Eight years ago today, I filed by Chapter 7 bk. Wow does time fly!
I think the best advice I could give to anyone contemplating filing is, treat this thing as a straightup business decision. At the end of the day, the only one who has your best interest at heart is-well you.
Don't be in a huge rush to file. File when the timing will benefit you the most. At a minimum, have some sort of safety net or plan in place where you can support yourself and have access to health insurance post bk. I think the saddest thing I see on these and other boards are people filing in haste with no plan going forward and end up still paycheck to paycheck. That's just no way to live.
Right after I filed, I started looking for a better job. Found one about a week or so prior to my discharge. We {my wife-she didn't file} have a budget that runs towrds lean. We both max out our 401K's plus, we contribute to self directed IRA's.
I never tried to engage in credit repair. I last looked at my reports a couple of years ago and while there were a couple of things not quite right, I left it alone. My bk was fairly earned and I'm not gonna lie about it or try and get some things removed beause some dates may not be quite right.
The bk affected my access to credit only once. About 6 weeks before the 2 year mark of my filing, my wife's car died. I tried to get an auto loan onmy own from one midsized regional bank and a local CU. I had acconts in both places and they lost nothing in the bk. The AA letter I got informed me the reason for the rejection was,they required a full 2 years post filing before I met their lending criteria. So, it was an emergency and we applied online for the Cap1 Blank Check program and were approved instanly.
As to credit cards-I tossed all offers post bk that had a fee. Evevntually, I got a couple of unsecured cards from Household bank and then 1 from Cap1 {really surprised me since they were one of my creditors} and Juniper card. Total CL's now of about $15K. Just use them for daily purchases and pay them off at the end of the billing cycle.
I did have 1 card survive bk. A CFNA card that handles Firestones credit card business.
Anyway, just wanted to share and I wsih all of us good luck in the future!
I think the best advice I could give to anyone contemplating filing is, treat this thing as a straightup business decision. At the end of the day, the only one who has your best interest at heart is-well you.
Don't be in a huge rush to file. File when the timing will benefit you the most. At a minimum, have some sort of safety net or plan in place where you can support yourself and have access to health insurance post bk. I think the saddest thing I see on these and other boards are people filing in haste with no plan going forward and end up still paycheck to paycheck. That's just no way to live.
Right after I filed, I started looking for a better job. Found one about a week or so prior to my discharge. We {my wife-she didn't file} have a budget that runs towrds lean. We both max out our 401K's plus, we contribute to self directed IRA's.
I never tried to engage in credit repair. I last looked at my reports a couple of years ago and while there were a couple of things not quite right, I left it alone. My bk was fairly earned and I'm not gonna lie about it or try and get some things removed beause some dates may not be quite right.
The bk affected my access to credit only once. About 6 weeks before the 2 year mark of my filing, my wife's car died. I tried to get an auto loan onmy own from one midsized regional bank and a local CU. I had acconts in both places and they lost nothing in the bk. The AA letter I got informed me the reason for the rejection was,they required a full 2 years post filing before I met their lending criteria. So, it was an emergency and we applied online for the Cap1 Blank Check program and were approved instanly.
As to credit cards-I tossed all offers post bk that had a fee. Evevntually, I got a couple of unsecured cards from Household bank and then 1 from Cap1 {really surprised me since they were one of my creditors} and Juniper card. Total CL's now of about $15K. Just use them for daily purchases and pay them off at the end of the billing cycle.
I did have 1 card survive bk. A CFNA card that handles Firestones credit card business.
Anyway, just wanted to share and I wsih all of us good luck in the future!
will have to do 
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