Option’s after my Bankruptcy discharge?
Ok I just have a few questions here. I filed bankruptcy in April of 2008, went to court with the trustee in May of 2008. Well finally in March of 2009, my case was discharged. I was discharged 03/30/2009.
I have been trying to look online about my questions, and keep finding different answers, on a bunch of different sites. What I am wondering is:
1. After being discharged, how soon can I, or how soon should I pull my credit report to see if all of my creditors were discharged on my bankruptcy?
2. If their happens to be creditors on my bankruptcy that were included in my case that weren’t discharged, how do I take care of that?
3. And the credit card question. I know that these are what get people into trouble, but you do have to rebuild your credit somehow. I am now 24 years old, and have established a savings of over $1,000.00, so I am wanting to head in the right direction.
- What is the best company I can go to for a credit card that will approve me with having a bankruptcy on my credit report?
-What company’s don’t charge those $150.00 process fee to get a credit card?
Any help would be great, the sooner I can rebuild my credit, the better.
OH, is their a certain amount of time I should wait to get a credit card? Like to try avoiding getting denied because my discharge is so new?
zeuz posted: 06 Jul at 3:14 pm
1. Your credit report may or may not show accurate information regarding the discharge. Keep a copy of the discharge notice (forever).
2. If a creditor continues to report that you “owe” money, send them a letter, include a copy of the discharge, and tell them to update the information on the credit report correctly.
3. Credit card. Almost certainly, you will need a “secured” credit card, if you want to rebuild your credit right away. It will probably take a few months to obtain a secured credit card, and it will cost you a lot of money in fees.
- I would wait a minimum of 6 months before seeking a credit card.
StephenWeinstein posted: 06 Jul at 4:09 pm
1. Your credit report will not tell you if a debt was discharged. Your credit report will tell you only if a creditor reported that the debt was discharged. Only the bankruptcy court or your lawyer can tell if it was really discharged.
2. You can pull your credit report at any time to see if a creditor has reported that a debt was discharged.
3. If your credit report indicates that a debt was not discharged, and you believe that it was discharged, then you can contact to the company responsible for the credit report and dispute the information.
4. For your first credit card after a bankruptcy, try for a “secured” credit card. They are easier to obtain than regular cards.
5. I have obtained cards from WaMu (now Chase), Bank of America, Discover, CitiBank, and various others without being charged a $150.00 process fee. I do not know which of these offer cards to persons who have filed for bankruptcy.
OC1999 posted: 06 Jul at 4:55 pm
1, Generally give it 45-60 days for the reports to be updated. If by 60 days you have creditors still not updated then you should put in a dispute. But if you are trying to figure out which ones were and were not discharged, that should be in your discharge order from the courts.
2. To be totally honest with you..they will start to come after you as soon as they get notice that their debt was not discharged and the stay was lifted. When dealing with these companies be sure to get everything in writing if you want to settle with them. But depending on how old these debts are they may or may not still be able to sue you. This determines how much bargaining power you have with them.
3. As long as the BK is discharged there is nothing that says you have to wait a certain amount of time. But as you already know because of your BK you are going to be hit with cards that have high fees and/or interest. But if you have $1000, a good option would be a secured credit card(this is NOT a Pre-Paid Card). Here you put a set amount of money in an account as security and they give you a credit line to match. While you could open it up with $1000, you should put at least $500 as the security. These still generally have an annual fee but much cheaper than other type of “Sub-Prime” cards. A couple of companies that provide this are Orchard Bank and Capital One.
WTF Man posted: 06 Jul at 5:22 pm
1. You can pull your credit report right now. Go to annualcreditreport.com and check it out. However, I’d wait at least a month or two to make sure all bankruptcy detail gets reported.
2. If there are creditors that don’t show as discharged, talk to your attorney immediately. They’ll look into it for you.
3. You can get a credit card, you’ll have to hunt around for one that doesn’t charge a lot of fees or a high interest rate. If you use it, pay it off completely every month and that will help build your credit. I would advise you to wait at least 6 months to get a card though, if you can.