Is anyone here?

I posted this on the bankruptcy board but no one has responded, so I thought I might have better luck here.

My FICO was 740, husband's was 720 last year. No lates, just lots of debt. I was in 2 car accidents early in 2002 and had to stop work. Disability was held up and we had no choice but to file BK. Filed in September, discharged in December. We surrendered one car and our home. Now renting an apartment. My FICO per Equifax is now about 520, husband's about 560 (?).

I know there are many posts on this forum but it would take forever to try to find answers to my questions! So I apologize for any duplications.

1. Our house is going into foreclosure. Yes, we surrendered it, it shows on Equifax as Included in BK. Will the foreclosure further screw up our credit? What to do?

2. The car that we surrendered - shows on Equifax as Included in BK, but ALSO shows 3 30-day lates. (We were never late prior to filing BK.) What to do?

3. A previous home mortgage is showing up twice - the company sold the mortgage to another company, I guess. It was "Paid as Agreed" and shows -0- balance on both listings. Do we need to do anything with this?

4. The car that we kept is in my name, but my husband has NO current credit. We feel like he should be trying to get some new credit but even our local bank won't give a $1000 loan that we would pay back in 30 days. Any recommendations for credit cards that would approve him/us?

5. We have only ordered credit reports from Equifax so far. Should we order the other two and check them, or would they just show the same information as Equifax?

Basically, we are devastated about how low our scores dropped following the bankruptcy, and would like some specific steps to take to increase our scores.

Would anyone be willing to "take us on?" By that, I mean to give us step-by-step directions on what to do to accomplish this. The more I read here, the more confused I get. But I DO see that many people are getting the scores increased dramatically.

Thanks very much.

I'm sorry to hear of your unfortunate circumstances.

1. I'm not sure if the foreclosure will screw things up worse. It sounds like it will be pretty bad anyway.

2. Find out on what dates the account was late. Were they after your filing for BK? If so, dispute it with them as they are supposed to stop all activity at the time of the filing.

3. If it is a good credit item, leave it be.

4. Apply for a secured credit card. Put a couple of hundred bucks on it, buy socks or something small each month, and pay it off each month.

5. Order them. I have found Equifax doesn't remove info - Experian had 15 address and 3 SSN's that weren't mine - Trans Union had errors too, but not nearly as blatent. Make sure they are correct.

The bankruptcy will harm you for quite some time. The only help is time. The more time that has gone by, the less important it is to human credit-grantors. Those that work on score only (idiots) are not going to consider anything else anyway.

If your bankruptcy is not discharged yet, and if you can re-affirm something (credit card or department store) it can go a long way to helping re-establish, and it won't necessarily show as included in BK.

Hope this helps. It's a long road.

I was in your shoes in 1999. Over 18 months I was reorganized twice and saw my income cut by 75%. My great credit rating was trashed. I filed chapter 7, had my home foreclosed, became seriously ill and can empathize with the stress and strain you are going through.
Now with that being said, you can get back on track and this is my favorite website for getting the job done. First, never supply your bk papers to the credit reporting agencies. Make them do their job. Be prepared for the frustration of getting negative items deleted. It will take time to get them off and some never do. But my bk 7 was dischgd almost 3 and 1/2 years ago and I just read my positive attributes on Equifax as date of delinquency is old. My score was above 700.
Be prepared for creditors to throw entries back on your reports after having them removed. The CRA are supposed to have procedures to prevent this, but don't believe it. they are mindless bureaucrats who never respond directly to a question that is asked. BE PREPARED TO SUE AND DO IT. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS AND ASSERT THEM. The CRAs cringe at consumers who fight back. Learn how to do it in small claims and further if needed. You will have to do it at some point.
Get all those who were included in the bk listed as "included in bk" and on Equifax and Transunion it will be listed as zero. Car financing arms are notorious at screwing up this simple item.
Your foreclosure may or may not show up. It just depends on what is picked up by the CRA. And then, just because it doesn't show up under legal entries doesn't mean it won't show up in creditor entries. Mine did two years after and it took me a year to get it off my report so I could get financed for anothe home. Foreclosure is real hard for mortgage companies to handle--they can handle the bk. I will be happy to follow your case and provide my limited experience. I am sure others will throw in their two cents. good luck and be prepared to work. you'll soon recover even though it looks so bad right now.

Thanks, computer guy and senator!

Is there some Code (bk?) or law somewhere that says that the creditors can only report "included in bk" and -0- balance? Or is it just up to the individual creditor? The big problem here is that we just do NOT know what our rights are!

Senator, are you telling me that a foreclosure will show up under "public records" as well as the bk? I thought we'd just have the bk showing there! So our score will go down further?? And how did you get it removed from your CR? Again, is there a law somewhere that says what can be reported/showing on the CR?

I talked with a mortgage broker just today who said he can finance people even 1 day after discharge! Of course, rates are higher, but he recommends an adjustable rate mortgage and then refinancing in a couple of years when our credit is better. BUT he didn't even ask about a foreclosure!! Maybe we could get a mortgage now before a foreclosure would even have a chance to show up?? Any thoughts?

We got a phone call today offering us a low limit ($300-1000) unsecured cc with Capitol One. There's a fee of $5 per month which is reported to CRA's. This is "pre-approved." So I think we'll go for it and start building our credit back up. Sound ok?

The lates (on our car that we surrendered) were 9/02, 10/02 and 11/02. We filed 9/16 and it was discharged in 12/02. I thought that the automatic stay would prevent them from reporting anything late or derogatory after date of filing. At least that would help get 2 lates removed, right??

I really appreciate the help and advice - I'll be reading through all the letters posted here to see if I can learn any more about our rights.

The whole idea of bk is to give us a "fresh start," right? That's what our attorney said - "it's for people in just this type of situation (medicals, accidents, job loss) to help them get back on track." So why is it so darn hard!!??

Bk will give you a fresh start; it stops creditor harrassment and all balances should be at zero. I think attorneys are fine but just make sure you do some of the work as some are lazy/some don't care. One way I found to determine who to work with was to call and ask a question. Those who called back were rated high by me.
First, get a copy of the FCRA (you can find it on the web--try creditnet). Next, order an Experian, a TransUnion, and an Equifax report. You can identify the accounts which were included in bk and write a letter to the CRA stating such. they will respond asking for a copy of your papers. Ignore it. Send another letter back stating the same. Or you can challenge the incorrect information. I would recommend that if you choose the latter don't do a shotgun approach but over a period of time challenge each "incorrect" entry. You can challenge the amount, dates late, credit limit, etc... I hope you get the idea. It's their job to have correct info. I wouldn't waste my time talking to them over the phone==they are minimum paid workers and couldn't care less about your plight.
Foreclosure may show up and it may not. You just should sit tight right now. Also, make sure that if you use a broker he doesnt run the credit reports from here to kingdom come. Every time a credit report is run in your situation it costs mucho points!!!!!!!! I would recommend giving a call to Indymac Bank who did my financing. they have a two yr adjustable. It isn't cheap but they are honest and reliable.
The automatic stay is a legal term preventing creditors from either seizing property or taking legal action to seize it. It doesnt affect the credit reporting.
I would strongly recommend that if you have credit that remains continue to utilize it. Then get one mastercard or visa and be prepared for high fees. Use it sparingly. Never, never, never be late again. Start accumulating cash.
If a late is shown after bk was filed, get it removed by challenging the entry. once discharged, it should all be cleaned up except for Experian which will continue to show all the ugly mistakes. But , depending on where you live, Experian may not be that widely used. You will need to ask lenders which cra they use. Try also getting set up with a credit union---they can be terrific. Start doing searches at this site with you topic. Life by the inch is a cinch.

But, I haven't had any problems with Experian - other than the initial report I received with what looked like 3 peoples info on my report.

I balked - they cleaned it up without any problem.

Trans Union was the most accurate for me, though it had it's problems too - but at leasted they followed the law.

Equifax seems to be the biggest bunch of bungling liars out there.

I just meant that after BK, Experian continues to list all prior lates while Equifax doesn't. i have look at my TU FACO to see what they do. I think they still list like number of times late for 30, sixty and ninety dayz.

Once the item is in bankruptcy, the finance company can no longer report it as being late. You can and should dispute the reportings.