I was advised to file a Chapter 7 BK. What I need some clarity on is how this will affect my score, what will it do to accounts I have in good standing, and how long is it before my credit would be considered "good" again? Thanks...
Do a search on this board under "chapter 7" and another under "BK" and you will get all the info you need
Chapter 7 cases take about 4 - 6 months to be completed. When your case is completed your debts you filed on are "discharged" and you no longer owe any of those debts. Sounds like you should visit some legal sites like Nolo.com, mycounsel.com and read up on the process and what the chapter's involve. Also, your credit will basically stink after you file, your scores will be low. But you can start the rebuilding process right away and in about a year or two have much better credit. It takes time to work on bad credit to make it better. That's all there is to it. You can learn a lot from this forum though if you take time to read through posts too. Good luck.
Also keep in mind that you will not be able to qualify for a mortgage for at least 2 years after the discharge, no matter what. And, some prime cards will not even look at you until the public record is gone, gone, gone. 7 loooong years. Try anything you can to not file bk. It hurts, and the pain is long term, almost terminal! If there is any way for you to avoid filing, do it! Borrow from mom and dad, get 2nd mortgage, short of stealing, try to pay off your debts or negotiate with creditors. Most will work with you if you give them the whole truth from the start. If they know that you are considering chap 7 they may be willing to delete some "over limit/ past due charges" just so they can get something from you. With chap 7 they get NOTHING. Best of luck.
No matter what?! Unless of course you are able to get the discharged chapter 7 deleted from your CRA reports. I can be done. And despite the misconceptions that many have, a chapter 7 would give you a fresh start. You could immediately get 5 or 6 subprime mastercards and visas, kesp the balances below 35% of your credit limit, pay the balance at each statement down to $1.50, thus building new credit and increasing your score. After as little as 6-9 months of rebuilding, you could begin to get prime credit.
Even if you get the Chapter 7 or 13 deleted from your credit reports it is still a public record. And one of the many questions creditors ask you is if you have ever filed bankruptcy. If you state no, you lying and that's fraud. Dani
