chapter 13 discharged questions on getting credit.

[iknowcupid]

Hi there,

Needing some advice. we just completed chapter 13 payments all on time and has been discharged. have the discharge papers from court dated 2/22/12 I have not checked the scores for my husband but mine are: 635, 635, 655. I was looking into mortgage refinancing since we were never late on the mortgage but the loan officer told me that we need to wait, that the scores were not bad but conventional is two years and fha was one year ...we declared it in 2006 so if it's 7 years from date of file it should come off in 2013. he told me that when it's off we still have to establish credit besides the mortgage because the underwriters will be looking for recent new credit and how we handle it.

My questions are to anyone who recently finished their chapter 13 bankruptcies and have been discharged.

I'm alittle nervous trying to apply for any credit due to the fact of being turned down and it reflecting on the credit report. My question is what is the best credit card that won't turn us down (don't care what the interest rate is) as i plan on making a purchase and paying it off or paying half and then the next month half.

Also we do need a car, mine is 16 years old. does anyone know or have had recent experiences with auto loans ,

Most of the postings here are from a long time ago, I need recent information over the last year or so.

It's not that i'm itching to get into debt. it's more so that i can refinance this 8.6 mortgage.

i was told that the credit scores are not bad considering coming right from the discharge.

can anyone help me.

Thanks

[SMinGA2]

A few thoughts... Even though its important to you to rebuild, you should have standards. You don't want to throw money away. Your bankruptcy is old, and you have good mortgage accounts reporting. You're better off than someone coming off of a recently discharged ch. 7 and wanting to establish credit.

Ask BofA about an in-house mod. Its a long shot, since you're current, but no harm in asking. If successful - it could reduce your current rate without having to apply for a new loan.

You can probably get decent car options now, since your bankruptcy is old. (5+ years ago that you filed...) If you have a downpayment that helps. If you do decide to go car shopping, inquiries for auto loans in a 7-14 day period should factor as 1 in regards to credit scoring. If you have a credit union you can join, I'd try there first.

For establishing credit cards - avoid the subprime stuff. Don't go for Orchard, First Premier, Credit One. Sure they're easy tradelines to get - but come with big fees. I know from your other thread you applied for BofA's secured card. If that works out, see if they will do authorized users. If so, add your spouse to your card and have him do the same. You'd each get 2 positive tradelines as a result. And perhaps as you can, increase the deposit - and the credit limit - to $1000-1500 each. In a year or so you can probably have them upgrade you to unsecured, releasing the deposits. Having only low limits means others that do approve you, will probably give low limits also. The APR really doesn't matter, if you never carry a balance, and there is no reason to pay outrageous fees. Capital One has a variety of products - and you can do a prequalification on their website (without a credit inquiry) to see what you're most likely to be approved for. They have a rewards card - which is the only reason IMO to pay an annual fee. One downside: Capital One pulls all 3 bureaus.

Don't go applying for everything. Perhaps set limits - to each open 2 credit cards, and add the other as an authorized user. Maybe a store card also. They say variety is good for scores. I know from personal experience that Firestone is fairly easy to get...

[iknowcupid]

your a love! thanks so much

[ValleYum]

Barclay's has been giving some decent credit lines (unsecured) with no annual fees, FYI.

Good luck with rebuilding!

ETA: Cap One also has their "Blank Check" auto loan program. Supposed to be pretty easy to use.