Rebuilding after chapter 7!

[Anonymous]

Okay here's my story. 

I was hurt in the Dominican Republic and long story short... ended up with a crap ton of medical bills and racked up a ton of debt. I filled chapter 13. Then 6 months later filled for chapter 7. I burned everyone...

NFCU 100k

discover 10k

amazon 10k 

American Express only 2500 (had like 75k in open credit) really wanted to pay the 2500 but wasn't allowed in Bk. 

capital one a few thousand 

PenFed a few thousand 

credit one 3,000

Citi 25k

Blispay 25k 

Barclays 3k

PayPal 5k 

I think my total debt without my home and 2 leased vechiles that I kept. I discharged around 300k... personal loans, credit cards and medical. 

I literally don't think that was everyone. I know his will prolly get a lot of hate... but I was a VERY HIGH earner.. 820 credit score. I paid most of my cards off in full every month before the accident and thought I could get it back on track. I had a serious brain injury. 

I absolutely hated burning American Express. I took the last 28,000 I had to pay them off a few months before I had no other choice than to file bk.

My discharge was today. 
My credit scores are almost 700 already.. idk how I know that's crazy. 
I applied for capital one that was conditioned on a bunch of documents they want. 
instant approval for target 3k. 
Any advice ? Please no hate. 

[Mjhall85]

First of all, nobody will give you hatred on here as a lot of people here filed bankruptcy for their own reasons and we aren't one to judge. Secondly hope you are recovered from your injury and brain surgery.

You mention you already have vehicles and your home still so no need for any installment loans.I would stick with that capital one card use it for a few months and let it age and see where your scores go and can try the pre-qual pages for some others cards and see what comes up.

Also go over your report in the next 30 days about and make sure everything is reported accurately on the report. Did you pull your fico scores from somewhere or where did you get the 700 score ? If it is a fico score and already up there then you are awfully lucky.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the kind words. Yes all 3 Fico scores 692, 699, 689

[Anonymous]

I'm thinking because my payment history was 100% before I filed.

[Mjhall85]

Well that's a killer way to start your rebuild, I am sure you know to space out applications for cards and all that jazz then. Good luck with your rebuild. May be a bit tricky with who you burned but a lot of them let you back in after x amount of time.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. This all hit me when I was 25. I was able to make it work till I was 27. I went from a 6 figure income. 6 figure savings. 2 homes. To being eligible for chapter 7. Really sucked. All because of an injury. Bet hey got my discharge... took 18 months. But it's done and I'm ready to start over. 

[Mjhall85]

All that matters is you got that discharge and can rebuild and get things again, some things you have to wait a little bit for but many on here are great examples of life after bankruptcy.

[Kasuito39]

Great rebuild slow but surely and by the time you realize it, you've gained it all back. This too shall pass and here comes the 800 scores again. Good luck and keep pushing on strong! 

[mrcraft]

You might consider joining other credit unions and try to get their secured cards.

At some point, you can pay back the remaining $2,500 to Amex (even though legally you don't have to).  Wait 5 years 1 month from filing, and they will likely take you back in.

Good luck with everything!

[clever411]

Your are very fortunate with your fico scores. I was in a similar financial situation as you were. I owned a 500k house and had impeccable credit. I filed chapter 7 in 2010, mostly because of employment cuts and the housing crash. American express was one of my creditors, along with Chase, Citi, Discover and a few banks. After my bankruptcy, my credit scores went  from high 790's to below 630. Fico 8 was in it's infancy stage and fico 9 wasn't formulated yet. It wasn't easy getting back, I wish I knew about this forum when I was on my journey. Anyway, a secured card by Capital 1 got the ball rolling, then a card with my credit union and a few department stores. I just got back into the game with AME this year, 10 years after filing CH7. They wouldn't budge until after the 10 year mark. Chase is even worse if you burned them, at least they were in my case. I'm sure you will get back to where you were before just stick with it. This forum is a great place to start.