topic Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards in Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 01:40:12 GMT

Some of the BK friendly cards I know of are Cap One, Orchard Bank, Hooters, and some other high fee ones. Recently I also found out through research and questions that Barclays cards are BK friendly and have a no Annual Fee option, they generally have no rewards though and have decent credit lines. The apple and priceline versions of these cards seem to be popular post BK options. Anyone know if the other versions are BK friendly, like the priceline for example. These are all available at the barclays cards website. They are the old Juniper cards, but barclays had bought them out. Besides these barclays cards, anyone else have input on which other credit cards are BK friendly? Thank you all for any input/feedback!!

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

CreditByte — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:45:13 GMT

Your scores seem reasonably decent. So when did you apply?

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 02:55:33 GMT

I have not applied for the Barclay's card(s) yet. I am waiting a few weeks until I'm 1 year out from d/c of chap 7 which was 7/7/10. The Cap One is the only card I have right now since 12/2010. I want another one with a decent line and preferably no AF, this is so I don't have to close them down the line. As far as my scores, what I have done so far is dispute all the accounts that should be IIB and make sure the balance is zero on all of them. My other scores are higher than TU for some reason, and I believe its due to average age of accounts. I had an old Citi card from 1995 that deleted its line on my report after it was d/c, sucks! Oh well, will slowly rebuild and I hope getting another line helps with that and my score(s). Anybody else applied for any of the Barclays cards and which ones have approved either instantly or after recon? Thanks.

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

CreditByte — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 03:02:56 GMT

Ok. You wouldnt have a problem getting a credit at your choice right now. You are at a very decent stage. :smileyhappy: I have Capital One No rewards card & Orchard Bank. I am not trying to use Orchard Bank too much because the APR is huge! but it was 1 of the first credit cards I could get. Do you know anyone whos gotten the Barclays?

Thank you!

:smileyhappy:

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 05:06:14 GMT

I personally don't know anyone, but I have messaged back and forth with one of the moderators here who has one. I believe there also may be a thread associated with it as well. I was told on this forum as well as another, that the barclays (which is the old juniper card) is BK friendly if your one year out. I will update this thread after I apply in a few weeks, but don't know which barclays card to apply for yet.

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

beamMEup — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 19:41:17 GMT

Just want to make a small clarification that Barclays cards include Juniper, as well as the Priceline and Apple cards you're inquiring about (and a host of other cards as well).

I.e. my card is a Barclays Juniper. It was when I app'd for it, and it is now. So you can app for a Barclays Juniper, a Barclays Priceline, a Barclays Apple, etc.

Those three Barclays cards are known for being BK friendly, but Barclays likes to see some history before they approve you.

Hope that helps clear things up a little.

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Sun, 03 Jul 2011 20:43:53 GMT

Thanks for the clarification beamMEup. Although I cannot find anywhere that you can apply for Barclays Juniper card. Strange! On their website it shows a Barclays Juni card, but there seems to be no way to apply for it. When you say you need history, is the 1 year from BK sufficient. When I apply I will have about 7 mo history via Cap One of on time payments and my school loan has been reporting ontime the whole time since BK d/c of 7/7/10. I also have a question about utilization if you don't mind. I usually charge up to 3% of my available line on my cap one and then my statement prints with that balance. I then pay it in full a week before the due date just to make sure. Then I repeat. My Sprint bill gets charged on it each month and thats about it. When Cap One reports to the CRA's, it just shows that $75 balance each month. Is this the best way to show utilization? Basically the CRA think I am using about 3% utilization each month this way or is it better to have the card at a zero balance when it reports to the CRA's. I think that way it wouldn't really show any usage though. What do you think about this? Thanks!

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

Hopelives2 — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 02:10:08 GMT

sc2761 wrote:
it just shows that $75 balance each month. Is this the best way to show utilization?

What is your limit on that card? If it is $840 or more, then you're fine. If it is the standard, $300 or $500 that Cap 1 gives post BK, then your utilization will be greater than 9% which is bad for FICO scoring purposes.

My suggestion would be to carry no balance at statement date.

PIF before due date. Don't charge before statement posts. Rinse/repeat.

There are many who carry a tiny balance that is less than 9% of CL, I just choose to PIF and leave the card alone.

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 04:44:44 GMT

Starting limit was $2000, but it has now increased to $2500. So your saying to pay in full by due date and then don't charge again until statement prints? I assume the card will still report some sort of usage to the CRA's? Thanks

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

beamMEup — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 13:29:42 GMT

Remember, sc, that utilization during the month doesn't impact FICO scores (although your cc issuer is surely paying attention). Use it as much as you like, just be sure your reporting balance is where you want it to be. If this is your only card, you may want to play around with reporting a zero balance and then reporting a balance less than 9%. See what works best for you.

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 16:35:22 GMT

Thanks all for the advice. My card I believe reports to the CRA's when the statement prints. So I'll try zero balance reporting then go up and see if it makes any difference. My score hasn't changed now in months after I had repaired my reports the best I can and got my first card in December. I couldn't get the reports completely repaired since some creditors just won't budge on changing wrong items. I'll have to send letters out next time. Well I will probably apply for that 2nd card now by the end of the month and see what happens. Another question I had was about my mortgage with BofA. We didn't reaffirm, but continue to pay it to keep the house. We have never been late neither before, during, or after the BK d/c of 7/7/10. Obviously the mortgage stopped reporting a while back and just shows on the reports as chap 7 BK, closed, with no balance. Is there a way to ask BofA to report this mortgage to the CRA's or is this a lost cause since it was a part of the BK?

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

jenolson80 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 02:23:21 GMT

The cards I got immediately after my bankruptcy were, Dell Financial, HSBC Best Buy and CFNA which is Firestone.

I was looking at the other banks you mentioned as well and the fees were just too high.

My card with HSBC Best Buy has a small limit of $300, but was raised to $500 after 1 eyar. There is an yearly fee of $59.

My other two cards have low interest and no fees. My dell limit is $1500 and CFNA is $1200

Good luck.

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 04:40:56 GMT

I will have to look into these as well. What credit limit did your dell and CFNA firestone accounts start at? Did they have any annual fees? Also do you know which CRA they pull from and what your score was? Thanks!!!

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

bkfriendly — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 03:39:39 GMT

Here is my experience with a Barclay's bank "Priceline Visa" Application....My BK7 Discharged 07/2010....1st Premier Visa opened with $700 CL in 08/2010 ,and positive reporting for 11-months.....I have only the 1-TL after BK7, so I apply with Barclay's on 7-31-2011 online, get the 7-10 day message, and basically denied by mail. I call for the Recon, and although spoke to what sounded like a really caring credit analyst, and went over my CR with me from TU, Her words were, we want to see more than the 1-TL and maybe 6-more months of history...I called again in a week for a second Recon, again same message. Kind analyst, but need more TL's and a few more months history.

So my advice, at least based on my experience is, 18-months post bk7 with at least 2-positive TL's and your Golden with Barclay's imo.

FWIW, my scores are EX-646...EQ-688...TU-691 at the time.

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 01:00:32 GMT

Thanks for the info. The 2nd analyst I talked to when doing my recon, stated they don't have any timeframe for when to apply after Bk. Most important think is credit history since the BK with unsecured cards, but this is obvious. I may apply with them at 18 months out, depending on what my scores are. I was also d/c chap 7 in 7/2010 and have one Cap One card with 2500 limit since 12/2010. I will not probably talk to my credit union and if they can't make anything work for me, then I will just wait for next decent offer that ever comes. I want to avoid a small limit card with a big annual fee. It won't help me since I have a decent limit already on my cap one. We'll see. My scores are decent, but I just want to be over 700 at the 2 years since d/c mark. So next will be either credit union and will talk to a loan specialist or underwriter to see my options before even taking an inquiry and if a no go, then just wait. that is unless I find a decent card to apply for by then....

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

Cuteblossom — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 18:38:39 GMT

OKay I know capital one will approve you they first approved me at $1,000 then increased my limit to $1,500 after 3 months.

I applied for the Apple barclaycard online and was approved for $1,190 make sure you select the financing card the rewards points will was declined. So I will be getting my card in the mail. My BK was discharged like almost two years ago I also have a macys card with a 2,000$ credit limit.

P.S. my ficos are in the mid-600s

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 01:25:08 GMT

So yesterdayI ended up going to HSBC and applying for the HSBC rewards 2% mastercard since the pre-qualifier on their website when I tried it indicated prequalifed for this card with no annual fee. I thought what the heck, since I found that they pull EQ mostly and only sometimes EX. I didn't want transunion pulled since I was recently denied for the Barclays priceline card and turned down hooters a few months before since they wanted AF. So my application went through and immediately my phone rings, I failed to pick it up in time, so they website said 10-14 days processing time. I though it may be denied so I called the backdoor number this morning and they verified my phone number and said approved. It is only a $300 line, but at least no AF. I asked if I could get bigger line, but they said only after 4-6 mo they review, and I suppose it will be a very small increase. Hey at least I got my 2nd card and both cards have no AF. Up to $2800 credit available now. Oh yeah, the phone rang right after I hungup with HSBC and it was just automated call from an 831 area code to verify my phone number again. What is best way to utilize my credit now? Do I continue to charge 9% or less on my cap one and then only use hsbc and don't allow it to report to bureaus? NOt sure, please help. Thanks all!!!

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

beamMEup — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 03:15:59 GMT

sc2761 wrote:
So yesterdayI ended up going to HSBC and applying for the HSBC rewards 2% mastercard since the pre-qualifier on their website when I tried it indicated prequalifed for this card with no annual fee. I thought what the heck, since I found that they pull EQ mostly and only sometimes EX. I didn't want transunion pulled since I was recently denied for the Barclays priceline card and turned down hooters a few months before since they wanted AF. So my application went through and immediately my phone rings, I failed to pick it up in time, so they website said 10-14 days processing time. I though it may be denied so I called the backdoor number this morning and they verified my phone number and said approved. It is only a $300 line, but at least no AF. I asked if I could get bigger line, but they said only after 4-6 mo they review, and I suppose it will be a very small increase. Hey at least I got my 2nd card and both cards have no AF. Up to $2800 credit available now. Oh yeah, the phone rang right after I hungup with HSBC and it was just automated call from an 831 area code to verify my phone number again. What is best way to utilize my credit now? Do I continue to charge 9% or less on my cap one (Actually, charge as much or as little as you like while keeping a safe distance from the CL; but do watch the reported balance - that's the number that can impact your FICO score) and then only use hsbc and don't allow it to report to bureaus? NOt sure, please help. I think you're on the right track there - only let one card report a balance and keep that reported balance below 9%; and let the second card report a zero balance. FICO is watching individual card utilization; overall utilization; and number of accounts reporting a balance - so that should keep you in pretty good shape. Thanks all!!!

I know some HSBC cards (if not all?) report the balance on the last day (or last business day) of the month. Someone will chime in - it's been awhile since I've had an HSBC card. And CapOne reports the balance as of the statement date, IIRC.

Congrats on your cards! Time to rest the app finger and let those beauties get some age on 'em. Way to go!!!

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

sc2761 — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 05:16:32 GMT

You think I should go ahead and apply for the CFNA firestone no AF card. It would just diversify me to a cap one, hsbc rewards, and the firestone. Most people I've checked get approved after BK with limits as low as $600-800 and high as 1600. They pull TU. Then I would garden until time to apply for another high limit bank card like the Barclays? Or do you think the 2 cards would be sufficient now to build a credit history. Thanks1!!

Re: Bankruptcy friendly credit cards

beamMEup — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:40:56 GMT

I think you're good either way. Although if you did app for a Firestone, I would wait til your new card has reported for six months.

If you already use Firestone for your tires, oil changes, etc. then it might be a convenient card for you. This is one of those cards that you may be tempted to carry a balance on during a 0% deal; so keep PIF in mind and don't be lured by those deals and carrying a balance, bringing your utilization above 9% at this point in time. Also, some folks say that Firestone is slow in reporting and/or does not report CL to Experian. I've never had the card, so I have no idea how they report.

If you don't already use Firestone, but do your auto maintenance elsewhere, you might want to skip this card and you'll do great with what's already in your pocket. It's not likely to help your FICO score much in and of itself. My third card was a merchant card and I didn't get any FICO score points - in fact I lost a few.

My kneejerk thinking - You've got two cards, let 'em age and then look at Barclay's when your new card is a year old. If Firestone makes you all glowy because you'll use them frequently and benefit from their coupons etc., throw them in the mix when your new card is six+ months old.

Biggest mistake in rebuilding is gathering too many short-term or less than useful cards. Pick your players carefully, let them age, use them well, and then you'll be ready for some golden long-term cards when your CR is relatively clean.