Q: If I file ch 7 how will that affect me purchasing a home within the next 2 to 3 yrs or a vehicle or obtaining credit
A:
As soon as you receive your bankruptcy discharge, you will be able to qualify for some basic consumer loans, although at a higher interest rate. The good news is most lenders state that it takes no more than four years to reestablish a normal credit rating provided you pay debts currently and make sufficient income. Within four years after receiving a Chapter 7 discharge, most people are able to purchase cars and homes with normal interest rates and terms.
At one time bankruptcy destroyed peoples' credit. Banks used to believe personal bankruptcy was a stigma on credit that a debtor could not overcome. Today, so many people file bankruptcy every year that banks cannot ignore this large market of potential customers. While no one plans to file bankruptcy, the effect of filing today is not nearly as bad as your creditors would like you to believe.
Credit scoring is not a legal issue. There are no bankruptcy laws or rules concerning how a debtor recovers their credit rating after filing bankruptcy. Your bankruptcy attorney may have an opinion about credit repair based on the experiences of his clients, but your bankruptcy attorney probably has no professional knowledge about how banks score credit ratings of bankruptcy debtors.
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