Feeling discouraged, banks and CUs won't listen

[Anonymous]

Haven't heard back with a decision from our bank yet, but have been in touch with the branch manager several times yesterday and today. We also have a local credit union who keeps their loans all in-house. They worked with us to try to find a home equity type loan to do the repairs on our house, but it wasn't financially sound (the repairs wouldn't add any equity to the house). The president of the CU already knows about our situation from pretty much the first week we discovered the problems. They are willing to do a co-signed loan at 5.75%. The person there I've been working with approached my husband yesterday (he's a school administrator at her child's school) and introduced herself and reiterated that they are willing to help us (they know all about the bankruptcy). So, that makes me feel a lot better.

[Anonymous]

Got a call from the bank today. Branch manager says everything looks good and, as far as she is concerned, is good to go. It has to go to the VP of lending now since the manager cannot sign off on it due to the abnormal circumstances. But she said that she doesn't foresee any problems there. We should know either today or Monday, at the latest. As long as nothing goes wrong, the loan will be for 3.9%.

How much will this improve our credit score? Obviously the longer we have the loan, the better the improvement. But will it help immediately, to some extent?

Also, is it worth putting a BRIEF personal statement on our credit reports?

[Anonymous]

3.9% !! Signed today, and picked up the car this afternoon! Less than one month after discharge! It pays to keep copious notes and document, document, DOCUMENT!

[Anonymous]

Congrats!

[Anonymous]

You need to get outside of the "normal system", where much of the underwriting decisions are made by computers that follow a set of rules or where underwriting guidelines are more important than the underwriter's judgment. 

You need a relationship with a small bank with a portfollio lending program. They do things the old fashioned way. Usually, these programs lend to small businesses in the community. The bank services the loan and actually makes money on  the interest paid on the loan; rather than, for example, make money for originating the loan and selling it to a loan servicing company. 

The small banks employ underwriters that they trust to make good lending decisions. It seems that the small banks I found actually make lending decisions in a small committee. Different small banks will have a different ideas about what is a "good risk". 

I had to call about 50 banks before I found about 4 that were good to work with. I'm establishing relationships will all of them. So, it will not be easy to find the right small bank. But, it is possible. 

Good luck!