Discharged Ch. 7 on 1/24..Now Debating on Next Steps

[Anonymous]

Prior to discharge I knew I was going to follow SoulMaster's HOW TO: From BK7 discharge to 700 in 24 months or less! post to rebuild. But that's an older post and now I see so many people going in other directions and I'm wondering what's best.

I burned A LOT (to me) of ppl. My lawyer was supposed to do a reaffirmation on my auto loan w/PenFed but I was still waiting on those docs when I got my DC so I'm guessing they dropped the ball. I have been paying and my online access still works so I guess I will just keep and pay.

I burned NFCU (~$4100), Cap 1 (~$10k), USAA AmEx (~$2k), Walmart(~$3300), Victoria Secret (balance was like $4), Merrick (~$3k), Chase Southwest (~$3k), DCU (~$3k), Suncoast CU (~$500). I feel like I'm forgetting someone.

My student loans will appear again soon...all $178000. Do I need to do a secured loan still? Should I follow SoulMaster's plan? A friend of mine was able to get a mortgage 18 months after Ch. 7 discharge and I want to do the same. 

Thanks in advance!

[Azuieldrago]

Need 3 cards if you don't already have them. I currently am running Open Sky (secured, no HP), Credit One, and Indigo. I believe your student loans do the installment loan part. Others can clarify. For a mortgage in 18 months, you need a special circumstance that cause you to have filed bankruptcy to knock time off. Otherswise its 4 yrs for conventional and 2 yrs for VA, FHA. 

Keep checking prequal sites like Discover, Capital One. Cap One will eventually forgive. Could take a yr or two. Navy Fed is stubborn but will forgive if you repay that debt. Can get a secured right away and one yr for other lending products. 

As for SoulMasters plan, most follow it anyways. Get cards, a loan. Get rid of rebuilder cards when better cards become available. Only difference is what cards your can start with. With any plan there is always some tweaking as everyone's profile is different.

I just got my discharge on 10 Feb. I have a re-affirmed Snap On loan, 5 cards. A self lender loan. (Don't need it, but I like having multiple things always reporting.) Sure I may have some damage from new accounts, lowered AAoA, and inquires but that damage with be gone far sooner. That was my decision based on what I needed to accomplish in my life.

[Anonymous]

I was just in the boat you were. Some of the first things you need to do is make sure everything on your report is reporting correctly. I had two companies play hard ball until I threatened lawyer fees plus $1000 for me for their failure to report correctly. After that happens, wait for your student loans to start reporting again (this was a big score increase for me). 

After your student loans hit your credit (your installment loan requirement) head over to credit one and check you prequalified offers. Do not use the link at the top of the page, but do go look at the available cards they offer and as if you prequalify for one of the $0 annual fee cards. Doing this took me down from the rediculously predatory $75/$99 a year card down to the $39 a year card with grace period. After that happens the best thing you can do is wait and hope for a prequalified offer from OLLO ( I got mine 60 days after credit one hit my Experian report). The third card might have to wait for the one year post CO from capital one.

[Anonymous]

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@Azuieldrago wrote:

Need 3 cards if you don't already have them. I currently am running Open Sky (secured, no HP), Credit One, and Indigo. I believe your student loans do the installment loan part. Others can clarify. For a mortgage in 18 months, you need a special circumstance that cause you to have filed bankruptcy to knock time off. Otherswise its 4 yrs for conventional and 2 yrs for VA, FHA. 

Keep checking prequal sites like Discover, Capital One. Cap One will eventually forgive. Could take a yr or two. Navy Fed is stubborn but will forgive if you repay that debt. Can get a secured right away and one yr for other lending products. 

As for SoulMasters plan, most follow it anyways. Get cards, a loan. Get rid of rebuilder cards when better cards become available. Only difference is what cards your can start with. With any plan there is always some tweaking as everyone's profile is different.

I just got my discharge on 10 Feb. I have a re-affirmed Snap On loan, 5 cards. A self lender loan. (Don't need it, but I like having multiple things always reporting.) Sure I may have some damage from new accounts, lowered AAoA, and inquires but that damage with be gone far sooner. That was my decision based on what I needed to accomplish in my life.

Thanks for responding! Do you mean that I can get a secured product with NavyFed now?

Also, can you tell me how to set up my signature like yours or direct me to a post with instructions?

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[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I was just in the boat you were. Some of the first things you need to do is make sure everything on your report is reporting correctly. I had two companies play hard ball until I threatened lawyer fees plus $1000 for me for their failure to report correctly. After that happens, wait for your student loans to start reporting again (this was a big score increase for me). 

After your student loans hit your credit (your installment loan requirement) head over to credit one and check you prequalified offers. Do not use the link at the top of the page, but do go look at the available cards they offer and as if you prequalify for one of the $0 annual fee cards. Doing this took me down from the rediculously predatory $75/$99 a year card down to the $39 a year card with grace period. After that happens the best thing you can do is wait and hope for a prequalified offer from OLLO ( I got mine 60 days after credit one hit my Experian report). The third card might have to wait for the one year post CO from capital one.

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Everything appears to be reporting correctly on my unofficial reports but I plan to pull from Annual Credit Report by the end of the week to confirm. Just to clarify, you're saying I shouldn't app for anything until the student loan reappears again?

Also, they weren't doing my direct debit while the BK was pending. Do I need to contact them to restart or will they do it automatically once they get the discharge? They're all with FedLoan if that makes a difference. 

[Azuieldrago]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Azuieldrago wrote:

Need 3 cards if you don't already have them. I currently am running Open Sky (secured, no HP), Credit One, and Indigo. I believe your student loans do the installment loan part. Others can clarify. For a mortgage in 18 months, you need a special circumstance that cause you to have filed bankruptcy to knock time off. Otherswise its 4 yrs for conventional and 2 yrs for VA, FHA. 

Keep checking prequal sites like Discover, Capital One. Cap One will eventually forgive. Could take a yr or two. Navy Fed is stubborn but will forgive if you repay that debt. Can get a secured right away and one yr for other lending products. 

As for SoulMasters plan, most follow it anyways. Get cards, a loan. Get rid of rebuilder cards when better cards become available. Only difference is what cards your can start with. With any plan there is always some tweaking as everyone's profile is different.

I just got my discharge on 10 Feb. I have a re-affirmed Snap On loan, 5 cards. A self lender loan. (Don't need it, but I like having multiple things always reporting.) Sure I may have some damage from new accounts, lowered AAoA, and inquires but that damage with be gone far sooner. That was my decision based on what I needed to accomplish in my life.

Thanks for responding! Do you mean that I can get a secured product with NavyFed now?

Also, can you tell me how to set up my signature like yours or direct me to a post with instructions?

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You have to repay Navy back first. I burned them for $3100. Then I can get a secured card. I see it worthwhile as I still use them for my daily banking. Others dont.

As for my siggy, go to Smorgasborg just under rebuild/bankruptcy. You will see some pinned articles on how to do it. The garden count down is in a post a made. Should be within the first page or 2. My big count down timer I got from another site for free. 

Your student loans I would get on that right away. It could be months or never before they start taking payments and then you have some lates to deal with. Best to call them first thing in the morning and get it taken care of and kept back on track. 

[Anonymous]

So as far as letting your student loan report, this will give you a score boost. Mine went from 469-580 after the student loans started reporting. Also it boosted my scores enough to qualify for the second best card CreditOne has (the $39 annual fee with a repayment grace period) I too burnt a lot of banks, CapitalOne, Chase, AMEX, Merrick, CreditOne, as well as others. 

As for getting back in with NFCU, you need to repay them (nearly all credit unions are this way).