FHA loan after bk 7

[scotk]

As I see it, the whole purpose of a doing a 7 is to rid myself of this debt. What I want to know is about getting an FHA loan later. I have read the HUD guidelines which anyone can read and download. It says that after 1 year, it's possible on a manual underwrite to get a FHA loan if it can be shown there were extenuating circumstances that brought about the Chapter 7 filing. What constitutes extenuating circumstances? Does the fact that I was unable to get work for 5 months count along these lines? I guess this is a question for an FHA loan underwriter. I already filed a 7 before and I'm 63 now. I really don't want to go through this again. The accounts will stay on my report for 10 years.

[justbroke]

As I see it, the whole purpose of a doing a 7 is to rid myself of this debt. What I want to know is about getting an FHA loan later. I have read the HUD guidelines which anyone can read and download. It says that after 1 year, it's possible on a manual underwrite to get a FHA loan if it can be shown there were extenuating circumstances that brought about the Chapter 7 filing. What constitutes extenuating circumstances? Does the fact that I was unable to get work for 5 months count along these lines? I guess this is a question for an FHA loan underwriter. I already filed a 7 before and I'm 63 now. I really don't want to go through this again. The accounts will stay on my report for 10 years.

There are very few banks that want to do "manual" underwriting. Just wait the 2 years and you'll be fine, provided that your credit scores are about 620 (despite the possibility of a 500 score with FHA). Most banks have overlays and don't want to deal with scores below 620. You may find some specialty brokerages that will work with you if the score it that low.

Also, "extenuating" circumstances is essentially death of the wage earner or very serious injury or illness. I talked to a broker in the past, a major broker that does many sub-600 score FHAs with bankruptcies. He said that despite how well he does with FHA loans... he has not once been able to have a manually underwritten loan done under the extenuating circumstances exception. He's very good at what he does and can't get one through.