Getting a Home Mortgage Following Your Bankruptcy

I am fairly certain that I have never met a person who set their sights on filing for bankruptcy one day.  Filing for bankruptcy is a situation that no one ever plans on being in.  The sad reality is that in these difficult economic times, many families are left with no other option.

If you have found yourself in this situation, it is important that you not let yourself get too discouraged or feel like this is the end of the road for you.  It will be a difficult time, but as long as you don’t dwell on the negativity of the past you can recover.

One of the first things you should do is set some new goals.  One of these might be to own a home again.  If this is important to your family, you should understand that you CAN make it happen.  It is just going to take some time and a lot of hard work.

How long it is going to take depends on two major factors: what type of bankruptcy you filed and how hard you are willing to work at the credit restoration process.  You should understand that it is going to take some work.  Getting a bad credit home mortgage loan is not as easy as it once was.

If you filed Chapter 13, you may be able to get a mortgage before your bankruptcy is even over.  With your trustee’s approval, some people are able to qualify once they have made payments on time inside the bankruptcy for at least a year.

If you filed for a Chapter 7, it will take at least two years from your discharge date before you are eligible for loan approval.

In both cases, you will need to have reestablished credit that shows that you are willing to make payments on time.  Most underwriting guidelines require that you have at least four active accounts that have been paid on time.  For this reason, it is important that you focus on credit restoration immediately!