1). If you surrendered your vehicle and are unable to purchase a cash car or use a friend or family member’s vehicle then you will need to purchase a vehicle. We advise our clients to start looking at traditional dealerships. Try to avoid tote the note lot places. Most major dealerships can work with a Debtor post discharge to get a vehicle financed. If you do not require a vehicle move on to step two. If you can put off purchase of a vehicle for about one-year you should get a decent interest rate from any dealer presuming you follow step 2.
2). Obtain a credit card. If possible, this should be a normal credit account, not a secured card. Most of our clients find that the major banks will issue them a credit card with a small limit immediately upon completion of a Chapter 7. Pick something that you spend your money on each month – i.e. gas, groceries, utilities — pay the card off each month prior to the due date, and never have more than 30% of the credit limit outstanding at any one time. If you need to pay the credit card more often than monthly to keep from hitting the 30% we recommend that you do so. If a Debtor follows the above for approximately 1 year after the case is discharged then that Debtor would likely qualify for a reasonable auto loan less than 10% interest.
3). 90 days after a Debtor’s discharge date they should obtain a copy of their credit report from all three credit bureaus. Any unsecured debts that were incurred prior to a bankruptcy filing should show as a 0 balance and included in a bankruptcy. If an included debt shows up in any other way you should dispute these items directly with the credit bureaus. A debtor will need to show proof of the Chapter 7 Filing, Inclusion of the referenced Debt in the paperwork, and a copy of the Discharge Order entered in the case. If there are not any items to dispute on a Debtor’s credit report, then a substantial increase to the Credit Score should be seen about this time. If there are items to dispute the Debtor should see a substantial increase in credit score upon favorable resolution of the disputes.
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