Hello to all. I am new here been lurking for a while, though. We are 6 months past discharge on a ch7 bk. I prefer not to go into the details as I am sure there are many who will think we are terrible people. Let's just say it was a very hard decision to make and we must live with the decision. My question is this. Do we need to have any credit cards? I have a Sam's Club card only right now. I have been using and paying off every month. Will this be sufficient for reestablishing credit? We are still paying on 2 autos and a house in another state without a reaffirmation so they do not show up. We also are paying on hubby's student loan. Our ultimate goal is to buy another home. (if ours will ever sell! been on market 7 months!!!) If anyone could advice me on what I should be doing now to help us in the future buy a home, I will be very appreciative. I am completely lost in the world of credit! Thank you and if anyone needs bk support I will try and answer any questions on the process. I am not yet sure of the aftermath!!!
HI there~! I'm a newbie to the credit repair game...but have a similiar story to yours about BK...first off...it's ok! You are amongst a lot of people who have been there, too...and you are NOT terrible people. There is so much stress that goes along with filing/ and guilt feelings, too. I'm sure you did what was right for you and it's time to move on...and reestablish your credit. Believe it or not, it won't be long before the "sharks" come out with their credit cards, looking for you to get back in the same plight as before. and it's easy to do... I know...am re learning that lesson. So, before you get going again, reallyl, really figure out what you have learned in this process...and be kind to yourself. Keep coming back here, and other boards, to get help. Don't be afraid to ask questions! There are no stupid questions and everyone , including the board veterans, have been new at this, too! Here are other great boards: www.creditboards.com www.creditreportrights.com I hope people here don't mind me mentioning these other sites/ I'm learning lots by going to all of them. AGain...it's ok. You are allright. Tomorrow is going to come sure as today did! There's no where to go...but up...AND...learn, learn, learn how to play this game, coz, it's a game.... Best Wishes, HealthTchr
I am about 12 yrs post ch 7 and I can relate totally. I have a few things to point out. IT does NOT make you a bad person. You may have made the wrong choices but that of course does never make you a bad person. If you learn from them then you are much better person! We filed in Dec 91, discharged in May 92. Our car which we owed on was NOT reaffirmed as yours wasn't. We continued to make on time payments until it was paid off. My student loans were not dischargable so I continued to pay on them (while getting a few "financial" forbearances, etc..) and I'm still paying on them now. Even though the car loan was not re-affirmed it is still showing on your credit. If you continue to pay it on time then it can only help your credit. Continue to pay everything you are paying on time and put alittle extra if you can towards the principals to pay them off early. THis will help you in the long run. I found that most lenders will look at you about 2-3 yrs post discharge. We bought our first home in 96 FHA and had no troubles. The only thing they want is PERFECT payment history from the date of discharge of the bankruptcy. They want to know that you learned and have fixed your financial troubles. They may require a letter of explanation of why you had to file, etc. but we had no troubles obtaining out mortgage and getting a new car in 98 also (car rate wasn't that great-11%) but we got financed. Just remember time will heal it. Paying on time every time is the best thing. Get a secured credit card. I got one in 92 thru Capital One bank. I gave them 100.00 and they gave me a 500.00 CL. I paid it off each time I used it. Maybe purchased little things and then paid it off. This showed my desire to establish credit. They offered me their Gold card with a 1200.00 CL about a yr or so later. This was unsecured and I closed out the secured card and got my deposit back + interest. I then graduated a few years back to their Carnival Mastercard with a 5500.00 limit of which I've taken 2 cruise already LOL...I have another new car (2001 saturn @ .9%-YES less then 1%) and we refinanced our home in 2000 and we have about 3 other credit cards which we pay on time and our credit score has gone up. It's a slow process. I am "perfect" as my husband calls me on paying bills now. I keep them in a place and make sure they are all paid on time each month. I don't overextend myself and if I do I pay it off ASAP. Another thing you might want to do is order each credit report. Check them to make sure the items you included in your ch7 are noted as such. Dispute the ones that aren't and I found that raised my score alittle bit. Clean up the report. Get rid of the stuff that isn't correct. If you have collections on there see if disputing them as "not mine" will get rid of them. I had a paid collection that was like 60.00 which was on my report a few years back (long distance something or other bill) and it was supposed to fall off in 2004 but I disputed it as "not mine" and it wasn't verified so all 3 reports removed it. I wish you all the best! Don't worry about what others think. You have to make your own decision as to what is best for your family! Feel free to email me if you have any questions. hkolln@yahoo.com
Helen, I appreciate so much your post....I wish I had found these boards back in 97 when we filed/ I know NOW that we really didn't learn from our mistakes. We have established some good credit history but still have low numbers/fico scores... And we are now beginning to work on them. I've so grateful for people like you and others who share their stories. You are so right/ it doesn't do any good to beat yourself up over it! I'm learning so much and have already made some strides in the past 2 months....I'm moving on! Wishing you well! HealthTchr These are the things they should teach you in school...but don't!
Thanks so much for sharing your story Helen. We will slowly recover. Unfortuantly both of our autos are leased. So we will need new autos much sooner than I would like. One has 18 months left and the other about 30 months. Due to the Worldcom disaster (hubby was laid off) we have moved to another state. He has found a job though and that is what matters. It just stinks that we had to leave a house behind. It will be so hard to get another. Due to the economy where our house is it still has not sold. Looks like we will rent it out and try again next year. In the meantime we are living with grandma. Thank God for family! Anyway, I hope to learn alot here so that we will be able to purchase another home and of course buy a car when our leases are up. I do have a couple of accounts showing as R9's that were actually included in the bk. I will need to figure out how to fix those. Time keeps on tickin'!
