Does reopening a Chapter 7 bankruptcy to reaffirm a mortgage change the date of discharge for reporting to credit bureaus?

Question

I am considering reopening my Bankruptcy Chapter 7 that was discharged last year for the purpose of reaffirming my mortgage for the purpose of boosting my FICO score by adding a mortgage to my mix of credit.

Will doing this change the date of discharge date reported to the credit bureaus and result in it looking like I was only recently discharged and kill my FICO score again?

How hard is it to get a judge to allow you to reaffirm a mortgage if you can afford it? I tried to reaffirm the first time and my then attorney refused and said court would also refuse. I wonder if I would have better luck hiring a different attorney?

Answer 1

Once the discharge order is issued, you cannot reaffirm a debt.

Lawyers will often advise you to not reaffirm debts like mortgages for you to avoid personal liability for the mortgage. Right now, you're in an interesting grey area, since the bank probably cannot foreclose on the basis of your failure to reaffirm (laches doctrine) -- but you do not benefit (from a credit point of view) from making timely payments. You also do not have an obligation to pay.