Point me in the right direction...

[RackingJ]

I just checked our CR & Trans Union scores on MyFico and wondering where I should start to rebuild our credit. My score was 564 and hubby's was 605. Our pre-BK scores were 741 (mine) and 680s (his). All our accounts are showing Ch 7 Bankruptcy and no balance or lates on the CR. Hubby has one judgment that was IIB that I need to get vacated so that's a start, I guess.

I really don't want to get a credit card but we'd like to sell our house and move when the 2 yr post BK wait is up so I need to improve those scores. Should I get a small secured card or just let time be on our side to up the scores?

Right now all we have reporting is our current mortgage. I'm driving my mom's car and would like to get a loan in our name for it so it would help our scores but I don't know if anyone would lend to us with those scores.

Any thoughts? TIA.

[StartingOver08]

... All our accounts are showing Ch 7 Bankruptcy and no balance or lates on the CR.

...
Any thoughts? TIA.

Is the TL reporting with a blank space in the balance field or with a zero in the balance field? If you make sure that each TL reports iib with a zero in the balance field, your score will increase. For some reason if you have a blank in that field your score really takes a hit. Mine increased substantially after I made those corrections thru the CRA's.

Also, once you remove that judgment your Hubby's score should increase.

Look at MyFico.com to see some of the items that are considered for the scores. http://www.myfico.com/CreditEducatio...YourScore.aspx

In order to increase your actual FICO scores you have to have cc's...because that is the standard measure of the FICO scoring system. You don't need too many 2 or 3 cards at most. Keeping your utilization under 10% of the CL will yield the highest results. The rest is a matter of time, showing consistent on time payments just like you did before the BK. Hope this helps.

[RackingJ]

Thanks for all the info.

Most of my accounts have $0 for the balance. Three accounts (2 CCs and our SUV that I surrendered) has 'not reported' under the balance & past due amount. My husband has one like that as well. Should we dispute that and get it changed to 0?

[StartingOver08]

Yes. Definately dispute it to the CRA for correction. The history they are allowed to report is up to the FILING date, not the discharge date.

[RackingJ]

so changing it from 'not reported' to a 0 balance would increase my score a bit?

[StartingOver08]

Yes, that was my experience.

[RackingJ]

awesome! Thanks for the info StartingOver.