My wife and I were discharged from Ch7 on 3/2/11. We had very good credit until we both lost our jobs last year. I have been able to regain employment, but we still had to BK just to make it.
We were able to ride through on our house of 12 years with a first and second mortgage. We have about $20k in equity, so we wanted to keep the house. The interest rates of the first and second mortgage are also low. We have two newer model cars that are paid off.
But we want to rebuild our credit as soon as possible if we need to refinance the mortgage. The first mortgage is an ARM, but the rate is low, and it will take a few years to go up if it does. It is based on a LIBOR, and has gone down now for 4 years straight. But it still bothers us that there is the risk.
We have been approved for two credit cards, and we will try to setup a small secured installment loan at our credit union to rebuild our credit.
But do we need to do something more like buy a car to get our credit score to where it needs to be to refinance the mortgage? We really don't want car payments, as they always kept us in debt in the past.
I just don't know if a mortgage lender wants to see that we can handle a large item like a car, or will being responsible with small credit cards and a small installment loan be enough?
We were able to ride through on our house of 12 years with a first and second mortgage. We have about $20k in equity, so we wanted to keep the house. The interest rates of the first and second mortgage are also low. We have two newer model cars that are paid off.
But we want to rebuild our credit as soon as possible if we need to refinance the mortgage. The first mortgage is an ARM, but the rate is low, and it will take a few years to go up if it does. It is based on a LIBOR, and has gone down now for 4 years straight. But it still bothers us that there is the risk.
We have been approved for two credit cards, and we will try to setup a small secured installment loan at our credit union to rebuild our credit.
But do we need to do something more like buy a car to get our credit score to where it needs to be to refinance the mortgage? We really don't want car payments, as they always kept us in debt in the past.
I just don't know if a mortgage lender wants to see that we can handle a large item like a car, or will being responsible with small credit cards and a small installment loan be enough?