Thinking of filing Chapter 7

[Anonymous]

Hello, I have lurking on the board for awhile and am thinking about filing, I go meet with a lawyer next week but would love to get advice from here. My bills are mostly charged off and collections, with the exception of 2 cards I am a AU on and My car which I only have had 2 late payments reports just this year and student loans that are in deferment because I am still in school. Do you think by me filing my credit would improve? I am asking because I have seen some people have perfect payment history when they file.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Hello, I have lurking on the board for awhile and am thinking about filing, I go meet with a lawyer next week but would love to get advice from here. My bills are mostly charged off and collections, with the exception of 2 cards I am a AU on and My car which I only have had 2 late payments reports just this year and student loans that are in deferment because I am still in school. Do you think by me filing my credit would improve? I am asking because I have seen some people have perfect payment history when they file.

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It may increase your credit score, howmuch is questionable. Your score is most likely already low due to all the derogs on it. Just remember that filing BK doesn't remove those from your credit.

My credit personally tanked 100 points, and is now 677. My husband didn't have much credit esablished of his own prior to BK just piggy backed on my credit, and he's buffering around low 600s.

[Anonymous]

Right now my credit karma scores show 486 and I thinking about 3000-4000 in charge offs.

[Scupra]

You can ignore scores from credit karma, they are what we call FAKO's. They use Vantage 3.0 and I don't know a single lender that uses it. It's good for updates but does not provide a FICO

[sarge12]

Without having access to your entire credit situation noone can even tell you if you qualify to file Ch.7. You would need to speak to a competent credit counselor or BK attorney to get good advice. BK does sometimes help some credit scores long term if you are in so deep that there is little hope of avoiding many other adverse actions if you don't file. It is meant to give you a clean slate which may increase your credit score if you are at 150% DTI with chargeoffs only because this massive debt is no longer actionable. It will not make debt just dissapear from credit reports though. It will show that debt as not payed as agreed but IIB.

[aussiesareforever]

I personally would NOT worry about what your scores will do in the period immediately filling BK. What is most important is that you recognize and have a plan for rebuilding. Cause the ultimate goal is to have a fresh start and rebuild your credit. Regardless of what your scores do right after filing, that rebuild is going to take a while. And it seems like the BK friendly credit cards will give you a card regardless of your score. So I wouldn't worry about that.

Should you file BK? I think you and your lawyer should answer that question. Filing MOST definitely gave me a fresh start . It also motivated me to be financially responsible so that I never find myself in that situation again (that alone was perhaps worth filing for). However, there were times when I was frustrated (and embarassed) about having that stigma on my records. If you can avoid it, definitely do. But if you are overwhelmed with your financial responsibilities and there are no other way out, definitely file and file quickly.