My Rebuild - issues...trying to fix

[goPens]

First post after reading a lot, hopefully I don't do too many dumb newb things! 

Any advice for my situation would be hugely apprecaited.

40 year old, married, self employed (good income, but kind of sporadic)

The worst of my financial situation peaked on 9/10/19 when I was served with papers for a sherrifs sale of our home because it was about 6 months behind, due to my job loss and just generally struggling to pay bills.

Per an attorney's advice, we filed for Chap 13 on that day to "hold off" the sherrifs sale and what I did about 4 weeks later was sell off some assets (a Rolex and motorcycle) and paid the mortgage (through Flagstar) to get it current.  As soon as I paid that (it was about $20k) my attorney "cancelled" the BK and basically it never happened, but from a credit reporting standpoint I guess it still counts...it shows on my report as "Chap 13 Dismissed $0.00 Asset Amount".

Aside from the Chap 13, Our Flagstar account is current, has been since then, but its past reporting shows 2/2/13 with the last late April 2020....current since then.

My other bad is we have 2 car loans through Toyota Financial and I had a little bump in the road financially last year and went 30 days late once last summer and then 60 days late once on the other last summer.

I also have 1 collection from 2019 for $550 for a Comcast bill.  I disputed it several months ago just because and it's still there.

Here's the good:

$1000 personal line of credit through my bank.  Huntington Bank.  never use it.

2 secured credit cards.  Open Sky $1200 available and Merrick $300 available...used under 10% monthly.

1 Credit One card $450 available.  buy gas on it once a month and pay off...currently month six

1 Capital One card $300 available.  buy lunch on it once a month and pay off...currently month six 

GOALS:

1. trade in one of the cars (a gas guzzling truck I don't need) for a better gas milege and cheaper car

2. sell our house and buy a bigger one...FHA

[OmarGB9]

I would write Totoyta to ask for GW removal of the lates. No guarantees, but it's worth a try.

Also, don't dispute legitimate items "just because." I would contact Comcast and try to negotiate a PFD (Pay for delete). Even if they don't agree to it, I'd still pay it. Paid looks better than unpaid.

[goPens]

thank you

Should I contact Comcast directly or the debt collector in trying to get a PFD?

[mja1970]

Your story sounds extremely similar to mine.  I am also 40 (almost 41) and we went through the exact same thing with our home, also in 2019, for the exact same reasons.   It is the absolute lowest point of your life and you feel like a complete and total failure and like your entire world is crashing down around you.  Having to walk away from our home of 13 years was the most difficult thing I've ever been through in my entire life to date.  It was extremely emotional.  We had a VERY predatory mortgage servicer who was supposed to be helping us work on securing a loan modification, but instead they were running around with foreclosure proceedings behind our backs while simultaneously pretending to help us and repeatedly asking us for the same documents over and over for the loan modification.  It was all a giant scam.  They didn't even have the legal right to foreclose as they didn't own the mortgage and we had to sue them in federal court, get a temporary restraining order, etc., but I digress.  It was a huge mess that dragged on for many months before we finally settled, but still had to leave the home.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that it is possible to rebuild and rebound from this, because we did it.  We were very fortunate in that we were able to get the foreclosure deleted from our credit reports due to the circumstances surrounding the lawsuit and the mortgage servicer not having legal standing.  But, we still had other repairs that we had to make to our credit files.  It took us a good 2 years, but we are now finally at the point where we are about to purchase a new home.    It's amazing how much the situation that we went through changes how you look at credit and finances.  I have become almost obsessed with it.  I check my credit scores daily and am constantly looking for ways to increase my scores.  I NEVER want to go through anything like that ever again.  I guess pain really is the best teacher, and that situation certainly caused a huge amount of pain, but I think it's what we needed, kind of a wake up call to smarten up and never let this happen again.

[goPens]

Thanks for sharing, seriously. 

The absolute low point for me was when a weird guy pulled into my driveway while I was playing basketball with my son and handed me papers and then later that day another weird guy pulled in and asked me if this was the house that was up for sherrifs sale.....that rocked me...BUT we're A LOT better now.  At least it wasn't cancer.

So, ya, I'm kind of at step 3 or 4....already accepted the problem and trying to (smartly) fix it and work towards buying a new home in a couple years because we have way outgrown our current little split entry.

[FireMedic1]

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@goPens wrote:

First post after reading a lot, hopefully I don't do too many dumb newb things! 

Any advice for my situation would be hugely apprecaited.

40 year old, married, self employed (good income, but kind of sporadic)

The worst of my financial situation peaked on 9/10/19 when I was served with papers for a sherrifs sale of our home because it was about 6 months behind, due to my job loss and just generally struggling to pay bills.

Per an attorney's advice, we filed for Chap 13 on that day to "hold off" the sherrifs sale and what I did about 4 weeks later was sell off some assets (a Rolex and motorcycle) and paid the mortgage (through Flagstar) to get it current.  As soon as I paid that (it was about $20k) my attorney "cancelled" the BK and basically it never happened, but from a credit reporting standpoint I guess it still counts...it shows on my report as "Chap 13 Dismissed $0.00 Asset Amount".

Aside from the Chap 13, Our Flagstar account is current, has been since then, but its past reporting shows 2/2/13 with the last late April 2020....current since then.

My other bad is we have 2 car loans through Toyota Financial and I had a little bump in the road financially last year and went 30 days late once last summer and then 60 days late once on the other last summer.

I also have 1 collection from 2019 for $550 for a Comcast bill.  I disputed it several months ago just because and it's still there.

Here's the good:

$1000 personal line of credit through my bank.  Huntington Bank.  never use it.

2 secured credit cards.  Open Sky $1200 available and Merrick $300 available...used under 10% monthly.

1 Credit One card $450 available.  buy gas on it once a month and pay off...currently month six

1 Capital One card $300 available.  buy lunch on it once a month and pay off...currently month six 

GOALS:

1. trade in one of the cars (a gas guzzling truck I don't need) for a better gas milege and cheaper car

2. sell our house and buy a bigger one...FHA

---

You can use all you want on a card in a given cycle. Its whats reported each month which should be <8.99%. If the Cap1 card is a Plat. You can upgrade it to the QS and get some cash back for using it here Upgrade Just login. No negatives should be showing after 7 yrs outside of the Chapt 13. The 2020 one is legit. 2013 isnt.

[TRC_WA]

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@goPens wrote:

As soon as I paid that (it was about $20k) my attorney "cancelled" the BK and basically it never happened, but from a credit reporting standpoint I guess it still counts...it shows on my report as "Chap 13 Dismissed $0.00 Asset Amount".

---

Yes that's correct.  Even though the BK was dismissed "for whatever reason" it is accurate and stays the entire duration... which in the case of Ch 13 is 7 years from filing date.   

You may find it difficult to get a 700 score until the BK falls off the reports.  I've filed Ch 13 twice over the years... completed the plans both times.  The first filing I didn't see 700 till it fell off... the most recent filing was discharged in March and I'm in the 650-680 range with another 18 months or so until it falls off... and I've had about as perfect a rebuild as one can expect because I opened new CC accounts 2 years ago before I was even discharged.

I may sniff 700 before then if I went down to sub 1% UTI but it's  not easy because the PR is very damaging even all these years later.  The first filing I waited till discharge for new accounts... this time I didn't so I may see higher scores sooner but as said it's not easy.

[Suzette2]

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@FireMedic1 wrote:

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@goPens wrote:

First post after reading a lot, hopefully I don't do too many dumb newb things! 

Any advice for my situation would be hugely apprecaited.

40 year old, married, self employed (good income, but kind of sporadic)

The worst of my financial situation peaked on 9/10/19 when I was served with papers for a sherrifs sale of our home because it was about 6 months behind, due to my job loss and just generally struggling to pay bills.

Per an attorney's advice, we filed for Chap 13 on that day to "hold off" the sherrifs sale and what I did about 4 weeks later was sell off some assets (a Rolex and motorcycle) and paid the mortgage (through Flagstar) to get it current.  As soon as I paid that (it was about $20k) my attorney "cancelled" the BK and basically it never happened, but from a credit reporting standpoint I guess it still counts...it shows on my report as "Chap 13 Dismissed $0.00 Asset Amount".

Aside from the Chap 13, Our Flagstar account is current, has been since then, but its past reporting shows 2/2/13 with the last late April 2020....current since then.

My other bad is we have 2 car loans through Toyota Financial and I had a little bump in the road financially last year and went 30 days late once last summer and then 60 days late once on the other last summer.

I also have 1 collection from 2019 for $550 for a Comcast bill.  I disputed it several months ago just because and it's still there.

Here's the good:

$1000 personal line of credit through my bank.  Huntington Bank.  never use it.

2 secured credit cards.  Open Sky $1200 available and Merrick $300 available...used under 10% monthly.

1 Credit One card $450 available.  buy gas on it once a month and pay off...currently month six

1 Capital One card $300 available.  buy lunch on it once a month and pay off...currently month six 

GOALS:

1. trade in one of the cars (a gas guzzling truck I don't need) for a better gas milege and cheaper car

2. sell our house and buy a bigger one...FHA

---

You can use all you want on a card in a given cycle. Its whats reported each month which should be <8.99%. If the Cap1 card is a Plat. You can upgrade it to the QS and get some cash back for using it here Upgrade Just login. No negatives should be showing after 7 yrs outside of the Chapt 13. The 2020 one is legit. 2013 isnt.

---

Is there a link for the APP to check for an upgrade to a badly bucketed card?

[FireMedic1]

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@Suzette2 wrote:

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@FireMedic1 wrote:

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@goPens wrote:

First post after reading a lot, hopefully I don't do too many dumb newb things! 

Any advice for my situation would be hugely apprecaited.

40 year old, married, self employed (good income, but kind of sporadic)

The worst of my financial situation peaked on 9/10/19 when I was served with papers for a sherrifs sale of our home because it was about 6 months behind, due to my job loss and just generally struggling to pay bills.

Per an attorney's advice, we filed for Chap 13 on that day to "hold off" the sherrifs sale and what I did about 4 weeks later was sell off some assets (a Rolex and motorcycle) and paid the mortgage (through Flagstar) to get it current.  As soon as I paid that (it was about $20k) my attorney "cancelled" the BK and basically it never happened, but from a credit reporting standpoint I guess it still counts...it shows on my report as "Chap 13 Dismissed $0.00 Asset Amount".

Aside from the Chap 13, Our Flagstar account is current, has been since then, but its past reporting shows 2/2/13 with the last late April 2020....current since then.

My other bad is we have 2 car loans through Toyota Financial and I had a little bump in the road financially last year and went 30 days late once last summer and then 60 days late once on the other last summer.

I also have 1 collection from 2019 for $550 for a Comcast bill.  I disputed it several months ago just because and it's still there.

Here's the good:

$1000 personal line of credit through my bank.  Huntington Bank.  never use it.

2 secured credit cards.  Open Sky $1200 available and Merrick $300 available...used under 10% monthly.

1 Credit One card $450 available.  buy gas on it once a month and pay off...currently month six

1 Capital One card $300 available.  buy lunch on it once a month and pay off...currently month six 

GOALS:

1. trade in one of the cars (a gas guzzling truck I don't need) for a better gas milege and cheaper car

2. sell our house and buy a bigger one...FHA

---

You can use all you want on a card in a given cycle. Its whats reported each month which should be <8.99%. If the Cap1 card is a Plat. You can upgrade it to the QS and get some cash back for using it here Upgrade Just login. No negatives should be showing after 7 yrs outside of the Chapt 13. The 2020 one is legit. 2013 isnt.

---

Is there a link for the APP to check for an upgrade to a badly bucketed card?

---

@Suzette2Click on the blue "Upgrade" hyperlink in my previous post.

[Suzette2]

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@FireMedic1 wrote:

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@Suzette2 wrote:

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@FireMedic1 wrote:

---

@goPens wrote:

First post after reading a lot, hopefully I don't do too many dumb newb things! 

Any advice for my situation would be hugely apprecaited.

40 year old, married, self employed (good income, but kind of sporadic)

The worst of my financial situation peaked on 9/10/19 when I was served with papers for a sherrifs sale of our home because it was about 6 months behind, due to my job loss and just generally struggling to pay bills.

Per an attorney's advice, we filed for Chap 13 on that day to "hold off" the sherrifs sale and what I did about 4 weeks later was sell off some assets (a Rolex and motorcycle) and paid the mortgage (through Flagstar) to get it current.  As soon as I paid that (it was about $20k) my attorney "cancelled" the BK and basically it never happened, but from a credit reporting standpoint I guess it still counts...it shows on my report as "Chap 13 Dismissed $0.00 Asset Amount".

Aside from the Chap 13, Our Flagstar account is current, has been since then, but its past reporting shows 2/2/13 with the last late April 2020....current since then.

My other bad is we have 2 car loans through Toyota Financial and I had a little bump in the road financially last year and went 30 days late once last summer and then 60 days late once on the other last summer.

I also have 1 collection from 2019 for $550 for a Comcast bill.  I disputed it several months ago just because and it's still there.

Here's the good:

$1000 personal line of credit through my bank.  Huntington Bank.  never use it.

2 secured credit cards.  Open Sky $1200 available and Merrick $300 available...used under 10% monthly.

1 Credit One card $450 available.  buy gas on it once a month and pay off...currently month six

1 Capital One card $300 available.  buy lunch on it once a month and pay off...currently month six 

GOALS:

1. trade in one of the cars (a gas guzzling truck I don't need) for a better gas milege and cheaper car

2. sell our house and buy a bigger one...FHA

---

You can use all you want on a card in a given cycle. Its whats reported each month which should be <8.99%. If the Cap1 card is a Plat. You can upgrade it to the QS and get some cash back for using it here Upgrade Just login. No negatives should be showing after 7 yrs outside of the Chapt 13. The 2020 one is legit. 2013 isnt.

---

Is there a link for the APP to check for an upgrade to a badly bucketed card?

---

@Suzette2Click on the blue "Upgrade" hyperlink in my previous post.

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Think cap1 hates me.  I already have a severely bucketed UNsecured card- almost 2years old.  It's at $700.  Every month I ask for a CLI.  Nope.  The latest excuse is I just got one- six months ago.  I tried the update link you provided and it says I'm preapproval for a secured.  🙄I've pretty much given up on them and the card I have I sock drawered it for aging.  
OTOH:  Amex, synch and Discover love me.  🤷🏼‍♀️