Rebuild Plan Help

[Anonymous]

I was pretty determined on filing Ch 7. However, I think I have changed my mind. Not sure what to do here.

I would like to buy a house within the next 12-18 months. I think you have to wait 2-3 years after filing CH 7. I have a lot of bad remarks on my reports. I'm listing them all below. Where should I start? What should I do first?

Affirm - Collection - $104

Apple Card - Charge Off - $556

Capital One - Charge Off - $344

Capital One - Charge Off - $677

Capital One - Charge Off - $571

Indigo Card - Closed - $559

Credit Collection Service - Collection - $3,046

Credit One Bank - Closed. "Write Off" - $617

MDG USA - Open - $120

Merrick Bank - Charge Off - $1,839

NFCU - Charge Off - $531

NFCU - Charge Off - $2,137

Online Collections - Collection - $355

Physicians Business Bureau - Collection - $253

SCA Collections - Collection - $122

Care Credit - Charge Off - $869

Home Depot CC - Charge Off - $684

First Credit Services - Collection - $172

CH 13 BK - Dismissed - Falls off this year 

-- I have a couple closed accounts in positive standing --

Here are some negative things not shown on my report yet...

Flex Shopper - $232

Zebit - $590

WF - $700

Local Loan Company - $2,700

Sezzle - $75

Enhanced Recovery Company - $325

Phoenix Financial Services - $698 (Only on TU)

Smart Pay - $140

[Anonymous]

It'll depend on whether you have the money to pay or settle all of these. Most underwriters will require all outstanding bad debts to be paid off. If that's not feasible, then either the home has to be put off or the BK7 is back on the table.

It will also depend on who currently owns all these debts. If collection agencies known to delete for payment own them, then you stand a good chance of cleaning up your reports to a point that you'll qualify for a decent rate. If they're with the OCs, then they probably won't be going anywhere and you'll have collections and chargeoffs on your reports, paid off, settled, or outstanding. 

Where do your scores stand now, who owns all of these accounts, how old are the derogs, what other bad info is in your reports, and what positive tradelines do you have? How much can you pay off? These answers will determine whether BK is the way to go and if a mortgage is a realistic idea at this point.

[Horseshoez]

@Anonymous, this is going to be an interesting journey for you, and one which I do not envy you for.  My gut tells me unless you can afford to pay off or otherwise remove all of those derogs from your credit reports, a mortgage with any sort of a decent interest rate will be difficult, if not impossible, to come by in the 12-18 month timeframe.

[Bankrupt2019]

I suppose if you've got $15k to pay off all of those debts, you could skip the bankruptcy, but I'm also guessing your scores probably don't support a mortgage either.

[Anonymous]

Whatever route you go at least payoff NFCU in full- do not settle for less. They will give you another chance, I did them wrong 5 years ago and finally paid them off. They have treated me good after paying them. 

[House2021]

If you do a settlement with NFCUI just settled with them for 20 percent of what I owed, for ERC, call the original creditor have them pull the collection from ERC and lay original creditor direct, which would require ERC to be deleted. I wouldn't file a BK over $15,000, I just resolved a bunch of debt for 20-45% of amounts owed. 

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm gonna throw some unsolicited thoughts out here for you to do with what you will. Understand I'm in no way judging or calling out, and I'm not trying to orate, but I want to mention a thought for you to ponder. You certainly don't have to answer, but I say it in the hope that you'll consider it for yourself in making your decision.

In your original post you put up quite a list of defaults, and that can happen for many reasons. Job loss, Covid's effect on the economy, apathy, birth of a child, many things can contribute to a financial meltdown. It happens to many people.

I would just urge you to think over whatever caused the situation for you before taking on a mortgage. If it was outside events beyond control, so be it - it's happened to many. If it was something within your control, I would ask that you be sure, for your own good, that it is corrected so as not to jeopardize your home in the future. A lot goes into home ownership and a lot can go wrong. Having the proper financial mindset is very important to keeping the train on the rails.

I'm not trying to soapbox here, and I'm not going to belabor the point. I just wanted to put it out there as something to consider.

[Anonymous]

I'm going to PM you, if you don't mind.

[Anonymous]

Anytime you'd like to 👍🏻