For those who completed their Chapter 13 and was on the forum a while

[magic13]

ago. Please come back and tell us how your life is now. I see all kinds of threads but few post chapter 13 threads here or on the internet. Did you change your lifestyle without the "trustee payment". Did you buy a house? Did you spend too much again? Did you save? Thanks

[AngelinaCat]

Hi magic13. You might want to look for posts by lrprn and Flamingo. Both were CH13, though they started their 13s under the 'old law' and finished under the 'new law'. Flamingo was able to do an early buy-out. Both were Moderators for a while, then early last year left for other pursuits.

There are several Ch13 members, who have just graduated. But they are too newly graduated to be able to answer some of the questions you ask.

How are you doing?

[Mayo]

I've been out for 1 1/2 years post discharge. First thing I done was get a secured credit card last summer then this year I got 2 unsecured cards. I did take out a modest car loan for $6K to replace one of my cars from the 13 that was badly needed. I had a new baby born 2 months ago so my budget has changed somewhat but I do save money and pay cash for most things. I have used my credit cards for small purchases, but they have been paid in full each month. I am waiting on the 2 year post discharge to see if I can purchase a new house. This forum has been great for finding out information on just about every issue you can imagine before and after the 13. My new hobby is rebuilding my credit. It's in the 680's right now and I'm trying to get it over 700. just remember how you got into debt and don't go back down that road.

[woeisme]

I finished my CH 13 in July, so not a lot of changes yet. My student loan payment (which was deferred during my CH13) is almost the same as my trustee payment so my budget hasn't changed much. Well, I did just get a $100/month after-taxes raise and my house payment went down by $100 due to overpayments in my escrow account, so it is a little more breathing room. My trustee was pretty reasonable, especially compared to others I've heard about on here, and allowed for a livable budget, so even during my CH 13 life was always a lot better than prior to filing, but it sure is good to get that debt mountain off my back!

I've been slowly working on re-establishing credit, but just with store cards that don't have fees (JC Pennys, Kohls, etc), no Mastercard/Visa yet since they all want me to pay them annual fees. I survived 6 years with just my debit card, and opened a savings account that I've managed to put $900 in since discharge, so am slowly working on getting more of a buffer for life's emergencies so I won't need to ever use cards like that anyhow. I'd like to rebuild the credit so we can refinance our house at a lower rate, so have been using store credit for things I would have bought anyway and then paying them off each month rather than carrying a balance. We have 3 junker cars so will need to do a car loan sometime in the future too. That's why I'm trying to re-establish credit lines, to lower future rates on car and home loans, but don't ever want to get into the revolving credit card debt game again. A lot of our pre-CH13 debt came from medical costs when my husband became disabled, but if we hadn't also overspent on credit cards and had built up some savings, we wouldn't have had to declare CH 13. It took me a long time to fess up to my own culpability in it rather than seeing it as some bad circumstances outside my control, but owning my mistakes is really the only way to stop from repeating them, right?

Best of luck to you!

[dmc-2008]

Right! Woeisme it sounds like you are on the right track!