If one declares BK for the second time how long will it be before the first drops from the credit file if there is almost 7 years between the two?

Answer 1

Bankruptcies come off of your credit report either 10 years or 7 years (depending on which Chapter was filed) after the Order for Relief is issued, and the Order for Relief is issued immediately upon the filing of the petition (signified by the "Relief Ordered" stamped on the front page of the petition upon filing (at least prior to electronic filing, nowadays there is no physical petition to stamp)). Therefore, the first bankruptcy will fall off your credit report 10 years after the date is was filed if it was a Chapter 7, and it will fall off 7 years after the date is was filed if it was a Chapter 13. The subsequent bankruptcy will not affect the date on which the first bankruptcy is removed from your report. To be more direct to the question, if you file the second bankruptcy 6 years after the first one was filed, then you will have 2 bankruptcies on you credit report for 4 years, after which the 10 years for the first bankruptcy will expire and it will be removed, and then you will still have the second bankruptcy on your report for 6 more years (at which time the 10 years runs on it, and it will be removed too). 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.