Is a voluntary car repossession or bankruptcy worse for your credit?

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I was told a voluntary car repo is worse, because that will be on your credit report as repo. With bankruptcy (Chapter 13) you are making payments.

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In terms of credit score, I can answer half of that question. I was at a bankruptcy conference in Indianapolis last year where the speaker had worked for a major credit reporting agency for 20+ years, and he said that bankruptcy normally reduces your credit score by 75 to 150 points. I don't know how much a repo reduces your credit score, but if you can find out, you know what to compare it to. The guy said the credit reporting companies are hush hush about how your credit score is determined, so no credit reporting agency will give you a clear answer to that question, but loan officers might have an idea of what the repo would do to your score based on what they've seen it do to other peoples' scores. In terms of duration, a repo is on your credit report for 7 years, whereas a Chapter 7 bankruptcy is on your credit report for 10 years. A Chapter 13 bankruptcy is on your credit report for 7 years (same as a repo). Also, I'm not sure if credit reporting agencies even distinguish between a voluntary and involuntary repo. Please note that nothing in this posting or in any other posting constitutes legal advice; this is simply my understanding of the facts, which I do not warrant, and I am not suggesting any course of action or inaction to any person.

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A debt consolidation lawyer once said you can dispute a bankruptcy or a repossession with the credit bureaus, they have 30 days to verify, if not it must be removed. The best time for disputing these things is around Christmas or other holiday "busy" seasons. "The employees that do verifications for the CRA's are required to do 10 verifications per hour (quota), however they are only paid approx. $7/hr." (Quote taken from a report from a lawyer's research posted at the credit info center.)

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