Discharged!

[VolFan]

Finally. Today.

After sending in my final payment on February 1, 2021, then finding out I had to submit an extra $1500 over my base amount in March (not attorney fees, justbroke, so who knows), I finally got my discharge. Such a relief to know that Purgatory has ended.

Thanks to everyone for the support.

[justbroke]

VolFan I had to send in extra money as well. No one told me and my case just sat there for a couple of months. I contacted the Trustee, sent the money that they wanted, and voila! After that was done the notice of plan completion was filed and discharge shortly thereafter.

Very happy to read about this Chapter 13 Discharge. It's a journey and you survived!

Not that anyone would wear these in public, but a t-shirt reading "I went through a Chapter 13 and survived!" would be cool.

[shipo]

Finally. Today.

After sending in my final payment on February 1, 2021, then finding out I had to submit an extra $1500 over my base amount in March (not attorney fees, justbroke, so who knows), I finally got my discharge. Such a relief to know that Purgatory has ended.

Thanks to everyone for the support.

Congratulations VolFan! From my perspective, Purgatory #1 has ended, Purgatory #2 has just begun; the second will end when the Public Record falls off of your credit reports in two years.

As a suggestion, do NOT do what I did and apply for new credit immediately. I'd suggest waiting at least six weeks and then apply to CapitalOne.

[5yrplan]

Congrats, what did the discharge process involve? Make final plan payment then what? I'll make my final plan payment 03-06-22 thanks

[5yrplan]

Be your own credit card lender. Save up 3-6 months of your income in a money market account not attached to your checking account. Use this savings when you NEED to then replenish.

[underh20]

Congratulations, this is your moment, the culmination of years of sacrifice. Happy for you, and celebrate!

[VolFan]

Congrats, what did the discharge process involve? Make final plan payment then what? I'll make my final plan payment 03-06-22 thanks

I made my final payment on 2/1 (February was the 60th month of my plan), but I wasn't aware that I owed more money beyond the final payment/plan base amount. After almost 2 weeks into March without any movement, I contacted my Trustee's office and they told me I owed a total of $1500 more; I made an immediate payment the same day and she flagged my chart to begin an audit after they received the money.

On 3/23 the trustee completed their final audit and sent me a letter stating my plan was paid in full and I could stop payments. On 4/6/21 she filed a "Chapter 13 Trustee's Certification of Final Payment and Case History" document with the court. I was then contacted by my attorney within 2 days of this filing and their office sent me the "Debtor's Certification Regarding Issuance of Discharge Order" to complete. I signed/returned by email and they filed with the court on 4/12/21. Finally, I was granted my discharge today, 4/28/21.

This may be a little more info than you were wanting, but I think it's a great question and figured a detailed response may be helpful for anyone else wondering.

[Scottowl]

Good job, VolFan!
Anyone able to complete a 5 year plan to discharge has my utmost respect.
That last payment has me curious about my own situation, should I be able to make it all the way through.
Was the $1500 representative of a monthly payment in your plan? Anywhere in the neighborhood?

[sophieanne]

VolFan - Congratulations. Now you can return to a BK free life. Enjoy your new freedom,

[Carmella]

Congrats VolFan !!!!!!!!!

[shipo]

Be your own credit card lender. Save up 3-6 months of your income in a money market account not attached to your checking account. Use this savings when you NEED to then replenish.

The problem with such a plan is it does nothing to help you rebuild your credit rating.

[5yrplan]

A credit rating is not necessary to build wealth.

[shipo]

A credit rating is not necessary to build wealth.

No, but it certainly helps! Used responsibly, leveraging credit will beat using your money market account and replenishing as needed, every time.

[5yrplan]

don't invest Emergency funds they must be risk free cannot be subject to loss .

Leveraging , would you borrow against a paid for house to invest? I'll bet not.

No debt and eventually not even a house payment allows for large steady low risk investing in mutual funds and retirement accounts. Double your nest egg every 7-10 years.

The tortoise beats the hare when building wealth. There's over 6 million nest egg/retirement millionaires that know this well.

[shipo]

5yrplan, clearly you have no concept of using credit as a tool, for someone like you, I strongly suggest you avoid using it, ever. For the rest of us who understand the concept, our wealth building will outperform yours, year after year after year.

[VolFan]

As a suggestion, do NOT do what I did and apply for new credit immediately. I'd suggest waiting at least six weeks and then apply to CapitalOne.

I'm actually very fortunate with the card situation, and don't plan on getting any more credit for a while. I have a Dell card that stayed open through the BR (opened 2009), a checking LOC with my bank that remained open (opened 2002, reports as a revolving line), and I opened a secured Navy Federal card in my first year of BR (with trustee permission) that unsecured and has been marinating for almost 5 years.

One other thing I did about 3 years ago (not with trustee approval) was to click on a link through eBay offering me the PayPal Mastercard. Of course I knew I'd be denied, so I clicked on the "accept" button just for fun and was immediately approved. I was afraid to use it but also didn't want it to close from inactivity, so I'd occasionally charge something small on it and immediately pay it off. Synchrony Bank apparently likes that kind of thing, and they have gradually raised my limit to $10,000. The interest is exorbitant, but it doesn't matter as I'll never carry a balance.

So anyway, I'm set with the 3-5 revolvers for now; I'll look into some of the better cards after I get some distance from the discharge.

[shipo]

Wow, "fortunate" indeed; I came out of my Chapter 13 with a checking account and debit card. In your case, you're good to go, let the discharge age a bit and then be picky, apply for cards you want in the long run.

[BrokeInPgh]

My timeline is very close to yours but I am having a different experience. We contacted the Trustee in late January and were given a payoff amount which I paid the week of 2/1/2021. I get paid twice a month, and the Trustee finally got the order signed and mailed out to stop the garnishments on 4/15/2021.

My company's payroll department just terminated the garnishment on 4/29/2021, but they had already extracted the money and sent me a notice that it will be refunded in the next one to two pay periods. Meanwhile, the Trustee has received 5 garnishments since I paid them the final payment, so I'm without 6 total garnishments (3 months!).

We received a letter from the Trustee dated 4/12/2021 that the plan term has come to an end and we are now responsible for making mortgage payments effective in May. The letter also said that the Trustee's final audit is not complete. Meanwhile, according to the case account, there are still two creditors that the Trustee has not paid and they didn't send the last check to my mortgage company for April, even though they have had the money to make those payments just sitting in their account. I'm probably going to have to make the April mortgage payment directly even though over $8,000 in garnishments are being held in limbo.