I just wanted to make a comment on Capital One and getting a card from them if they were IIB.....................My husband and I both had Cap One cards that were IIB that was discharged in Aug of 2013, we went to their website and used the preapproval checker and both of us received the "We couldn't match your records to a card offer, but we think you might like" message and decided to apply for the card that was in the top box. We were both approved instantly online, I was approved for $300 unsecured and my husband was too. I applied for a second card with them (the other one on the list) a few days later and was approved for $500 unsecured, my husband waited for a month to apply for his second card and was approved for $2000 unsecured! So, just because they were IIB doesn't necessarily mean you can't get approved again. We were, and our cards have received one CLI each.........the $300 card went to $1600 6 months later and the $500 card went to $2500 6 months later through their Credit Steps program. My husband's $300 card went to $1300 and his $2000 card went to $3000 6 months later. From everything I have read, I am not expecting another CLI, EVER with them but I am happy with what I have for now to rebuild with. We both used the cards heavily, sometimes for 2-3 times our CL each month and made several payments a month to keep the balance under 50% at all times. Each month, we let 10% - 15% balance report to the CR's.
As far as Barclay's is concerned, we both applied for the Barclay Rewards card a couple of months after our BK discharged and were initially denied so we waited until 6 months after discharge (Feb 2104) and reapplied...............we were both approved online...........mine was approved for $1300 and my husband was approved for $1500. We are hoping to see a CLI soon, fingers crossed.
in adddition to Cap One and Barclay's, I was approved online for a Walmart card ($500 limit) 2 months after discharge and an Amazon card ($700 limit) 6 months after discharge. Both of those cards have already had CLI's.............Walmart has given me 2 CLI's and it is now $1800, Amazon has given me 1 CLI and it is now $1900. I used both cards every month and carried about 10%-15% balance at all times on both cards. I put about $300 a month through each card every month and paid it down to about 10% every month through frequent online payments. I have always had the belief that these companies like to make interest and that is why I leave a small balance reporting, hoping they will be happy to make the interest and be nice with the CLI's. I know my thinking is probably skewed but so far it has worked.
I also have a Lowe's card that I was just approved for last month ($900 limit) and 2 Comenity Bank cards (Woman Within and Roaman's) with $250 limits. My husband also applied for Lowe's and Amazon and was declined for both but he was approved for HSN for $750. We both signed up for several of the companys listed on the Shopping Cart Trick page and we both received pop-ups with pre-approvals for several of them.....VS, Buckle, Express, etc.......but we declined to take the cards. We just wanted to see if we could get the preapproval to pop up and they did. Not all of them gave a preapproval but at least 5 did. We are waiting for the day when the My Points, Total Rewards, or Sportsman's Guide preapprovals pop up!!! Those we WILL take. :-) I am figuring it will be another year or more before that happens. Once our scores are north of 700, I have a feeling more possibilities will open up.
As soon as we received our cards, we both added each other as AU's to all of the cards that offered that feature. We each have about $8000 in total revolving credit but because we are AU's on most of each other's cards, our total revolving credit shows as approx. $14K+ on our CR's. I think this has also helped us tremendously. On paper, it looks like we each have $14K+ in revolving credit with only about $900 reporting each month (on average) so that is about 6% - 7% total util reporting. :-) We have been using our CC's to pay for ALL of our monthly expenses, everything from utilities and gas to groceries and HOA fees. We are able to show good usage on the cards, without adding to our monthly expenses. Killing two birds with one stone.
I am happy with what I have and plan to app for a Discover Card late next year. Otherwise, I believe I have about as much as humanly possible with my BK reporting. My current scores are in the mid 600's but they were in the low 500's a few weeks after BK discharged, or at least that is what was on our reports when we bought our new car in Sept of 2013. We got financed through Cap One with a 15.69% APR with zero down. I spoke with our local credit union and they said they will refi our car with a 4.85% APR the day after we are 1 year past discharge. They already did a soft pull and said as long as we don't have a major credit issue between now and Aug 27th, we will get approved to refi our auto loan with them. She also said that we can get an unsecured credit card with them, 2 years after discharge and they give very nice starting limits and increases, we just have to wait for another year.
So, all in all, there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel. If I would have taken the advice of my friends and family, I would never have even attempted to apply for any unsecured cards so soon after BK. Thankfully, I was able to educate myself throught this board to know who I had a chance with and who I didn't have a chance with. I was also able to avoid falling for one of those rip-off cards like First Premiere. I figured, I will apply for unsecured with Cap One and if I am not approved, I will just go to my local CU and start with a secured card. Luckily, we were approved and the rest is history.
Chap 7 BK Discharge Aug 2013 (Initial CL/Current CL): Discover IT ($5.5K/$32.5K) Cap1 QS ($500/$30K) Amazon ($700/$8K) Barclay's MC ($1,300/$10.3K) Upromise ($500/$33K) Lowe's ($900/$13K) Sportsman's Visa ($17K) WF Amex ($13K) AMEX BCE ($10K) AMEX Gold NPSL - FICO's: All 740+
All in all, I applied for a little more than I felt comfortable with, but the inquiries were pretty well spread out across the 3 bureaus, 4 on TU, 3 on Experian, 2 on Equifax. Not that it matters much since I don't need any new credit, but I was already taking the inquiry/new account hit on my scores anyway because of a lot of new credit opened in 2013 and earlier this year.
