Question How Much Credit Is Needed To Relocate And Rent In Another State Post-BK13?

[Barbisi]

It is starting to sink just how hard it is going to be to get out of Colorado in 2022 after the final BK13 payment in late Jan. /early Feb. 2022.
We have an excellent CU, but if we have to wait six month after discharge to apply for a secured CC, that means we aren't eligible until maybe Oct.2022 to qualify. So we may have to wait until 2023 to have a legitimate CC to make our move easier. I have long disliked Capital One and it sounds like the low credit limit and restrictive terms make it extremely unappealing for a first post-BK13 CC.
Renting appears to be super competitive in WA state, so we may not be able to secure a nice house with our cats until after the BK13 is wiped from our records in 2024 which means three more unhappy years here. Is a freshly discharged bankruptcy a concern/consideration of landlords and home rental companies when a tenant is considered for renting? Also, would a job offer and 'large' bank account (from the home sale profit) out-benefit the BK issue?
Would renting here for a year after our discharge ensure we would be rent worthy again? Or would staying put in this house with all the repairs soon coming down the pike help our credit more? We do not want to buy another house once the BK13 no longer shows on our records ; rather, we want to get out from another slew of forthcoming home updates and system repairs which could cause us to repeat BK13 again.
We reason if we could sell sooner, we could buy a much needed car in 2022 vs waiting til 2024 when the bk expires on our credit, thereby saving money on continued car repairs. And, we could pay off the 401k loan we borrowed from in 2014, to buy the previous home.
We want to sell while the housing market is still 'hot'/competitive. Staying in this house until 2024 feels like we are taking a huge financial risk since the housing market may have contracted by then.

[justbroke]

We have an excellent CU, but if we have to wait six month after discharge to apply for a secured CC, that means we aren't eligible until maybe Oct.2022 to qualify. So we may have to wait until 2023 to have a legitimate CC to make our move easier. I have long disliked Capital One and it sounds like the low credit limit and restrictive terms make it extremely unappealing for a first post-BK13 CC.

Look into obtaining a secured card now by asking your attorney. I heard, through the grapevine, that TDBank is a great place.

Renting appears to be super competitive in WA state, so we may not be able to secure a nice house with our cats until after the BK13 is wiped from our records in 2024 which means three more unhappy years here. Is a freshly discharged bankruptcy a concern/consideration of landlords and home rental companies when a tenant is considered for renting? Also, would a job offer and 'large' bank account (from the home sale profit) out-benefit the BK issue?

From my personal experience, the major rental companies really only care about your credit score. They may even use Equifax's rental score product which looks for delinquent rents and evictions. Every major rental/management company that I have seen usually wants 2 years from the filing date of the bankruptcy. For example, I went through a major just 2 weeks after my discharge and was approved without a deposit required. My score was good, though.

Would renting here for a year after our discharge ensure we would be rent worthy again? Or would staying put in this house with all the repairs soon coming down the pike help our credit more?

Rental history doesn't really matter from what I've seen and what I personally have done as a landlord. I always look to credit first, then job stability second. Then I will likely review rental history to see if the applicant has had trouble in the past. I use a service for that (SafeRent by LexisNexis/CoreLogic) and it's pretty spot on. I know that other major landlords use the same service or a similar service. They use scoring as it gets around any issues with discriminatory practices since it looks at the applicant subjectively based on credit.

With a good job and clean credit report -- even with bankruptcy reporting -- I don't see any issues at all.I mean, I was just renting while in an active Chapter 13 before I got this house. I was 8 months from discharge and filed with a major management company in a "luxury" apartment complex and approved with the lowest deposit of $300 (on a $2,000/month apartment). So... the applicants overall credit profile is what matters.

[Barbisi]

Thanks jb!
We always rented together until 2014, in states from Texas to NH,to Virginia and here in Colorado - never late, never delinquent, never evicted, only broke the lease with the rental company's /landlord's consent due to an out of state move. It sounds like even though BK13 eliminates all credit history , good rental payment history some how is visible.
We didn't even have arrears or any late payments on these two mortgage nor any back taxes, lawsuits, strip liens, HELOC ,etc. when we had to file -nichts, rien, niente , nada! Only pure unsecured CC debt which is almost unheard of!
Had we just continued to rent, we would have not had any 401k loan, nor crazy CC debt of 100k between Oct. 2014 (when we bought the "devil's bane") and July 2016 when we unloaded the curse upon our existence. And we could have left CO before 2022 with out penalty (no five year BK13!)
TD Bank is not available in CO, so far as I know , but ENT is local (that's who we have in mind.)
Not sure about rocking the boat with the trustee about a request for a secured CC - we only have 9 payments to go and don't want to waken the sleeping giant too soon- maybe when he contacts us in Aug.2021 about our tax returns, and my husband's latest pay stub would be safer LOL!
When I last checked, my credit score was around 700 - would that be good enough if we can keep it there post discharge?
So it's heartening to know selling this house and maybe getting out of here next year with another job, of course, is still possible!

[justbroke]

If you can keep your scores at 700 (because you're int he bankruptcy bucket), I don't see any leasing / management company denying a lease. Good income and good credit scores means that the person is a 'low' credit risk.