch7 friendly auto loan lenders mentioned. I'm thinking of getting a newer vehicle soon. It's not a necessity and our existing cars drive fine. I'll be saving up my paychecks and the plan is to finance a newer car and my first payment will pay off 80-90% of the auto loan as I don't want to be in debt long. 

Everyone's opinion, tips and expertise matters. Thanks in advance! 

---

To get a 100% chapter 7 discharge from $243K in consumer debt and be able to kee your home and your cars is pretty much a miracle.   You say your existing cars work fine.   Why don't you drive them for a couple of years until you can pay normal auto rates (like 3%) and not 18% or 24%?   Take all that money you now have from your reduced footprint and SAVE it.   Something caused your light to go upside down and you seem like you got a huge pass that most people don't get.   You should have better plans for your money than a nicer car when the ones you have drive fine.

---

Thank you for this info. Your username is epic! Our vehicles are super reliable, need nothing. Neither is junk, both are paid off and I'm certain we could get another 5-10 years of reliable use out of them. I guess I just want a new toy which is the same behavior that led to chapter 7. ;( 

I intended to save up at least 80-90% of what a newer financed car would cost and pay most of the loan off the first pmt. I suppose it would be smarter to throw that money at my self Directed Roth IRA and do the Backdoor Roth and mega Backdoor Roths for 2021 and 2022.  I do want to use my Roth to buy a rental property for the tax free gains.  I set up a SDIRA last November through Directed IRA and set up a LLC owned by my Roth IRA for investment purposes.

Meh, I don't need a newer car thank you for the drive by comment  

edit: I just received an instant approval for a Credit One card with $1,000 SL. They pulled EX and my FICO score is 763 right now. How did I already get into the 700 club?  My EX FICO score was 550 when the chapter 7 hit my credit report and all accounts were reported as closed, IIB. 

[FireMedic1]

Congrats on your DC. Was there a typo in your badge with a 763 EXFICO 8 score? Like 563? You'll need some revovling credit since you have a mortgage so that covers the installment loan. Who was burned in your BK. Then we can lead you on which way to go.

[_NERD]

---

@FireMedic1 wrote:

Congrats on your DC. Was there a typo in your badge with a 763 EXFICO 8 score? Like 563? You'll need some revovling credit since you have a mortgage so that covers the installment loan. Who was burned in your BK. Then we can lead you on which way to go.

---

No typo.  Credit One says my EX score was 763, so that's what I put in the badge. It's kind of a pun for now because while EX told Credit One my credit score was 763, when I log into my EX account, EX says my fico score is 550 and it's been 550 for a while now. 

burned:

- Capital One | QS VS, Walmart

- Synchrony | Marvel, Lowe’s 

- Amex | Cash Magnet, Delta Sky Miles

- Citibank | HD

- Discover | IT

- Jared Galleria of Jewelry 

- BofA | Rewards 

- US Bank | Cash+
- Goldman Sachs | Apple Card

my mortgage no longer reports to the 3B. This was our lawyers explanation:

"In our district, judges do not permit reaffirmation agreements on real property. California has anti-deficiency statutes, meaning that (even outside of bankruptcy) a first mortgage-holder can't come after you for a potential deficiency at a foreclosure sale. If you were to reaffirm the debt, there's an argument that this would void the anti-deficiency statutes, so our judges don't allow reaffirmation agreements on real property."

Despite this, my lender or loan servicer says the payment history moving forward will no longer report to the credit bureaus because we filed for ch7. I don't understand why it's this way but they stopped reporting payment history back in May, the month we filed for ch7. On my & DW's CR's, the mortgage is labeled closed and "Debt included in or discharged through bankruptcy chapter 7, 11, or 12"

[Jeffster1]

According to a Google search right now, CreditOne provides a Vantage score based on EX data. It is not a FICO, and Vantage is rsfeky used for credit decisions. Your FICO is more in line with the 550 you cited which will negatively affect your ability to get a decent loan on a car.

As @FireMedic1 advised, you should try to get some revolving accounts. I filed a 13 in 2017, and got my DC in January 2021 after paying 100 percent. I started out with accepting an offer from Ollo for their rewards card a day after DC, followed by a Cap One Plat. I then moved on two months later into getting two secured cards, one from BoA and one from TD. Both graduated about 8 months later.

Not judging, but I believe that BK serves two purposes...to give us a fresh start and to teach us some life lessons. For me, it taught me restraint, and that if I don't absolutely need it, I don't want it. I want to stay out of debt. If it were me, unless I really needed a new car, I wouldn't do it. For credit mix, I recommend joining a credit union and getting a share secured loan. Leave the new car for when you can pay cash. Don't head back in the same direction from whence you came.

Just my humble opinion. 

[Jnbmom]

Yes the score you got from credit one is not your FICO EXP score, your score would never be that high fresh out of BK.

[FireMedic1]

Thanks for the pic. That explains it as @Jnbmom said.