341 Meeting Yesterday

[saint782]

Hello,

My wife and I had our 341 meeting yesterday so I thought I would share the experience for those out there, like me who were wondering what to expect.

Our meeting took place over Zoom, we were put in a "waiting room" till we were called. Our attorney was there and the whole thing took less than 10 minutes, we were asked the standard yes/no questions and afterwards the trustee said it was over and wished us good luck. Everyone tells you this is how it will most likely go but in the end the worry is still there that you will be the exception somehow and something strange will happen.

Our attorney called after and said that's about as good as you can expect. We were nervous, I don't know how you can't be it's a nerve wracking event in one's life, but like many others have said before, its over and done with very quickly.

Now we wait 60 days, take the 2nd financial course and few other odds and ends and hopefully all will be well.

This forum has been invaluable to say the least, just to be able to converse with other people about this and sound off ideas, concerns, worries, etc.. is really great.

I'd say the hardest part of this entire process is the waiting. We had a fairly straightforward case but there were a few things that made the process more drawn out than we had originally thought. That waiting to file (close to a year) was probably the toughest thing. Also my inclination to over analyze and over research the bankruptcy process probably hurt more than it helped.

Thank you to all those who provided advice

[shipo]

Congratulations on getting through the 341 and on being able to come out into the sunlight again and have a debt free outlook on life following your discharge.

A bit of advice here, "Don't do what I did last year after my discharge." I cannot stress this enough, plan your reentry into the credit world strategically; here is a simple checklist:

• Wait for at least 6 weeks after your discharge
• Fetch a copy of your credit reports from AnnualCreditReport.com
• Review each copy to make sure the discharge has been entered, but all outstanding accounts reflect that

Once you're in the clear, you have three basic options for future credit:

1. Move forward in life with no credit other than say, a mortgage:
   1. If this is your plan, you're good to go.
2. Move forward in life with limited credit to cover monthly spend, but with no plans for buying a car on credit or buying a home with a mortgage:
   1. If this is your plan, apply for a secured credit card from your bank, a local credit union, CapitalOne (max secured is $1,000), Discover (max secured is $2,500), or, if you qualify to join, Navy Federal.
   2. Take care of that card for the duration and it will "graduate" to an unsecured card.
   3. After six months or so of having the one secured card, apply for an unsecured card, once again, the above suggestions apply here as well.
3. Move forward in life with plans on obtaining a mortgage:
   1. In this case, you have two years to wait for most mortgage products, and some are three years.
   2. While letting your bankruptcy age, you can start aggressively rebuilding your credit, instead of starting with one secured card as with Option 2, start with three secured cards (even if they're only $500), and take care of them.
   3. In addition, open a "Secured Share Loan"; many credit unions, Navy Federal and PenFed included, offer this type of loan. Take the loan out, pay it down under 9%, and then let it ride for the duration.
   4. After two years your credit scores should be more than sufficient to obtain a mortgage at a good interest rate.

[saint782]

That’s helpful info to know thank you! I feel like we will opt for option 1 for now. Not in any rush to get new credit we have our house and 2 cars protected so don’t need financing for anything. We just want to keep it simple and live on cash. I did notice our score went to 680 recently so with payments to mortgage and student loans that should help.

[lookingforward]

I second that over analyzing and researching. You can make yourself crazy doing it, but I find myself unable to not do it.

[saint782]

Me too it’s tough. I think I kinda drove our lawyer nuts a little but I started to calm down after learning more. Law has so many grey areas is the thing.