more questions, chapter 13 BK

[Zoe Girl]

okay i am in the repayment plan of a chapter 13 BK, and i need to find a new place to rent, OMG, this sucks. i know my son has friends who were evicted for being hoarders and they have a place to live. of course i am pretty sure i don't want to live where they are living now.

so i am probably going to find a place to live, i have a little more than a year on my plan and i want to keep repairing my credit (i am already averaging above a 600 with all 3 agencies). can you ask for certain bills to report to the credit agencies? i have automatic payments, therefore on time, with several bills. they include car insurance and water and internet. i have a special program for my student loans so they are current under the payment plan, and will be erased in about 7 years.

i also wrote a hardship letter basically saying my only debt is related to the home and the recession, but i am not sure how to address some things. i mentally recovered from the foreclosure somewhat and then the 2nd mortgage and a threat from my ex made the chapter 13 the best option. and i gave up, i pay my rent by the 5th or the 7th, the landlord sometimes fixes things in a reasonable time but right now i have only one burner working on the stove. i usually pay my utilities and cell on time, sometimes not. i just gave up. so i can't really show much except the other bills like water and car insurance. i am actually thinking that with a year to go i might start caring again, meanwhile i just need a place to live.

edited to say: there have been so many people who are wonderfully well meaning and told me lovely things during the foreclosure and resulting BK, and as much as that helped it still doesn't mean that everything will work out, it is not personal guilt that is making this hard it is corporate policies by the same people who created the recession. so i am not sure what i want people to say to me, but there truly is no guarantee it will work out in the short term to be honest.

[iris lilies]

Is it your intention to raise your credit rating in a few weeks for the purpose of qualifying for a rental property? That short of a time-line doesn't seem realistic to me.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Someone has to rent to people with less than perfect credit scores. I don't think the rental market is so tight almost anywhere (except a fracking boom town maybe) for everyone to only rent to the very best credit risks. There are simply way too many people that don't have great credit, I don't think it's all that uncommon. Rent falling easily within one's income helps. Savings help (it lets them know one has some money in the bank to pay rent in case of job loss or other unforeseen circumstances). They usually ask this information.

I have no idea whether you will get this particular apartment, not much you can do but wait to hear. Look at other places in the meantime if you want.

[Zoe Girl]

no IL, i know that won't happen but longer term, i would really like my choices back in life. ANM good idea to add the savings amount to my letter. i can do a larger deposit and i do have some savings.

i didn't get this apartment which makes me nervous about other possibilities

[sweetana3]

Dont ever fall in "love" or "hope" for one apartment or one house while looking. Too many things happen. Someone might come in just before they make the decision and rent the place, someone might decide not to move out, there might be some damage. Until it happens, actual rental or closing, keep looking. Things easily happen way outside of your control or the other person's control.

This is practical. It can and does happen to many many people. More often if you have specifics in mind regarding place or quality or some other need.

Dont stop looking and making contacts.

[Zoe Girl]

thank you sweet, i used to live in a college town, boulder, for 13 years. the rental market was tough! in fact i wouldn't get a dog until i bought a home because i was nervous about finding places to live. So i may need to let go of my area of town even, sigh, i at least want to make a good effort and there is a date i have in my mind that i will start looking at all denver instead of the area that works for my son and i and jobs (plus we just like it).

[Zoe Girl]

here was my big question i lost in the long post, can you ask a company you pay a regular bill to to report to a credit agency? so could i ask the utilities or cell phone company to do that and boost my credit? or maybe a secure credit card with a low limit? thinking again about building over the next year.

[sweetana3]

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/bankruptcy-credit-faq-8.html

I really like this site for clear info. I would say no, you cannot request a report to a credit agency. You can add a letter to your file to explain anything.

[rodeosweetheart]

Zoe, contact the HUD office for Denver. They may be able to help.
I know when I buy their foreclosures they have special programs for teachers, firefighters, folks who live and work in community to buy them with zero down at a portion of their value (can't remember if it is half) . So they may have rental programs, too, for people who provide valuable services and make communities stronger, as you do.

[Zoe Girl]

good idea rodeo, i have one place that is gorgeous and will take an application. i am going over now and hope to find out quickly, otherwise i may just go to the bad neighborhood for a 6 month lease.

[Zoe Girl]

i just looked at that site sweetana, it is very good. Here is one question that helped, another person asked if they could add a bill by a private lender (mortgage) onto their credit report and the answer was that you can send in the copies of your payments and ask that it be added. it may cost a fee but that it was possible. i am not sure if i can add my rental payments or not, i generally pay between the 3rd and 5th which is standard in many rental agreements, but i may be able to ask for other bills such as my utilities or cell phone.

[sweetana3]

I personally would be very very careful trying to "manipulate" any recorded data regarding a credit report. Sometimes with such attempts there could be unintended consequences. I mention this because over 31 years of working in taxes, I had so many people try to "manipulate" various items without an indepth knowledge of what they were doing and it often had disasterous consequences.

[Valley]

Since your on time payments seem to be ones that are automatically taken from your bank account,is there a way you could arrange to have your rent paid ahead for a few months and then have then taken automatically from your bank account?

[catherine]

I personally would be very very careful trying to "manipulate" any recorded data regarding a credit report. Sometimes with such attempts there could be unintended consequences. I mention this because over 31 years of working in taxes, I had so many people try to "manipulate" various items without an indepth knowledge of what they were doing and it often had disasterous consequences.

Yeah, I would agree that just letting the credit report do its thing (as long as it's accurate) is the best way to go. Isn't there some place on the credit report where you can add information? If you put in your explanation about the divorce and the mortgage situation, as well as any evidence of current on-time payments, maybe that would do it. Even if you can't add it directly to the credit report, just have the explanation in your back pocket and pull it out when you need it.

When our credit report showed a bankruptcy (which we actually had never filed), it did keep us from credit cards, but the real estate company that had shown us a house simply asked for an explanation as to why there was a BK on our record. Once we explained it, we were OK. We got the house, and 9 years later, we bought the house, and I am still in it to this day. So, your friends are right, things do have a way of working out--I've BTDT, and it sucks, but life does go on and you get past it.