Ch 13 here, 542 TU....when will things get better?

[Anonymous]

Hey all. I am looking at an out of state move very soon, and have been preparing by looking at my reports and scores. CreditKarma, Discover CreditScoreCard, which are both free, and FICO 3B, which I paid for. Also pulled reports from annualcreditreport. My wife's scores all hover around 600. We had some medical collections occur during our plan repayment, which show up as derogatory on the reports, which is infuriating as I tried to deal with them when they occured, but they got turned over to collections anyway. Those are really affecting our scores. Then there is the BK of course. Can't do anything about that. We have paid back the collections, but doesn't seem to matter.

Anyway, for me personally, FICO wouldn't do a 3B because they said Experian doesn't have enough info in their report to issue a score on me! What the heck? TU is only 542 as it says in the title. Equifax I don't know since I only pulled TU here, and Discover's service also wouldn't run scores on me. Credit Karma did, and all three were right around 600 for the Vantage score.

I don't know how many payments I have left in this 13. It is less than a year. We made our first payment in March of 2012 after converting from CH 7, which was filed in Sept. 2011. Made our payments and turned over every refund since then. I guess we can't make over 60 payments right? So does that mean the plan will end in March? The Plan didn't get confirmed until May, but we were making payments before then for 2 months. So we have between 7-9 months left I guess.

Thing is, I don't think we can get an apartment with such bad scores! Also, our cars are the same old ones we had before filing, and they were already years old back then. We had hoped to get a car soon....at least one so we'd have something reliable....but doesn't look like our car scores will let us do that.

We have been dealing with this credit crap since like 2010. It has been so long. We make good money (over 100K), but just got buried. The house is out of the plan, but underwater still compared to when we bought it in 2002, so we can't make any money selling it. Like I said, it's been so long, and it just doesn't feel like anything is getting better. BTW, our plan is like 70% repayment. We have paid over $70K already into the plan, and still have about $15K to go (including next year's tax refund).

When will things ever get better?

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I am also currently undergoing the chapter 13 journey. I have no insight in to the scores and why they are not reporting. I do have some insight in the other questions though.

Apartment - you would be surprised how much easier it is to get an apartment than you think. I relocated recently and had to find one - being 9 months in to my chapter 13 at the time I was understandably worried. I did get turned down from a large management company, due to their policies. I found a slightly smaller company, went in tail between legs and was upfront with everything, brought everything relating to my bankruptcy, income, etc. They were surprisingly understanding. Financially, you and I are about the same, so that will absolutely be in your favor. Just be straight forward - the company that denied me was up front, they would not take my application fee. Honesty goes a long way.

Credit scores coming up- I was able to work with my attorney to obtain trustee apporval for a secured card. I have incredibly liberal trustees in this area (we were hit incredibly hard in 2008) and they seem like they genuinely want to see people succeed at the end of this road. Scores came up from 531 Experian F8 to 598 only with letting this card report for ~3 months. It's the only card I will obtain - and it has actually been a valuable tool in controlling expenses. I have a $500 limit- I utilize it for all expenses during the week, and pay in full on pay day. If I only have $40 left on the limit, sorry DW, were going to the grocery store, not out to eat. It's worth asking your attorney if this could be worked out - some trustees view it as debt, other do not as it is 100% secured and cannot graduate while I am in bankruptcy (Open Sky)

Does it get better? - Well, that remains to be seen. However you are nearly there, and it won't make a difference either way, you're stuck finishing it for better or worse. Try to get something out of the experience, financial sense, ability to make sacrifices, etc.

[tricie17]

I too am in a ch13 since Dec 2015.  Have not yet been confirmed.  The ups and downs will surface, go away and come back again. Try Drive Time as far as a car, they seem to have a good approach to getting approved for car loan "Buy here, Pay here", and the cars are very excellent quality.  Many blessings.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hello,

I am also currently undergoing the chapter 13 journey. I have no insight in to the scores and why they are not reporting. I do have some insight in the other questions though.

Apartment - you would be surprised how much easier it is to get an apartment than you think. I relocated recently and had to find one - being 9 months in to my chapter 13 at the time I was understandably worried. I did get turned down from a large management company, due to their policies. I found a slightly smaller company, went in tail between legs and was upfront with everything, brought everything relating to my bankruptcy, income, etc. They were surprisingly understanding. Financially, you and I are about the same, so that will absolutely be in your favor. Just be straight forward - the company that denied me was up front, they would not take my application fee. Honesty goes a long way.

Credit scores coming up- I was able to work with my attorney to obtain trustee apporval for a secured card. I have incredibly liberal trustees in this area (we were hit incredibly hard in 2008) and they seem like they genuinely want to see people succeed at the end of this road. Scores came up from 531 Experian F8 to 598 only with letting this card report for ~3 months. It's the only card I will obtain - and it has actually been a valuable tool in controlling expenses. I have a $500 limit- I utilize it for all expenses during the week, and pay in full on pay day. If I only have $40 left on the limit, sorry DW, were going to the grocery store, not out to eat. It's worth asking your attorney if this could be worked out - some trustees view it as debt, other do not as it is 100% secured and cannot graduate while I am in bankruptcy (Open Sky)

Does it get better? - Well, that remains to be seen. However you are nearly there, and it won't make a difference either way, you're stuck finishing it for better or worse. Try to get something out of the experience, financial sense, ability to make sacrifices, etc.

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Great information on your experiences.

Thanks for posting!

My 13 was a bit different as I was fortunate enough to be in a position to pay in full at 11 months.  The patience  & discipline I developed & experienced pre-discharge was incredibly valuable as on Discharge Day, things didn't change immediately as the rebuilding phase is also a process which requires patience.

Congratz on your Patience

[Shooting-For-800]

VERY SOON.

I think 60 months is the normal max.

Once that I paid off you should see a decent jump.

CH13 is only on CR for 7 years from file date.  Once that falls off, you will get a big jump (if not before then,)

CH13 sucks.  Hang in there and know you are way past the half way point to your best non BK score!

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Bankruptcy/Life-is-Good-After-Bankruptcy-7-Keep-the-Course-Keep-the-...

[Anonymous]

Appreciate your replies and thoughts, everyone. All I know is it's very stressful and worrisome that my FICO is still so low.