The Fresh-Start Pipeline
Chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge is a clean slate — no outstanding debt, fresh start, and an immediate need for reliable transportation. US consumer Ch7 filings rose 15% in 2025 and are accelerating. The filing data is public. The timing is predictable. Almost no dealer in America has a systematic process to reach them within 30 days. LouieAuto does.
See how it works →The math
The discharge timeline is fixed by federal law. That means you know when the window opens — and when it closes.
How it works
Six steps from public court data to a funded deal. Each one automated. Each one TCPA-compliant.
Public court records. Daily pull. No broker middleman, no stale lists, no generic "credit-challenged" bucket. Real discharge dates from real court filings.
Chapter 7 (liquidation) and Chapter 13 (reorganization) have different buyer profiles and different lender seasoning requirements. The filter matters as much as the data.
Subprime lenders vary widely in how they treat a fresh discharge — some want more seasoning than others. Know that before you call, using the same lender-routing intelligence LouieAuto already runs on every deal.
Personalized to the FICO estimate, the vehicle need identified in the filing, and the lender pathway. Not a template — a script built from this specific discharge, at this specific stage of recovery.
Consent documentation, suppression list checks, call window enforcement by state, and DNC scrubbing — all handled before the first dial. Chapter 7 filings are public court records; outreach must still comply with federal and state telemarketing law.
Know what documents to ask for before you pick up the phone. Discharge paperwork, proof of income, proof of residence, insurance pre-approval. One conversation, fully prepared.
Every month in the US: approximately 27,700 consumer Chapter 7 discharges — up 15% from 2024, and accelerating. Every month, almost every one of them needs transportation. Every month, almost no dealer in America has a process to systematically reach them within 30 days of discharge.
Dealers who work this window well — even imperfectly — can realistically target an 8–15% close rate, based on the timing and lender-matching advantage alone. That’s a projected estimate, not a measured result from live dealers on this pipeline yet. The window is open. Most dealers walk past it every single month.
Pipeline by market
2024 total bankruptcy filings by state (Chapter 7 = ~62% of each state’s total). Consumer Chapter 7 monthly estimate = state total × 0.62 ÷ 12. National filings rose 11% in 2025 — apply that rate to your state.
| State | 2024 Total Filings | Est. Ch7/Month | Per 100K Residents |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 47,621 | 2,456 | 121 |
| Florida | 37,156 | 1,918 | 159 |
| Texas | 31,520 | 1,627 | 101 |
| Georgia | 28,683 | 1,480 | 257 |
| Illinois | 25,998 | 1,342 | 205 |
| Ohio | 24,769 | 1,279 | 208 |
| Michigan | 20,396 | 1,053 | 201 |
| Tennessee | 20,134 | 1,039 | 279 |
| Alabama #1 PER CAPITA | 19,395 | 1,001 | 376 |
| New York | 21,340 | 1,101 | 107 |
| Indiana | 16,319 | 842 | 236 |
| Mississippi #2 PER CAPITA | 9,129 | 471 | 310 |
| Nevada | 8,302 | 428 | 254 |
| Kentucky | 11,090 | 572 | 242 |
| Virginia | 14,524 | 750 | 165 |
Source: U.S. Courts, 12-month period ending December 2024. Est. Ch7/Month = total filings × 62% ÷ 12 (national Ch7 share). 2025 filings rose 11% nationally — apply that factor to your state. Discharges trail filings ~110 days.
Global context
Most countries don’t publish bankruptcy discharge data in a searchable, dealer-accessible format. The US PACER system is the only major economy where discharge dates, debtor names, and court districts are publicly queryable by third parties — which is what makes the LouieAuto pipeline possible.
The US PACER advantage: real-time, court-accurate, discharge-date filterable, all 94 federal districts. No other country’s system gives a dealer this level of prospecting precision.
What this replaces
Most dealers who work BK leads are buying lists. Here’s the difference between a list and a system.
Dealer buys a list of “credit challenged” leads from a broker for $500. No discharge date. No court. No lender match. No idea if these buyers were discharged last week or last year.
Calls wrong people at wrong times. Gets hung up on. No script, no stip checklist, no TCPA guard. You’re flying blind on compliance.
1–2% response rate. If you’re lucky.
Real PACER data from all 94 federal district courts. Court-filtered, discharge-dated, chapter-segmented. You know exactly when each buyer is in the sweet spot.
Lender-matched before first contact. Script auto-generated per discharge. TCPA compliance handled. Stip pre-checklist ready before the call.
Reach the right person at the right time with the right lender pathway and the right documents pre-staged.
Questions dealers ask
Dealer questions about working bankruptcy leads — answered plainly.
A bankruptcy auto lead is a consumer who has filed for or received a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy discharge and needs a vehicle. They represent high-intent buyers — the discharge gives them a fresh financial start, and vehicle need is typically urgent. Unlike a generic subprime lead, a BK discharge lead has a known financial reset date, a known court, and a FICO trajectory that can be estimated from the discharge timeline.
PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) publishes all federal bankruptcy filings. LouieAuto’s pipeline pulls from all 94 US federal district courts and filters by discharge date, chapter, state, and vehicle need indicators. The key is filtering for Chapter 7 discharges (not just filings) in the 30–90 day post-discharge window — that’s when financing options open up and the buyer urgency is highest.
Credit Acceptance Corporation (CAC), AmeriCredit, Westlake Financial, and Exeter Financial all have programs for recently discharged buyers. The key is matching the discharge timeline to each lender’s seasoning requirement — typically 0–24 months post-discharge. CAC and AmeriCredit will often fund day-of-discharge. Westlake and Exeter typically require 6–12 months. LouieAuto’s lender matrix matches the buyer to the right lender before the first call.
Chapter 7 filings and discharges are public court records under federal law. Outreach must comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), applicable state telemarketing laws, and the FTC’s Fair Debt Collection rules. LouieAuto’s pipeline includes TCPA compliance flags, DNC scrubbing, consent documentation, and state-specific call window enforcement. Do not confuse contacting a discharged debtor about a new auto purchase (legal, with TCPA compliance) with collecting on a pre-petition debt (prohibited by the automatic stay).
After 90 days, other dealers find them. After 180 days, their credit starts recovering and they have options. Dealers who reach them in the first 30 days are projected to close in the ~12.5% range based on timing and lender-matching advantage alone — not a measured result yet. The dealers who wait have far less to work with.