How Soon Can You Get a Mortgage After Bankruptcy or Foreclosure?

Yes, you can get a mortgage after bankruptcy or foreclosure. What you need is time, a clean record since, and the right loan. Every loan type sets its own waiting period, and the clock starts on a specific date, not on the day it started to feel over.

Here’s how the waits work on a conventional loan, what can shorten them, and what lenders want to see once the wait ends. I’ll also cover USDA, which matters in inland Horry County. Everything below reflects the guidelines as of October 13, 2026.

What is a waiting period, and when does the clock start?

A waiting period is the time that has to pass between the credit event and your new mortgage application. It’s measured from a date on paper, so find that paper first.

For a bankruptcy, Fannie Mae counts from the discharge or dismissal date. A discharge is the court order that wipes out qualifying debts. A dismissal means the case was closed without that order. For a foreclosure, the clock starts on the completion date, and that’s the date your credit report shows.

People often count from the day they stopped paying or the day they moved out. Neither one counts. If you count wrong, you’ll either apply too early or wait longer than you had to.

How long do you wait for a mortgage after bankruptcy?

It depends on the chapter you filed. Under Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, topic B3-5.3-07 (dated August 7, 2019), the standard waits are:

• Chapter 7 or Chapter 11: four years from the discharge or dismissal date. Chapter 7 is the filing that liquidates and wipes out debts. With documented extenuating circumstances, the wait is two years.
• Chapter 13: two years from the discharge date, or four years from the dismissal date. Chapter 13 is a repayment plan you complete over time. With extenuating circumstances, the dismissal wait drops to two years. Nothing shortens the two years after a discharge.
• More than one bankruptcy filing in the past seven years: five years, or three years from the most recent discharge or dismissal with extenuating circumstances.

Here’s what surprises people: a discharged Chapter 13 can be the shorter road, because the court has watched you make payments for years. That’s a reason to pull your court papers before you assume anything.

How long after foreclosure, a short sale, or a deed-in-lieu?

Foreclosure carries the longest wait on a conventional loan. Fannie Mae’s standard is seven years from the completion date. With documented extenuating circumstances, it drops to three years, but with added conditions between year three and year seven. You can buy a home you’ll live in, or do a limited cash-out refinance. You can’t buy a second home or an investment property, and you can’t do a full cash-out refinance, until the seven years are up.

The other events are shorter:

• Short sale: you sold the home for less than you owed, with your lender’s approval.
• Deed-in-lieu of foreclosure: you handed the deed to the lender to avoid a foreclosure.
• Mortgage charge-off: the lender wrote the debt off as a loss.

Fannie Mae treats all three the same way: four years, or two years with extenuating circumstances. A short sale is also called a pre-foreclosure sale, and the guide uses the terms interchangeably.

If you went through both a bankruptcy and a foreclosure on the same mortgage, the bankruptcy periods can apply, but only if your lender documents that the mortgage debt was discharged in the bankruptcy. If it wasn’t, the longer of the two waits applies.

What are extenuating circumstances, and who qualifies?

Extenuating circumstances are one-time events beyond your control that caused a sudden, significant, and long-lasting drop in income or a major jump in what you owed. That’s the standard in Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, topic B3-5.3-08.

The bar is real, and it’s paper. Your lender has to document the event with things like a layoff or severance letter, a divorce decree, or medical bills. You also have to write an explanation showing you had no reasonable option other than to default.

Be honest with yourself here. A hard stretch isn’t the same as an extenuating circumstance. On the Grand Strand, plenty of income is seasonal, and a slow season by itself won’t qualify. A documented layoff, an employer that closed, or a serious medical event can. If your story fits, start gathering the documents now, because they’re the part you can’t recreate later.

What does it mean to re-establish credit after the wait?

Time alone doesn’t get you approved. Fannie Mae wants all three of these true at once:

• The waiting period and any added requirements are met.
• The loan gets an acceptable recommendation from Desktop Underwriter, Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting system. If a person underwrites it by hand, it has to meet the minimum credit score requirements.
• You have traditional credit, meaning accounts that report to the credit bureaus. Nontraditional credit and thin files don’t meet the rule.

In plain terms, you need active accounts that have reported on time every month since the event. A secured card and one installment account you’ve paid on schedule are the kind of thing I mean. If you’ve been paying cash for everything since your discharge, your wait may be over while your credit file still isn’t ready. For more on what underwriters weigh beyond the waiting period, read what underwriting really looks for.

Are the waiting periods different for USDA, FHA, and VA loans?

Yes. Each program publishes its own. USDA’s are the ones I’ve checked against the source, in its Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program handbook, HB-1-3555 Chapter 10, revised August 5, 2025:

• A Chapter 7 discharged more than 36 months before you submit your application isn’t treated as adverse credit.
• A foreclosure within 36 months is significant derogatory credit.
• A deed-in-lieu or short sale closed 36 months or more before you submit isn’t adverse credit.
• For Chapters 11, 12, and 13, a plan you’ve completed or have been making payments on for 12 months is treated differently from one you haven’t.

Those are USDA’s manual-underwriting standards. A file that goes through USDA’s automated system can be treated differently, and a lender can consider extenuating circumstances, but USDA doesn’t approve the lender’s exception for them. That decision belongs to the lender. If you’re looking in Aynor, Conway, or Loris, where you can still use a USDA loan in Horry County is worth reading before you decide.

FHA and VA publish their own waiting periods too, and they differ from conventional’s. I’d rather confirm the current ones against your exact discharge or foreclosure dates on a call than print a number that may have changed with the next handbook revision.

What should you do this week?

Find the dates. Dig out your discharge or dismissal paper, or the foreclosure completion date, and write down the one date that starts your clock. Then pull your credit reports and check that the event is dated the same way on each one. That’s the one thing to do, because every other answer, which loan, how soon, how much to rebuild, follows from that date.

Once you have it, get pre-qualified and I’ll map your date against each loan type, and tell you plainly if the best move is to wait another year.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to wait for a mortgage after bankruptcy?

Under Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, the standard wait is four years after a Chapter 7 or Chapter 11 discharge or dismissal, and two years after a Chapter 13 discharge. Documented extenuating circumstances can shorten some of those waits. Other loan types set their own periods.

How long after foreclosure can I get a conventional loan?

Seven years from the completion date under Fannie Mae’s standard rule, or three years with documented extenuating circumstances and added conditions. A short sale or deed-in-lieu is four years, or two years with extenuating circumstances.

What counts as an extenuating circumstance?

A one-time event beyond your control that caused a sudden, significant, and long-lasting drop in income or a major jump in obligations, such as a layoff, a divorce, or serious medical bills. Your lender has to document it, and you have to explain why default was your only reasonable option.

Do I have to rebuild credit before I apply?

Yes. Fannie Mae requires traditional credit with a record after the event, and thin files and nontraditional credit don’t meet the rule. Time alone isn’t enough.

About Travis Buis

Travis Buis is a loan officer with Elite Home Lending serving Myrtle Beach and the Grand Strand, working with buyers and homeowners across Horry and Georgetown counties. He handles purchase, refinance, and investment financing, and spends a fair amount of his week on the questions that come after a hard financial stretch — credit recovery, waiting periods, and which loan fits when. His approach is to explain the mechanics first so you can make the call yourself, then handle the loan once you have. Get in touch.

Travis Buis, NMLS #1711446. Elite Home Lending, LLC — NMLS #2788023. Equal Housing Opportunity.

This article is for educational purposes only and is not a commitment to lend or an offer of credit. Program terms, rates, and eligibility standards are set by lenders, investors, and agencies and are subject to change without notice. Loan approval is subject to underwriting, credit approval, and property eligibility. Calculator results are estimates only. Nothing here is tax or legal advice — consult your CPA or attorney for your situation.