Discharged!

[Anonymous]

01/13/2020 was the last day for any disputes. Checked Pacer today and I show discharged! So happy this is finally over.

Now my focus is rebuilding the best way possible. I burned most major banks. Capital One, Chase, Synchrony, Discover. Citi and a few others had no balance but were closed regardless. I’ve read the “ From BK7 discharge to 700 in 24 months or less!” article, but not sure what is relevant based on all that I burned.

I have an auto loan that I reaffirmed and have student loans.

So, I’m waiting on the actual discharge paperwork and have signed up for the FICO Platinum subscription. Can someone walk me through what my next steps should be?

[Jnbmom]

First and foremost make sure you give a little time for the dust to settle and then make sure all accounts are reporting correctly . 0 balance and IIB.

Cap one has been known to approve pretty soon after discharge even if you included them . Discover you need sometime with them.

Chase and ciiti forget them for quite sometime, they have LONG memories.

Try to stay away from the predatory lenders like first premier which will kill you with fees.

Not sure of your situation prior to BK, but get on a budget make savings a priority.

Rebuilding takes time but you will recover.

[Anonymous]

Got it. How long would you say I wait? I thought I had read somewhere 10 days. Maybe I’ll just wait a couple weeks. I’m anxious to get started, but I can be patient.

Do you know if my reaffirmed loan will show back on my credit report? It’s like it disappeared and I haven’t seen it in months.

Should I try and get a credit builder loan from my local credit union?

And any recommendations on credit cards for someone in my position?

I’ve got my budget under control. I’ve been using YNAB and I love it. My bankruptcy was all credit card debit and a Payoff loan. Credit card spending got out of hand to a point of what seemed like no return. I’m going to be very mindful of this whole experience and not dig myself another hole.

[Anonymous]

Congratulations!!!

You should wait at least a month, up to 2. It can take the credit reporting agencies a while to update everything properly, especially the auto and student loans. My discharge was at the end of November, and my student loans FINALLY got updated at all 3 CRAs this weekend, if that gives you an idea of how long it can take. 

Once things get updated, check all your credit reports for accuracy. Once they look accurate, I think that is the best time to start applying for unsecured CCs. I personally wanted to avoid putting down deposits so I waited for my scores to go up with my updated account info. But if you want to get started earlier, secured CCs may be one way to go. Will let others weigh in who have more experience than me. 

[FireMedic1]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Got it. How long would you say I wait? I thought I had read somewhere 10 days. Maybe I’ll just wait a couple weeks. I’m anxious to get started, but I can be patient. Best to wait up to 30 days after DC.

Do you know if my reaffirmed loan will show back on my credit report? It’s like it disappeared and I haven’t seen it in months. It will. Takes time.

Should I try and get a credit builder loan from my local credit union? You only need 1 loan so no other loans are needed at this time.

And any recommendations on credit cards for someone in my position?

I’ve got my budget under control. I’ve been using YNAB and I love it. My bankruptcy was all credit card debit and a Payoff loan. Credit card spending got out of hand to a point of what seemed like no return. I’m going to be very mindful of this whole experience and not dig myself another hole.

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Need to know who got burned and then we can lead you in the right direction. Theres no rush to get credit. Once all the smoke clears you will see a score boost like the poster above stated. Then it will be rebuild time. Sit back and let the system play out and enjoy financial freedom for a while.

[Anonymous]

@twocats742 - How many points did your scores go up?

[Anonymous]

Chase, Discover, Synchrony, Capital One, Barclays, PayPal Credit, and a local credit union CC all had balances at the time of bankruptcy. I had a Citi and Kay card open at the time with no balance.

[twono]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Chase, Discover, Synchrony, Capital One, Barclays, PayPal Credit, and a local credit union CC all had balances at the time of bankruptcy. I had a Citi and Kay card open at the time with no balance.

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I waited 45-60 after DC to apply for any new credit.  Then i was approved for Credit One $2000 (now at $2200 after auto CLI after lst statement), and OLLO $1100.

I was DC'd in Oct.  EQ 639, EX 615, TU 611

Take it sloooooooowwwww.....So many people don't 'rebuild properly'  and stay stuck in the high 500's or low 600's a year or more after DC.

Just remember, 'more credit' doesn't equal 'better credit' and/or 'higher scores'.

Congrats and good luck.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the info.

If you don’t mind me asking, did you have any late payments on your report before filing? I didn’t have any late payments before considering filing, but got a bunch of lates because my attorney told me to stop paying when I had my consultation.

I’ll wait 30 days and see how everything is showing, then may wait longer. Probably try Credit One first and see how that goes, also try a pre-qualification with Capital One.

[twono]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the info.

If you don’t mind me asking, did you have any late payments on your report before filing? I didn’t have any late payments before considering filing, but got a bunch of lates because my attorney told me to stop paying when I had my consultation.

I’ll wait 30 days and see how everything is showing, then may wait longer. Probably try Credit One first and see how that goes, also try a pre-qualification with Capital One.

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I had clean records up to the very last week or two where the statement cut date vs. filing date vs. trying to avoid 'preferential payment' would all work out. I had over 35 accts/payments to maintain and something had to give. I ended up with (2) 30 day lates .....but.....after DC and the proverbial dust settled, the lates were not and are not reflected on my reports.

It's unfortunate that most attorneys tell their clients to quit paying asap, and for most filers, it doesn't matter at that point because they're probably already drowning and their reports are riddled with lates, liens, collections, etc....So most attorneys don't realize or even consider that some clients are current and in good standing with creditors.

After i explained to my attny how i am current and have clean reports and want to keep them as clean as possible before filing, he said i could do what i wanted as far as paying another months worth of payments...but also said to pay them all, don't pick and choose.

The way i see it is:

Clean reports before filing + Bankruptcy = BAD

Derogatorys on reports before filing + Bankruptcy = WORSE

For me to have an Equifax FICO 08 score of 639,  3 1/2 months post DC, says something about clean vs dirty reports prior to filing.

My CreditKarma (which is only good for monitoring your accts) EQUIFAX looks like this.

The 1 derogatory is the BK/public record itself.