Discharged... my plan on future steps.

[RBisDebtFree]

So we just got discharged today and it indeed feels great. I was waiting for this moment long ago. The next step is to start rebuilding our credit history right away.

Because we need a reliable car, we were thinking to buy a car and use that to rebuild the credit. Plus, open 3 credit cards and maybe put about $30 on each one every month and pay it off right away.

I have already pulled my credit report to start disputing accounts that were not reported correctly (I knew that BK probably won't be marked as discharged yet). It appeared that there's nothing to dispute except for my bankruptcy status, it says filed and needs to say discharged. My credit scores are Equifax 528, TransUnion 568, Experian 560; my wife's scores are Equifax 581, TransUnion 592, Experian 611.

Regarding an auto loan, we're thinking to buy a car for $15k (total, with taxes, fees, etc. included) but we want to turn in our cars which will result in about $6k down payment and that will leave us with $9k to loan. We'll get a 60-month loan but we're going to be paying extra to pay off the loan in 1.5 years. That way we'll have enough cash reserve on our hands left just in case. We don't want to give out all cash and I don't want to buy a heavily used car, I just can't get those right and also end up buying something that requires a lot of repairs. The car that we're looking at is $16k retail so we'll be far from negative equity, again, just in case...

Now, I don't think I can do much to my scores except for getting my bk reported as discharged.

I have the following questions:
1) What increase should I expect once the bk is reported on the credit report as discharged?
2) How soon will my bk be reported as discharged on our credit report?
3) What is the quickest way to get the bk reported as discharged on our credit reports?

Your opinions / comments, suggestions on anything would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

[whipster1]

My discharge showed up within a week on the CR's. Yours may be different until the case is closed, I'm not sure. With the Experian report you can use the "report number" and keep checking every day on their site for changes.

Good luck

[RBisDebtFree]

That's interesting, thanks!

My friend is the general manager at a dealership and he told me to come and bring in my discharge papers, he said that's what they care about, I guess they submit it along with the application. We'll see if I get a decent interest rate!

[RBisDebtFree]

Past friday, I applied at the dealership where my friend works, the only two banks that didn't decline me were Chase and Wachovia, interesting as I went bankrupt with Chase via WaMu and with Wachovia via Wells Fargo, maybe that doesn't matter.

They asked for the pay stubs and a copy of my discharge papers, I faxed that in and I'll see what happens.

However, I wonder if all of them declined me due to bankruptcy showing as "FILED" instead of "DISCHARED" on my credit report.

[whipster1]

Good luck!

[RBisDebtFree]

Got approved by chase for 22%... obviously, I am not going to do it! I had a paid off loan with chase before bankruptcy, I guess that is why they even approved. I also applied at a couple of credit unions, one gave a pre-approval for 7.44% but that's just a pro-approval and it's a closed credit union, however, my cousin-in-law (my wife's cousin) seems to be eligible and if she is so are we. We'll see.

I'll post with an update... Thanks!

[RBisDebtFree]

Looks like a local credit union approved me at 8.84%, the only question is that I become eligible through my cousin-in-law. We'll see...