Had my 341 Hearing this morning. Advice on credit repair?

[TrackDog]

My wife and I had our hearing this morning and it turned out to be a lot more pleasant then expected. My attorney had developed a good relationship with the Trustee and I think that made a huge difference. We were first up and the whole process literally took about 5 minutes. Answered a few questions and the Trustee told us we were good to go. My wife and I had over $200,000 in credit (not including the home loans) and I was worried about having to answer a bunch of questions about how we got into this much debt. Cudos to my lawyer.
Now that I'm on my way, I'm interested in any advice to start improving my credit score. I know I'm at the beginning of a long road, but figured that its not to early to start. Thanks in advance.

[tobee43]

many people are so anxious to begin their "new" lives....but here's a couple of suggestions that may help you set your time table.....

first...get your discharged and order of report of no asset distribution........

within usually 2-3 after discharge, you'll begin getting offers for credit.....some good...others not so....read on the forum which companies are most bk friendly.

TIME is the real answer to help you re-establishing your credit........from the TIME you are discharged and the TIME you apply...TIME is the real factor....the more time between that discharge date and the date you apply for any loan the better your chance...

also, remember there are small things...like paying your utilities on time...your phone...small things like that...we use our checking account for auto with drawl on most "vital" living expenses so we have never been late...(actually we never were prior to our bk).

take a breath....it's a long haul..no dancing around that...but honestly there is LIFE after bk...and you'll make it.

we got 3 cards good rates...pretty high lines...at first we were convinced that was our ticket to get back on track..but...forget it...i'd use a card and run home and pay it in full on line..LOL!!! s that didn't work out well......now we simply do not use them...except ONE once in a while ...in case we need to rent a car or hold a hotel room although our debit card works usually just as well in most cases...we use CASH now...for everything...it's just the way we live and can since we are a bit older and not raising kids, etc...we also just purchased a new home...100% owner financing..NO BANK no credit...we had been here a year and gave a nice (family borrowed ) downpayment....so..were there is a wil..there is a way..i say it over and over.

i know this is scary...but you'll do just fine..really. best of luck to you!X

[papie]

http://www.bkforum.com/forumdisplay.php?10-Rebuilding-Credit

This is the forum that has the rebuilding credit information on it. Remember a lot of these people filed Chapter 7, so they can start rebuilding immediately after discharge. If you filed Chapter 13 your discharge will not be done for several more years. So in the meantime read the sticky that says "Cleaning up your credit report." I would suggest waiting about six months into your 13 to get your credit report. I think that gives creditors plenty of time learn about you bk and learn what they want to do with it and get it properly reported to the credit bureaus. You just want to go over the report and make sure everything is listed correctly.

Other than that, in an active 13, there isn't a whole great deal of things you can do. Make sure you stay current on your bills and stay out of collections going forward. For me personally, I have a lot of medical bills, and I just make sure that I make regular monthly payments on them to keep the hospital happy. I also have a secured credit card, which you can find out more about in the above link. It's my understanding that some trustees do not authorize these in some areas. My lawyer suggested I accept a few because my trustee doesn't care, so consult your lawyer first.

GL!

[lrprn]

After filing Ch 13, depending on where your credit score was before filing, it could go down quite a bit after filing. Be prepared for that.

Frankly it's very premature to start working on your credit score so close to filing. It's been our collective experience here in the Ch 13 forum that starting to work on credit reports right after filing ends up being a big waste of time. About six months, maybe a year, before your 13 is due to finish is the best time start working on cleaning up the credit report.

Even after discharge, many of our members report that the credit bureaus make their requested clean-up changes, but within a few months some creditors flip right back to the original designation that was changed. It's an ongoing battle that can last for quite some time. This seems to happen whether you start credit report clean-up early, in the middle, or late in the 13.

Right now the last thing you should be focused on is your credit score. You can't get new credit without your trustee's permission until your case is successfully completed and discharged anyway. It's very important to learn to live within what you make month after month. You can't use credit to make up any shortfalls now.

Now is the time to focus on getting your budget firmed up and getting a solid emergency fund in place as quickly as possible to handle the inevitable financial surprises coming your way over the next five years. This is where your priority should be now.

As already mentioned, *TIME* is your best friend in the credit score department. Our credit score went down over 100 points right after we filed. Since then we've made sure to keep all our secured asset payments, utility payments, etc. on time now for 4 3/4 years. We're a few months away from being done , and our credit score is actually higher now than it was before we filed. I'm just about ready to start working on our credit reports to clean them up right before we're discharged, so I anticipate that our credit score is going to go up even more after that. This way when we decide to go car shopping (our cars are 9 and 11 years old respectively but still running well), we'll be ready to go.