Mistakes after Chapter 7

[Anonymous]

I am obsessed with reading through these forums now but sadly I think I have made some serious mistakes with my credit since filing for Bankruptcy in 2017. We filed 13 but were not able to keep up with the payments because of job loss, we converted to Chapter 7 in Decemeber of 18. Discharged February 23rd 2019. I have a car financed through Bridgecrest with ridiculous interest that we purchased a week after discharge. I opened an account with Navy Federal in July of 2019. I applied to refinance my car and they said I don't meet the guidelines. Capital one also declined. I have 4 credit card accounts with a total balance of 2000 with 4500 total credit line. What am I doing wrong? 

Equifax 589

Experian 633

Trans Union 613

[Anonymous]

Hello!

I've  been there so you're not alone. 

What mistakes do you believe you've made? Which is your greater concern: your credit or your financial health?

You're going to be paying higher interest rates after a chapter 7, no way around it. My first auto loan ~10 months after discharge was also with bridge crest at ~15%. I saved money like crazy and paid the loan off. 

[krielly]

One thing that definitely stood out to me is your credit card usage. I would work to get that down.

[Anonymous]

Did you get a zillion inquiries when looking for the car?

Do you have any post BK-lates?

Did you check your reports and make sure everything included in your BK is reporting IIB and $0 balance?

Your CC utilization is WAY too high. You need to be following AZEO (all zero except one) Let only ONE card report a balance of no more than 8.9% of that card's limit.

[Anonymous]

I think I applied for too much too fast and I know the usage is an issue. Overall I want to get my score up so next year when we hit the 2 year mark we can refi our mortgage 

[StillKicking]

Are you carrying the $2000 balance, or is that the amount you've charged and plan to pay this month? Either way, you first mistake is you're using almost 50% of your available credit. Pay it off and ALWAYS PAY IN FULL. I filed CH7 a little over 10 years ago and have never carried a balance since. EVER.

Your second mistake, perhaps is your expectations of what it takes to recover from a 13 that eventually turned into a CH7. Your 633 EX seems about right a year after discharge. Are those scores Fico 8s? Do and know everything SteelerNYC said.

The 'applying for too much too fast' can really only hurt you with inquires, unless you charge too much and/or carry balances. Or are continuing to 'seek' credit.

If you are carrying balances on more than one card, pay them off. Then pay the final card off and use it responsibly, if you're not already doing that. Then be patient, it takes time.

Good luck!