need car asap - ch 7 vs rebuilding credit?

[Anonymous]

Hey guys,

I am seeking some advice. My car crapped out and I need to get another car asap and since my credit is terrible I am not sure what is my best course of action.

 I have been planning on filing Ch 7 for some time but I pulled my credit report and I'm interested to see if you guys think I should file ch 7 or "repair" my credit. I pulled my credit report via privacy guard and show scores of 498-510. 2-6 accounts being reported in collections with a total amount due of $5588 (about 3k worth of medical bills). 

I was approved via Carmax for a loan up to 11k with $2300 down. Payment: $290. They are the only ones who have approved me, I think its thru Americredit. I only have $1000 to put down right now so should I save up the other 1000 and go with a high interest loan and repair my credit or buy a junker, file ch 7 (which will cost me $1500) and get a newer car after discharge? 

What will get my scores up faster, ch7 or trying to repair what negatives I have? 

[Anonymous]

Easiest solution for NOW seems to be go with the carmax loan since you're already good to go on that. Keep working on your credit, and you can refinance in the future.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 I have been planning on filing Ch 7 for some time but I pulled my credit report and I'm interested to see if you guys think I should file ch 7 or "repair" my credit. I pulled my credit report via privacy guard and show scores of 498-510. 2-6 accounts being reported in collections with a total amount due of $5588 (about 3k worth of medical bills). 

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To answer your other question, $5,588 is not enough debt to truly warrant a bankruptcy. I'd recommend reading the section on the forums here labeled "Rebuilding..." You can learn about negotiating "pay for delete" settlements with creditors and try to work on cleaning up your credit report. I would also reccomend getting a Capital One platinum secured or unsecured version, so that you have a CC reporting now. You'll need at least a year of solid CC history to get any good cards in the future after your report is cleaned up potentially.

[medicgrrl]

First, Privacy Guard does not provide FICO scores so ignore those. You can pull your FICO 8 scores for $1 at Credit Check Total.

Second, if you have $1500 to file BK then you probably have enough money to pay off a good chunk of your collections. How old are they? I would have this post moved to the Rebuilding forum, list your collections, collection agency name, DOFD and the amount due. Get some advice and then see if BK is still something you want to do. You may be able to settle the accounts for much less than owed, improve your scores and start rebuilding.