New and Needing massive amounts of help!

Anonymous · ‎07-28-2016

Hello All! I filed BK in May 2016. To date I have not been discharged but I did attend my 341 meeting so it's coming. My problem is this, I need a vehicle because I included mine in my BK. I'm dealing with a redemption loan company but I'm not sure whether I should get that car from them (2015 model car) or wait until discharge and go to a big car lot like Carmax or a local dealer for a better deal. The redemption place is offering 600 down, 450 a month, 22% interest 66 months. Could I get better by waiting?

My scores are in my signature. I'm new to all of this so I dont know much about credit hence why I joined to learn more.

Also,

once dishcharged what next? I see some of you who within a year of discharge are in the high 600s or 700s and I aspire to get to the point but really do not know where to begin. I am sure there are many posts relating to what to do about a car etc so please point me in the right direction for that and what to do to build credit after discharge.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I intend to learn. I have googled until I turned blue in the face but nothing beats personal experiences. I also use CK weekly which I'm hearing isnt all that reliable so is there somewhere else I should be monitoring my score?

I want to have the least amount of inquiries as possible because I really want to build.

HELPPPPPPP

Anonymous · ‎07-28-2016

Welcome! You will find supportive and friendly folks here, willing to share their experiences - that way you only have to repeat the good ones

As for where to start? start here - HOW-TO-From-BK7-discharge-to-700-in-24-months-or-less

You will without a doubt get a better deal once you have your discharge in hand. even if you can only hold out until the same day it appears in PACER, you will be a world better off than trying to fiannce beforehand. In the meantime, work on cleaning up your credit report (you can do that part immediately, no need to wait until discharge) - details on how are in the first post of that very long thread I linked above - I would suggest reading all 150+ pages when you've got a free afternoon or 2, but the first post is enough to get the ball rolling

Good Luck!

Scupra · ‎07-28-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
Welcome! You will find supportive and friendly folks here, willing to share their experiences - that way you only have to repeat the good ones

As for where to start? start here - HOW-TO-From-BK7-discharge-to-700-in-24-months-or-less

You will without a doubt get a better deal once you have your discharge in hand. even if you can only hold out until the same day it appears in PACER, you will be a world better off than trying to fiannce beforehand. In the meantime, work on cleaning up your credit report (you can do that part immediately, no need to wait until discharge) - details on how are in the first post of that very long thread I linked above - I would suggest reading all 150+ pages when you've got a free afternoon or 2, but the first post is enough to get the ball rolling

Good Luck!

First off, welcome to myFICO! You definitely found the right place with lots of info. Tyger gave you the best starting point. There is a lot of info in that thread and I encourage you to read every page if you have the time. Spend some time looking around the BK forum as a lot of us have posted our journey to be looked at. Good luck and let us know if you have any questions

Anonymous · ‎07-28-2016

Thank you both! I will start reading that forum you both mentioned tonight so that I can brush up on everything and get started. I expect my discharge within the next 3 weeks so I'm guessing its not too early.

Scupra · ‎07-28-2016

There is no such thing as too early

The more you read the better off you will be.

Anonymous · ‎07-29-2016

Hi there, and welcome. First thing, that deal that was given to you is junk, walk away from it and do it now. You CAN find a "good" deal on an auto with APR etc while open in BK. You need to call around and do some leg work. We are open in BK and my husband's car took a dive we had to get him a new car since we live 30miles from anything since we live in a rural community and we both drive at least 25-25 miles a day for work. He knew what kind of car he wanted, a Honda Element and didn't care on year or miles. I called around, and spoke with small and larger dealerships who had the car. Some didn't really want to be bothers, others told me they would require a 20% down, and one delership who also sells Toyota (which is good for me since after DC I'm giving back my Prius and needing another one) spoke with me and I talked at length with their finance manager and he told me what I should expect for a rate on the car etc. We did everything by phone, including working out the deal on the car, and I made him give me dealer pricing for GAP and the Warranty. Our apt was 15%, but when we got to the dealership If I took the loan out 72 months then it would drop to 14%. At the end we financed a 09 Honda Element with 68k miles for $17k, with GAP/Warranty and our monthly payments are $380 a month at 14% apr. It's not ideal, but in our situation it works. We can then refinance in a few months to a lower apr elsewhere. Our loan is through Prestige. If you can wait for a car till after your DC then do so since your rates will be better, just make sure to be proactive NOW and dispute everything on your credit to make sure it's states in BK with a $0 balance.

Another dealership I contacted was CarMax, and the finance manager there was also friendly but you need to have been DC before they will lend to you. They're my back up plan if this dealership we worked with to get my husband's car doesn't have the car I want by the time we're DC since i know CarMax will have it.

Anonymous · ‎10-12-2016

Ok......so since this was one of my first posts I will use this as my update/my BK story.

Last month I paid for the Fico Scores and have the app on my phone. I get alerts whenever there is a new inquiry or account, when score drops or goes up etc. ITS AMAZING!

As for my credit here is where I stand:

My car was IIB, however the bank took me to court to get the option to get the car before the DC. We didnt contest so they got the motion.

I am about 2 months post DC and they havent contacted me or my lawyer to arrange a pickup so I have been able to focus on rebuilding instead of settling for just any kind of car loan.

I had 2 Cap1 cards that were IIB so I wont even try them.

My children needed dental work that wasnt covered by my insurance so I got a payment arrangement which actually ended up being a credit account. I am 1 payment in on that and it reports to the credit bureaus.

I also obtained a credit builder loan thru selflender.com, I am one payment in on that as well and all is looking good there!

I used the SCT to get two store cards, but they are to a plus size store and my wife is a size 2. I bought her some shoes that she hated and returned them. Then bought her a pair of socks. The statement just cut and I am paying it this week. Ill next order her some sneakers for work and pay it off.

Next up I was approved for a First Premier Credit card (500 CL). Of course the fees arent that great but its a start for me.

After getting that I tried my luck for a few cards but was denied. Read some posts about fingerhut and applied with them (200). I was approved for their Fresh Start program. The financially irresponsible me (the old me) wanted to purchase some Beats headphones. The responsible me is thinking about just buying my wife a foot bath or heating paidfor about 60 bucks, and paying it monthly so they can report and graduate me to their actual credit card.

Finally I was reading the 700 in 24 months and decided to see if I could pre-qualify for a credit one card AND I DID!

So I applied and was approved for a 300 CL, of which I will only use for my fico payment monthly nothing else.

Current scores at EQ 573/TU 544/ EX 571. Not amazing and I'm not sure what my starting scores were because at that time I was only using CK.

I feel like my plan of keeping low utilization on my cards, paying the dental loan and credit builder loan on time and not applying for anything will pay off in 2-4 more months.

thoughts? advice?

Anonymous · ‎10-12-2016

GReed1911 wrote:

thoughts? advice?

1. Beats headphones are crap. You can get the same quality paying $12 at the Walmart.

2. Stop applying for new credit IMMEDIATELY. You only need 1-2 lines to build your score during the first year. The more toy limit lines you get now, the more you will be stuck in toy limit hell later. In fact I might even be tempted if I were you to close everything you've opened so far with the exception of the Care Credit line (I can only assume this is what your dentist apped you for), the First Premier (if only because you've already paid the annual fee, so you might as well use it to build for 11 months then drop if before paying the AF again), and the credit builder loan. The SCT lines will likley only help you get more SCT lines, and don't even get me started on Fingerhut.

3. Be patient. Rebuilding is a marathon, not a sprint.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

Anonymous · ‎10-15-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
thoughts? advice?

2. Stop applying for new credit IMMEDIATELY. You only need 1-2 lines to build your score during the first year. The more toy limit lines you get now, the more you will be stuck in toy limit hell later. In fact I might even be tempted if I were you to close everything you've opened so far with the exception of the Care Credit line (I can only assume this is what your dentist apped you for), the First Premier (if only because you've already paid the annual fee, so you might as well use it to build for 11 months then drop if before paying the AF again), and the credit builder loan. The SCT lines will likley only help you get more SCT lines, and don't even get me started on Fingerhut.

So close the fingerhut and both store cards?

Wouldnt that hurt my score?

And what about the Credit One card?

I definitely have to remember its a marathon not a sprint, I have found myself lately saying "hmmm if I get this card and do good my score will jump even more".

Fico3B says my next quarterly update is after thanksgiving. I am trying to do my best to have that update show great progress.

I jumped for joy today when my EQ score jumped 8 points and now says "fair"

Anonymous · ‎10-15-2016

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
thoughts? advice?

2. Stop applying for new credit IMMEDIATELY. You only need 1-2 lines to build your score during the first year. The more toy limit lines you get now, the more you will be stuck in toy limit hell later. In fact I might even be tempted if I were you to close everything you've opened so far with the exception of the Care Credit line (I can only assume this is what your dentist apped you for), the First Premier (if only because you've already paid the annual fee, so you might as well use it to build for 11 months then drop if before paying the AF again), and the credit builder loan. The SCT lines will likley only help you get more SCT lines, and don't even get me started on Fingerhut.

So close the fingerhut and both store cards?
Wouldnt that hurt my score?
And what about the Credit One card?
I definitely have to remember its a marathon not a sprint, I have found myself lately saying "hmmm if I get this card and do good my score will jump even more".
Fico3B says my next quarterly update is after thanksgiving. I am trying to do my best to have that update show great progress.
I jumped for joy today when my EQ score jumped 8 points and now says "fair"

There's a few arguments for both sides - so I'm going to list them out and let you decide:

Arguments for keeping the cards

---------------------------------------------

1. short-term score drop from less total available

2. already paid the AF

Arguments against keeping the cards

---------------------------------------------------

1. cards that only allow purchasing things you don't need are a waste - underwriters look at more than score when judging an approval and if they see a bunch of tiny lines, they're less likely to approve and if they do approve, it's for another toy limit

2. having a credit line that only allows you to purchase things you do need at a 40% markup to everywhere else (I'm looking at you, Fingerhut) is a recipe for restarting the debt spiral in a BIG hurry

3. the hit to your credit for closing them lasts only as long as it takes the accounts you do need to grow - a good analogy is gardening - we often talk about gardening as the process of letting your existing tradelines grow and mature, but another aspect of gardening is pulling out weeds...and your garden has a couple of weeds my friend

4. more tiny lines means more balls to juggle to make sure everyone gets a timely payment - and it only takes one dropped ball (late payment) for you to have to start the whole process over again

As always your mileage may vary, and good luck!